Is anyone going to the National Association of Band Instrument Repair Technicians conference in Tampa, Florida April 9-12?
NAPBIRT Conference, April 9-12, Tampa Florida
- Thread starter Groovekiller
- Start date
I'm going for sure.
NAPBIRT
The Musical Instrument Repair Conference was impressive. I hadn't attended one in years. Most of the time I hung with Colorado's master repair tech Rick Seeger, and he helped me find the best clinics.
J.L. Smith's tools are so good they make you want to cry.
I also learned a lot from Larry Mueller about oboes, tonehole repair, undercutting, and making tools that are unavailable from any factory.
The Musical Instrument Repair Conference was impressive. I hadn't attended one in years. Most of the time I hung with Colorado's master repair tech Rick Seeger, and he helped me find the best clinics.
J.L. Smith's tools are so good they make you want to cry.
I also learned a lot from Larry Mueller about oboes, tonehole repair, undercutting, and making tools that are unavailable from any factory.
I wanted to see their oboe/clarinet classes ... maybe sometime in the future. They had some clinics in Illinois too recently that I couldn't figure out how to get to.
"This thread is worthless without pics!"
Err. This thread would definitely be improved with some pics/videos.
There is one Larry Miller oboe repair vid on YouTube. JL Smith stuff can be accessed through his flute website at http://www.flutesmith.com -- and if you go to http://www.jlsmithco.com/Resources, there are some articles on repair. It's unfortunate that the "Product Instructions" were all 404, tho.
Err. This thread would definitely be improved with some pics/videos.
There is one Larry Miller oboe repair vid on YouTube. JL Smith stuff can be accessed through his flute website at http://www.flutesmith.com -- and if you go to http://www.jlsmithco.com/Resources, there are some articles on repair. It's unfortunate that the "Product Instructions" were all 404, tho.
Can you give some examples of the tools you liked from them? I have a few things from them, but usually for more special tools I end up buying from Boehm or Kraus.
Larry Mueller's site is here:
http://www.oboistsworkshop.com/index.htm
J.L. Smith is here:
http://www.jlsmithco.com/
For flute specialists, Jeff Smith's Flute Station is amazing but expensive. The best for dent removal, tone hole repair, etc. It's not on the site yet. He has many reasonably priced tools, including expanding plugs for testing sax neck joints for leaks, and a similar tool for testing individual tone holes on flutes for leaks. They are listed on his site.
Two new J.L. Smith tools that I like are (1.) The world's best flute pin removing tool. It has 3 intelligently designed punches, several anvils, and a built-in microscope to see the work!
http://www.jlsmithco.com/FLUTE-TOOLS/KEY-PIN-PUNCH_2
Also (2.) A new dent rod for saxophone bottom bows. The two ends reach all parts of the bottom bow without removing the bell section. Go in through the low Eb tonehole or down the bell.
http://www.jlsmithco.com/SAXOPHONE-BOW-BAR
http://www.oboistsworkshop.com/index.htm
J.L. Smith is here:
http://www.jlsmithco.com/
For flute specialists, Jeff Smith's Flute Station is amazing but expensive. The best for dent removal, tone hole repair, etc. It's not on the site yet. He has many reasonably priced tools, including expanding plugs for testing sax neck joints for leaks, and a similar tool for testing individual tone holes on flutes for leaks. They are listed on his site.
Two new J.L. Smith tools that I like are (1.) The world's best flute pin removing tool. It has 3 intelligently designed punches, several anvils, and a built-in microscope to see the work!
http://www.jlsmithco.com/FLUTE-TOOLS/KEY-PIN-PUNCH_2
Also (2.) A new dent rod for saxophone bottom bows. The two ends reach all parts of the bottom bow without removing the bell section. Go in through the low Eb tonehole or down the bell.
http://www.jlsmithco.com/SAXOPHONE-BOW-BAR
Thanks. I see J.L. Smith is concentrating a bit more on flutes so maybe that's why since I work less on flutes. They make flutes too I think, no?
I saw the flute station last year in Musikmesse. I can see why some people would like it. It wouldn't work for me for some reasons of convinience. One issue though is that it's made mainly to push tone hole short wall sides up, but almost always these sides are high and need to be lowered, which is very easy to do (with practice) without this.
Re the expanding plug for testing neck tenon joint leaks, I have them and found they are very problematic. I made a diagram to show an improvement of the tool to make it much more usefull. Jeff Smith said they would make the change on the next run.
Did you have people from MDRS exhibiting there? Music Medic is now a dealer for them and he had this at Musikmesse. It might be a while before I'll be able to justify it (for saxophones only there is just to little to do with it now) but it's a very cool tool!
I saw the flute station last year in Musikmesse. I can see why some people would like it. It wouldn't work for me for some reasons of convinience. One issue though is that it's made mainly to push tone hole short wall sides up, but almost always these sides are high and need to be lowered, which is very easy to do (with practice) without this.
Re the expanding plug for testing neck tenon joint leaks, I have them and found they are very problematic. I made a diagram to show an improvement of the tool to make it much more usefull. Jeff Smith said they would make the change on the next run.
Did you have people from MDRS exhibiting there? Music Medic is now a dealer for them and he had this at Musikmesse. It might be a while before I'll be able to justify it (for saxophones only there is just to little to do with it now) but it's a very cool tool!
MDRS was an exhibitor. They now have some new, larger balls (Did I really say that?)
I know the J.L. Smith sax neck pressure testers have been redesigned at least once, maybe more.
I know the J.L. Smith sax neck pressure testers have been redesigned at least once, maybe more.
Too many MLAs. MDRS = http://www.magneticdentremovalsystem.com/ 
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MDRS
Thanks, Pete. The MDRS system is most valuable for use on big brass like tubas and sousaphones. If the repair shop does tons of saxes, it is a good tool for sax bottom bows, as is the J.L. Smith rod mentioned earlier. The Smith rod is fifty bucks vs. the hundreds for the MDRS, but both tools have advantages.
Thanks, Pete. The MDRS system is most valuable for use on big brass like tubas and sousaphones. If the repair shop does tons of saxes, it is a good tool for sax bottom bows, as is the J.L. Smith rod mentioned earlier. The Smith rod is fifty bucks vs. the hundreds for the MDRS, but both tools have advantages.
LOL! Yes the MDRS helps mainly with bigger brass. For saxophones I don't think it can do anything that is impossible without, but it can sure make some things MUCH faster! I considered getting it and start offering brass dent repairs too but maybe only in the future.
Re the design of the sax neck joint isolator, yes it was changed but so far not to fix the significant problem which I was told would be fixed on the next run.
I'm not a repairman and I don't play one on TV, so I just like looking at the shiny.
I seem to remember when the MDRS stuff came on the market and there were a few folks that were quite excited about using them on saxophones.
I could think that if you have a horn with a big bell those would be a good thing.
I seem to remember when the MDRS stuff came on the market and there were a few folks that were quite excited about using them on saxophones.
I could think that if you have a horn with a big bell those would be a good thing.
Bell dents are easy with traditional tools. The bottom bow is sometimes a problem, though and MDRS helps a lot. However, MDRS is not so good on surfaces with braces, keyguard holders and tone holes. You need to have several solutions. The JL Smith double ended bottom bow rod looks good, and cheap at under 50 bucks.