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Okay, well, a few months ago I got this old 30's-40's Holton Collegiate alto. It needed some pad and cork work, among other things, but I could get a pretty decent sound out of it. I brought it to Schmitt music (one of the only music stores in my area) to be evaluated for repair, and the guy wanted to do a $500 restoration. That would make the money I'd put into the horn more than it's actually worth, even in pristine condition, so I said just repair the worst pads and stuff to make it playable with a $100-150 budget. The guy gets back to me today, three and a half months later, and long story short, doesn't think it would be worth it to just fix the pads that don't work at all, and leave the others. I have a feeling he also doesn't want to waste time on my instrument, as Schmitt stores have an annoying bias/priority toward instruments they've sold. Anyway, the guy just won't do it, so I take my sax home.
Now, I sort of collect junky old saxes... this isn't by any means my main horn, or even my backup. It's just a cool looking old thing that has a sound I like. And it has a great original case.
So I got to thinking, why don't I just learn to do the repairs myself? I'm a senior in high school, and am pretty serious with my sax/music career and think I'm going to continue with it in the future. It would be a great benefit to be able to fix up my own horns, as well as junk ones I buy, to turn a profit.
My question to you is, how difficult is learning to do this sort of repair (disassembly and reassembly of sax, replacing pads, etc)? How steep is the learning curve? Can anyone recommend some online material regarding DIY sax repair? How much will tools cost? Tips?
Now, I sort of collect junky old saxes... this isn't by any means my main horn, or even my backup. It's just a cool looking old thing that has a sound I like. And it has a great original case.
So I got to thinking, why don't I just learn to do the repairs myself? I'm a senior in high school, and am pretty serious with my sax/music career and think I'm going to continue with it in the future. It would be a great benefit to be able to fix up my own horns, as well as junk ones I buy, to turn a profit.
My question to you is, how difficult is learning to do this sort of repair (disassembly and reassembly of sax, replacing pads, etc)? How steep is the learning curve? Can anyone recommend some online material regarding DIY sax repair? How much will tools cost? Tips?