Musical Instrument Repairs WA

Being in Australia makes it hard to get consumable parts when repairing instruments, this is one of the reasons you will see a lot of repairers in Australia having to fabricate their own bits

Here I am using my injection mould machine to knock out some more piston guides, rare - one of type piston guides I will use the small cnc router to fabricate

Had someone in last week learning how to repad their clarinet, one of the keys was deformed so we discussed the ways to reshape it.

Here is a sax key where I can show how I do it

I face a piece of brass to cup dimensions
I blacken the face of the brass
Hand file the face to create the dome
With a poly hammer shape with glancing blows the keycup

Instruments have to be safe when they are pulled down, I typically use rubber on the main storage benches, ie an instrument that’s going to take me a week or a month to fix and then leather on my main work surfaces

Here I am replacing some worn out and torn up rubber, typically every 7-10 yrs they need changing.

The rubber goes under the rear tool boards, so you got to pull them down, fit the rubber and then re-assemble, good opportunity to reorganise my tool layout as well

Our advertising is this page and some logos on my ute, so I always appreciate word of mouth recommendations.

In 20 odd years now, have never had a day where I have managed to clear all the work on the shelves.

If you see me driving around Perth give us a toot

Another day, more dent work amongst the daily service and repairs

Sax body mandrel being machined up, there goes my whole day

This tenor sax has been dropped and has multiple ripples in the body tube and low c # tone hole has been pushed into the body as well

When there are this many buckles I start by using a body mandrel to get it straight, unusual taper on this one so I make a whole new body mandrel first

Ultrasonic cleaning, not all instruments get ultrasonically cleaned, it can in fact be quite damaging to the lacquer finish and or plating.

So we discuss with the owners when they request ultrasonic cleaning, a surcharge is applied.

Our machine has a 400 litre tank, 9000 watt heaters and 2x1800 watt sound generators, variable amperage on the transducers, it truly is a beast

Photo 1 Here is a tuba in a freshly mixed bath
Photo 2 The cloudy streams of gunk are wafting out of all the tubing under the power of the sound waves

Dent work can always be improved by knowing where the dent ball sits inside the instrument when your lifting the dents out.

Here is a French horn before and after and my dent ball setup

I utilise an overhead laser which I target onto the dent ball, this lets me know where it sits approximately when I am lifting the dents

In the repair world, I think it has to be one of the hardest ways to start your week workload, taking dents out of tuba crooks

I charge 175 to service an alto saxophone, I pull every key off, straighten clean and service the keywork and the body, then assemble with fresh oils and greases and refloat all keys as needed or replace some pads

I say this as everyone charges differently and everyone’s overheads are different, I operate from a brick and mortar business in a commercial district, play service is something I do not offer, a play service is don’t pull it apart, just wipe it down, try and clean the pads where they sit, squeeze some oil into gaps and call it done, give it a play.

Understand what it is your getting when you drop your instrument of to any repairer

This Bari is in for a service, every key is removed, everything is cleaned, everything is reassembled / refloated and test played