Our Services

My specialty is the repair and restoration of all brass and woodwind musical instruments, from student-line instruments, to the finest vintage and professional-quality instruments. Frustrated with trying to find someone to trust with your instrument? All work is performed on site at The Bandsmith  and is guaranteed. I will treat your instrument as if it were my own. 23 years of satisfied clients will attest to that. I have been a member of NAPBIRT since 1987 and I am constantly striving to keep up with the latest techniques, products, and tools in the field of wind instrument repair.

I stock an extensive assortment of repair parts, so the time it takes to have your instrument repaired is kept to a minimum. Most repairs can be done in less than a week, and minors repairs within a day or two. Please feel free to call or email for quotes on any type of work, but please bear in mind that for quotes for work other than straight repads, overhauls, or chemical cleanings, I will need to see the instrument before a firm estimate can be given. This is especially true for dent work, solder work, or ‘play-condition only’ work. I do not charge anything for estimates, unless you need to have it in writing on my letterhead for insurance purposes, etc.

Woodwinds

Whether it’s just a single pad replacement or a complete overhaul, only the finest pads and materials available are used. I don’t use the inferior, spongy pads that are installed in most new woodwinds. The pads I use are firm, responsive pads made with the best of materials. Yes, they are more expensive, but these types of pads provide the best seal, a crisp ‘feel’, and make the instrument much more responsive. And they just simply last longer. When repadding or overhauling an instrument, using pads of this caliber requires that the instrument be clean, in excellent mechanical condition, and that the tone holes are perfectly flat and free of imperfections. This is done with the utmost care before any pads are installed. After all the final adjustments are done, the instrument is then thoroughly play-tested. Your instrument should play better than new after it leaves my shop.

Other services I provide on woodwinds are crack repair on wood-bodied instruments, dent removal and solder work on metal-bodied instruments, key brazing, just to name a few. Feel free to call and ask about any specific type of repair or modification, including the installation of specialized pads and resonators.

Other than complete relacquering or replating (which I send out), I can handle just about any type of brass instrument repair here at my shop. Chemical cleaning, dent removal, valve repairs or solder work. I can even do custom modifications. Using the latest techniques of dent removal, most of the time I can reach all areas of the horn without unsoldering anything. Chemical cleaning insures that the instrument is completely clean and sanitized, all corks and felts are replaced, all the slides and valves are working properly, and the valve ports are precisely aligned. Silver-plated instruments are completely polished. Trombone slide jobs entail a complete chemical cleaning of the hand slide, dent removal from the inner and outer tubes, tube straightening and aligning, and outer slide honing, if necessary.