NAPBIRT Saxophone University

[Groovekiller]

Just a few days ago, i had a lady customer bring in an early Mark VI tenor, no dents, all the keys worked, but every pad was original and 75% of them were dried out and ripped open, making the felt inside visible.

She wanted the horn repaired while she waited and she didn't want me to replace any pads because it would "change the sound." She added that Ben Webster never let a repairman change any pads on his horn.

I told her that I didn't think I could make her happy.

P.S. I met an old repairman from Chicago at a NAPBIRT clinic around 1984 who used to work on Ben Webster's horn. He told me that Mr. Webster's stare frightened him, so he used to "send Ben to a beer store or something" while he worked on the saxophone. He was also one of those rare repairmen who changed pads on people's saxophones.

 

[clarnibass]

A $person walks into your repair shop. He's got a Bundy II alto that's been run over by a truck. Twice.

Well... it is a Bundy II

I've had almost no repairs I refused, this is very rare. A bit less rare is when my absolute minimum price for what I can do with an instrument is just significantly more than the owner wants to spend, so they prefer not to have the repairs done. I don't consider this refusing a repair, it is the customer's choice not to do it. I just recently had someone (who I sort of know) almost jump from his seat in shock when I said $50... as if I said $1,000 to most even lower than average paycheck people... so it depends on the customer but this was a pretty rare exception and for unique reasons.

I sometimes find ways to work on instruments that realistically need a lot more, but manage to get them repaired in a reliable condition for a much lower price. However it's using methods thta I wouldn't normally use so the owner has to understand that he can forget some cosmetic issues... or that it will play ok, but hardly optimally...

In a situation like the one Groovekiller described, I would usually explain that changing the pads won't change the sound and only improve how the instrument plays. Also the details of the purpose of sealing the tone holes and why and how pads do it and why they can't if they are torn like that. I might also explain that "Ben Webster" (or whatever name), although a great player, doesn't seem to understand the more technical things about how the instrument works. In about 99% of cases the customer would understand and would change their previous opinion that was based on nothing real. Of course there's the rare exception...

 

[Steve]

..... He was also one of those rare repairmen who changed pads on people's saxophones.

What's a pad ?? :-D


I thought SuperGlue & duct tape fixed everything?

 

[jbtsax]

I get the reputation point and I'm not sure there's a winning scenario. If sweet, love-able me was the band director, I'd ask the parental unit how much he spent on the repair. If the student had the aforementioned flattened Bundy II and the parent said he spent only $1.25 at XYZ to get it repaired, I'd understand that the parent was at fault, not the shop.

This is based upon the assumption that the parents will be honest---some are and some aren't. Sometimes folks are just forgetful or don't know the terminology. A very common scenario in the shop I worked in was for someone to come in and get an estimate for repair on their clarinet, be told they need a $45 play condition, and tell us they just had it "repadded" 6 months ago. When we check the repair history on the computer, we had only replaced 2 or 3 of the worst pads at the time, and recommended they get a repad in the near future. Of course the pads we had installed were just fine. The marginal ones were now the ones causing problems. Good record keeping is an absolute must in any repair trade, because people just don't remember the facts and will say anything they "think" is correct, or will get them out of paying for additional needed repairs.

 

[pete]

A very common scenario in the shop I worked in was for someone to come in and get an estimate for repair on their clarinet, be told they need a $45 play condition, and tell us they just had it "repadded" 6 months ago.

I often get users calling in tickets saying that I "must" have screwed up their computer when I last worked on it. The average amount of months since I actually worked on it is around 3. Hey, I've had folks virus-infect their computers within days of being hired.