How easy/difficult is it to repair this dent in the curve ?

That's a rather easy to get to area. It can be done good and rather cheap. Not a lot of work. I'd guess around 30-60 EUR in Belgium (if it's any similar to Sweden) depending on the techs hourly rate.

That would take less than a minute to roll out with a large steel ball and a "rare earth" dent magnet. There are more and more techs who are using these---especially those who work on low brass.

Magnetic Dent Removal System. It can also be "pushed out" with a traditional dent rod and ball or barrel in a short amount of time because of the easy access through the bell.

Personally I wouldn't bother getting that fixed unless it was just part of other work you're having done. It doesn't affect the pitch, and nobody will ever see it.

Since that dent won’t effect anything in the performance of your instrument…fill the divot with different things to see what resonates most with you. You could stumble upon the next heavy mass phenomenon that’ll catapult your sound to the stratosphere and launch epic debate threads on the forum. Next thing you know everyone will be denting their bows and adding mass. 🤣🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️😎

lydian said:

Personally I wouldn't bother getting that fixed unless it was just part of other work you're having done. It doesn't affect the pitch, and nobody will ever see it.

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Yeah, may not be worth a trip to the shop just to fix that little cosmetic glitch. OTOH, to answer your question, it's a very easy and inexpensive fix, so if it bothers you, it's no big deal to get it taken care of. A few years back when I had my horn in the shop for a minor repair (I think a pad replacement in the upper stack), my tech noticed a small dent in the neck and asked if I wanted it taken out. I said sure and he went over and grabbed some sort of tool, worked his magic, and in less than a minute or two, it was fixed. I don't think he even charged me anything for that part of the job.

Easy, inexpensive to fix. I'd take it in, and have them give the horn a once over once you're there.

I can see you have a couple of small dents, one on each side and a couple of small crease marks.

I would not recommend anyone to use the mdrs system on these, whilst the mdrs is a great tool, it requires in this situation the bow guard to be removed, if you do not remove the bow guard, the bell metal is stretched around the bow guard shape, quite a mess can be made.

With a large dent ball on a steel bar, these dents can be eased up fairly well.

I would ignore until your next servicing and have them address it at the same time, I personally would not charge extra on a servicing to remove them, if you brought it in just to have the dents done only, likely i would charge 55 as a minimum charge scenario

Easy. I’d just get it done, eventhough this has no impact to playability.

So you went ahead and bought that Buescher, eh ?

simso said:

if you brought it in just to have the dents done only, likely i would charge 55 as a minimum charge scenario

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A bit off topic, but I'm curious; how, when and why do you decide if a repair is big enough to be charged with your minimum charge or if you just do it for free? It's always easiest to not charge IMHO but no charge isn't enough to pay my bills.

I typically only ever do a repair for free if its minor and I am doing other paid work for that customet, example we have a fixed fee for a servicing, if the additional repair takes less than 5 minutes I wont charge for it, if there are two additional small repairs I might charge extra.

lydian said:

Personally I wouldn't bother getting that fixed unless it was just part of other work you're having done. It doesn't affect the pitch, and nobody will ever see it.

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Ah, but now you've seen it.

Sacks Of Phones said:

Ah, but now you've seen it.

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But the player's opinion is the only opinion that matters when it comes to gear. I assume I'd listen to A Love Supreme as often as I do no matter where Coltrane's sax had been dented ... or no matter what species of sax he played it on.

hnthere said:

But the player's opinion is the only opinion that matters when it comes to gear. I assume I'd listen to A Love Supreme as often as I do no matter where Coltrane's sax had been dented ... or no matter what species of sax he played it on.

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You missed the joke.

I would love to get it removed
I really like this horn and play it as my first choice. It’s a selmer 164. I bought it at a pawnshop and got a really good deal on it
But the dent is and eye sore to me. Asking for opinions and advice.

soulsax said:

I would love to get it removed

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So take it in to a tech and get it removed. Shouldn't cost much and you can also have them look for anything important in terms of playing condition that needs fixing.

Yep, thanks for the input JL. My local repair technician is a good guy. High school band teacher sax player who does really good tech work. He will fix my sax and cut me a 50% discount . But he’s limited in the small shop he works out of. He’s not equipped to remove the dent and has left me with the impression that it would be expensive. I just needed someone else to tell me what to do. Thanks 🎷