The trade-off for not getting paid (to work on my own instruments) is that I can do things exactly like I want them done to my own things, and this is certainly not something that I would have done to my own instrument.
When people contract me to do work to their things - work for which I donāt see a benefit (perhaps work such as this) ā I can politely suggest alternatives (such as āLeave it beā), I can just go ahead and do what they want me to do, or I can refuse to do the work. The second choice often results in most remuneration, and seems to often result in customers smiling the most - when they leave.
This particular (to me) ill-advised operation did no permanent harm, actually involved a bit of (beneficial?) dent removal, and the instrumentās owner has all the parts with which (someone/some day) the instrument can be restored back to its original condition.
Observing other players, quite a few seem to really enjoy pulling out slides and dumping water. Thatās not me. As Iāve stated before, I prefer to open small levers (as many as required on a particular instrument, to avoid pulling in clanking slides around) and just let water drain out - without making a scene on stage.
A few carelessly drilled water keys benefit from having burrs removed from the inside edges of their openings, and quite a few people donāt seem to understand that the way to get all of the water to empty through water key is to blow gently - to only break the surface tension, rather than so much that it blows the water past the hole.
tofu wrote: Fri Sep 03, 2021 1:50 am
Is removing the water key supposed to improve the sound? or intonation?
So now they have to pull slides and dump? Not exactly the quickest way vs a water key.
I'm not sure I understand the why of doing this.
