repair of damaged-in-shipment NEW JP274 compensating euphonium

[bloke]

This instrument was on display at NAMM, was not re-packed (to return to the JP warehouse) the same way it was originally packed (some packing materials were missing), and - either between California and Carolina OR between Carolina and blokeplace - the instrument suffered a transfer-impact blow (from the carton through the case to the instrument) whereby tail-end of the guard wire (on the upper bow) was barely pushed in, and the 4th valve casing (close tolerances on JP) as well as the main slide alignment were both thrown off.

I repaired the casing (perfect - no "lapping" tools - simply: releasing tension) and (temporarily: "back-of-music-store good", but NOT "bloke-good") got the main slide moving (a while back) and set it aside (due to the mountain of summer school repairs).

I never mentioned this instrument to any individual buyers, for several reasons:
- "oooh...repaired...can't possibly ever be the same"
- "how will this 'affect the sound'...!?!?!"
- "bloke is in 'the south', thus: he really doesn't know what he's doing."

I found the perfect customer:
A school (at the other side of this state) was inquiring about a JP174IL (knock-off of YEP-321, except JP bore is a bit larger, the JP build quality is better - imo, and the JP case is sturdier). I don't stock those, and - even the next container-load, those are all spoken for...but I have this, and am selling it to that school for considerably less than my regular - very low - JP274 price. They're excited, and didn't ask me any of those questions.

Today, I got the main slide rockin' and rollin'.
I had about forty minutes (before getting showered/dressed to go play in a little jazz combo at a brunch in Memphis), so I spent 20 minutes repairing the main slide (properly) and another 20 minutes (which is why I don't using post about repairs - because doing so makes the repairs take longer) posting this stuff.

The only other damage was that the #4 button/stem "keeper" was knocked off.
I had planned to remove the base from the casing, re-braze it, re-solder it, and touch up the lacquer but - as this is going to a school, I'm reconsidering, and will probably do a nice job of carving out the case padding, and simply do away with the #4 keeper. (Kids won't use it, the screw will get loose, it will fall off and get lost, and - likely - some kid will break it off again anyway.)



(This seemingly-small impact caused the damage (but everything else had to move too, so...)


Below is SUPPOSED to be a very short video...It seems to appear (as an animated video) intermittently...

Everything works as it should, now, and yes, I'm going to polish, mask, and shoot new lacquer on that large-side outside slide tube:


https://i.imgur.com/8DLB226.mp4

[bloke]

OK...
As little time as it took, I decided to go ahead and unsolder the #4 keeper flange, re-braze it to the keeper post, shine it back up, and then re-solder, polish, and lacquer it. I also decided that it was the school's decision whether-or-not to snap it off, and not the decision of UPS...
...so here it is - mounted back on the instrument and cleaned up with a bit of clear over it:

(Notice that the valve casing lacquer was neither burned nor even darkened...and Mrs. bloke wasn't around to help hold this thing at an advantageous angle, either.)



...and then, I cleaned up, and re-shot this outside tube, which (along with the upper bow dogleg) was moved for proper post-shipping-mishandling main slide alignment:



Here's what's nice:
THEY ALREADY PAID US.
(no 45 days, and then call-and-call-and-call requesting some school's absurdly tardy payment)

...but I still need to wipe it off, pack, and ship it...

...and then more repairs (a HORRIBLE-HORRIBLE old YBB-641, a not-bad-at-all c. 10-year-old 186 C, and then - though there are MANY more repairs - BACK TO MOWING )

[arpthark]

Nice job.

When doing these repairs that require relacquering:

Do you unlacquer them as a preparatory step?

or just remove whatever gets burned during the course of repair and then relacquer?

[bloke]

Nice job.

When doing these repairs that require relacquering:

Do you unlacquer them as a preparatory step?

or just remove whatever gets burned during the course of repair and then relacquer?

The keeper assembly's lacquer was - pretty much - consumed (by being heated hot enough to braze it back together), so that took care of that.

The outside slide tube (after two solder joints were heated, the tube as removed, the tube was relocated coplanar/parallel with the (decent) geometry of the main slide) was a bit dark, and solder showed at the end of the tube), so I skinned off the darkened lacquer with 1/2"-wide braided lamp wick (impregnated with buffing compound), shined it up with a (brand-new out of the package) silver polishing cloth (to avoid getting Burns [brand] red rouge powder all over the instrument), wiped it off with flannel, and shot it with two coats of Nikolas. I used my hand (lazy: no tape, no paper, and - well - much quicker) as a shield to avoid any over-spray, and then used a bit of Dawn on my hand.

Kids today are really spoiled...
We were darn proud of our shiny/scratch-free (after several years of use) Conn 36K fiberglass sousaphones, and the baritone horn players made All-State on funky off-brand 3-valve instruments that their parents bought at the local music store (ie. "Sir, Which one costs the least, please?")