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 don’t see a benefit (perhaps work such as this) – I can politely suggest alternatives (such as “Leave it be”), 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 instrument’s 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. That’s not me. As I’ve 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 don’t 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.
