[Guest]

I'm going for a holiday to Australia. I'll be in Brisbane for three weeks and in Toowoomba for about one week. I'll be taking my tenor sax with me. Are there any technicians you could recommend? I just want the neck cork replaced on my sax.
Cheers...

 

[andgar]

The top techs in Brisbane are John Stephenson (usually ridiculously busy...), Mark Spencer (actually located about 2hrs north) and Andrew Berrington (I'm not even sure if he's in town anymore... but for a neck cork replacement, try Billy Hyde Brass and Woodwind at Paddington - I think they usually have a tech in the store, so you should be able to get it done on the spot. That said, that store was recently taken over (by Billy Hyde's) and in my experience just about every aspect of their service has suffered considerably...

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the info.

I'll print off your message, and look up their names in the Queensland phonebook.

Cheers...

 

[jwarner]

Try Woods for Wind and Brass - she does an excellent job but is a fair way north of Brisbane and can be busy last time I checked.

I don't want to get into a SOTW dissertation but a few years ago I had a problem where I was forced to a temporarily fix with electrical tape. Vowed it would never happen again. I contacted Music Medic in the US. Curt Altcrac runs the place from memory, and purchased a heap of precut cork, a little bottle of glue (with brush), a little cutter and some sanding strips which turned out to be sandpaper files that women use to shape their finger nails. The job's a breeze and the kit fits easily into the sax case. I've never been caught since but it's surprising how many corks I've replaced and only charged a scooneer (or three or) of beer.

Point I'm making is that it's a 10 minute job. In Brisbane it'll cost you more time to get the sax to the repairer than to do the job yourself.

Anyway enjoy your stay in Brisbane and Toowoomba in Australia's sunny state ......... Queensland - beautiful one day, perfect the next.

Kind regards
Jim W

 

[Guest]

Cheers...