A non-musician friend of mine has inherited two 1923/4 altos. One of them is a lovely silver Conn (the other a Buescher), with gold keywork and patches of gold highlighting the engraving, and with very old (original??) white pads . It has one big problem. Someone in the distant past left the mouthpiece on for so long that it stuck to the cork, and then just pulled and pulled until the microtuner broke, leaving part of the cork stuck up in the mouthpiece.
I think it may be impossible to make playable. See the photo; the thin metal to which the cork is attached has a small chunk missing. I can't quite imagine how it could have been wrecked so conclusively!
I'm wondering what to do:
1) I own a similar 1920s alto, which plays well, but has been much played, repaired and beaten up over nearly 100 years. I could offer to buy the nicer body, get it repadded, and use my neck.
This seems the best thing to do - how much do people think is a fair price to pay a friend for a nice body in need of repadding, lacking microtuner?
2) see if the tuner can be glued/fixed so as to make it at least playable
3) see if I can locate a replacement/spare microtuner or neck, for either Conn. I realise this is a very long shot!
Photos attached. Not very good ones I'm afraid!
I think it may be impossible to make playable. See the photo; the thin metal to which the cork is attached has a small chunk missing. I can't quite imagine how it could have been wrecked so conclusively!
I'm wondering what to do:
1) I own a similar 1920s alto, which plays well, but has been much played, repaired and beaten up over nearly 100 years. I could offer to buy the nicer body, get it repadded, and use my neck.
This seems the best thing to do - how much do people think is a fair price to pay a friend for a nice body in need of repadding, lacking microtuner?
2) see if the tuner can be glued/fixed so as to make it at least playable
3) see if I can locate a replacement/spare microtuner or neck, for either Conn. I realise this is a very long shot!
Photos attached. Not very good ones I'm afraid!


