Anderson’s Music
Anderson’s Music Instrument Repair
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Typical trumpet bell repair.
French Horn rotary valve cleaning
Even though they are shiny, it is because they are clean. They are never polished because that would cause leaks and ruin the valves.
The Smashed Mellophone Bell
This mellophone bell is the one I described in this blog entry .
This following closeup shot shows how the metal is bent back on itself (click the picture to enlarge). When I straightened it out, the metal cracked in several places causing open holes. I brazed the holes closed, dedented, reshaped and refinished.
The finished work
Baritone Horn Overhaul
Before
After
A lamp I made.
Having fun with the lamp I made!
A saxophone player had a sign fell on his horn, while he was on the job, which crushed the neck. He asked if I could rush it through as an emergency because he had to have something to play that night. Happy to get pictures for my portfolio I agreed. You can see by his expression how pleased he was.
Three Sousaphones
A pile of parts.
A set of freshly refinished sousaphone innards.
Three freshly done sousaphones.
Trombone Overhaul
Before
After
Trumpet Overhaul
Before
After
Tools
Assembly bench
Degreaser
Dent Balls for getting inside the tubing
The dent machine and other dent tools
Metal working lathe
Soldering bench
Repair Shop to go
Jimazing Thoughts 
Jimazing Thoughts… » Blog Archive » Workin' for the Man - Part 12 said,
November 29, 2007 at 10:24 pm
[…] came to the house. I actually had more business as a home based business than I did when I had the full service shop. As the business became more successful, it began taking over my life. Jeanie handled the pickups […]
Judy said,
October 5, 2009 at 11:28 am
Do you ever miss doing this?
jimazing said,
October 5, 2009 at 10:46 pm
You know I don’t really. I enjoy being around other repair techs. I met a sax repairman in Berkeley this summer and it was fun to connect. When I did it, it was my identity and I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. In retrospect, it was a job I loved. I loved connecting with the music scene and working with my hands… but I don’t have a desire to do it again. With my tremor, I don’t think I could do the really delicate piccolo work anymore.
Jeff Calistri said,
May 12, 2015 at 11:48 am
I have been trying to make a trumpet lamp and can not figure out how to get the cord through the leadpipe. Someone suggested blowing string through and then tying the cord to the string but it just won’t pull through the tubing. I took the valves out and tried to guide it through the bottom tubes and that didn’t work either. What’s the secret??!! I want to run the cord all the way through.
jimazing said,
June 7, 2015 at 2:03 pm
Hi Jeff. That was so many years ago, I can’t remember. I am quite sure I did it one piece at a time. In other words, threaded thru the bell, then thru the valve casings (without the valves) and then out the bottom slide tube, with the slide off. Then thru the main tuning slide then thru the leadpipe. Then I would have carefully pulled the cord tighter as I inserted the tuning slide. Hope that helps.
Jim
Phil Maxfield said,
May 20, 2010 at 10:42 am
So do you still repair brass instruments??? I have an F. E. Old’s Opera horn in need of some TLC. The bell has a twist/crinkle and a spit valve is AWOL. and a good going over to make sure its playable. If the horn wasn’t rare I wouldn’t bother but the Opera model is NOT a common one. so Value is near $1000…. well worth dropping $4-500 to get it back in some kind of shape
jimazing said,
June 9, 2010 at 1:08 am
Phil, Sorry to say that I do not. There are a lot of good repair techs still out there though.