Photo Gallery

            Here are a few choice examples of my work.  I usually don’t take pictures of the jobs I do, but these were special.  There is a brief description of the repair and a link to the pictures, which should speak for themselves.

            These are some pictures of two F extensions I made for some Bb Horns, one a Yamaha, the other a King.

            Here are the before and after shots of a Kruspe Horner Model that I overhauled and rebuilt the valves.  The lacquer, which was mostly gone anyway, was stripped off.  There were numerous dents and creases in the bell and throughout the body of the instrument.  In addition, I had to make a new thumb key and key rest for the same, since the original had broken and was too flimsy to be worth repairing.  Several patches were necessary where the seam had failed on the tubing.  Please be patient while all of the photos load.

            I recently added a Nickel Silver repair garland to the edge of a Holton 181 bell to reinforce it.  It had been bent back and forth several times and, since there wasn't a wire in the bell, was creasing at the drop of a hat.

            Here are some pictures of a High F Horn that I recently made for a customer in North Dakota.  It used to be an F. E. Olds Single Bb and a Conn Mellophone.

            Take a look at these pictures of a piston valve with an extra hole.

            This is an old Rotary Trumpet made by August Clemens Glier in Markneukirchen Germany.  There were quite a few things wrong with the first valve lever, including a broken paddle and clockwork spring.  I also had to machine several replacement parts.

            Here is a Schilke Piccolo Trumpet that I recently modified.  I made a ring for the third valve slide so that it could be kicked out to adjust for intonation.

            I really like making patches.  It gives me a chance to flex my metalworking muscles and make a piece that is not only functional, but attractive and, hopefully, not too noticeable.

            Here are some pictures of a new key bracket I made for an old Rotary Trumpet.  The old one had broken in two right at one of the screw holes, so brazing it back together would not have been feasible.

            Here are some more Rotary Trumpet repairs.  This time it is a set of keys with excess play and another cracked key rest.

            Here are pictures of a slide trigger I made for a Selmer K Modified Trumpet.  It had a key for the 1st valve tuning slide for intonation adjustment, but nothing for the third valve slide except a ring that fit poorly into the lyre holder.  This made it very uncomfortable to kick out the slides for bringing down the 1&3 and 12&3 combinations.

            Here is a Conn Trumpet that a young man brought to me.  He had not greased his slides in a while and the second valve slide was quite stuck.  He tried to remove it himself with the aid of a friend.  He was holding onto the bell on either side of the valve section while his accomplice yanked on the slide.  Unfortunately, the bell gave way before the slide.  In the ensuing chaos, the bell was bent perpendicular to the instrument, the fingerhook and one of the bell braces were lost, and the bell flare broke the fall of my young client.  On the upside, the offending slide was undamaged (and unmoved).  The repair took about eight hours, less than one minute of that being to remove the stuck slide.  The damage was such that I had to anneal the bell because it had been work hardened, so I also had to strip off the lacquer and replace it afterwards.  This should be a lesson on properly maintaining your instrument.