Band Instrument Repair

Chapter 1: Introduction: How to Use This Bench Reference

The first time you pull a dent out of a student trumpet and the bell section comes back to true round, you will understand why this craft gets its hooks into people. It is not magic. It is not luck. It is the predictable result of knowing your material, using the right tool at the right temperature, and having the patience to stop before you make things worse. This book exists to give you that predictability.

You are reading this because you have decided to stop paying someone else to do what you can learn to do yourself. That is a sound decision. The average cost of a pad replacement on a clarinet at a repair shop runs $35–$60 per pad. A full repad runs $250–$400 in parts and labor. The tools to do that same job at home, bought new, will cost you around $300. You do the math on the second clarinet and the savings have paid for the bench. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme, and it is not a path to professional certification. It is a path to competence. You will make mistakes. Some of them will cost you a part or two. None of them will cost you a finger if you follow the safety rules in this chapter.

This book is arranged so that you do not have to read it cover to cover before touching an instrument. It is a bench reference. Chapter 2