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Gunner Asch[_6_] Gunner Asch[_6_] is offline
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Default Need advice on emergency bent trumpet horn repair

On Mon, 19 Aug 2013 07:35:50 -0400, micky
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Aug 2013 09:44:08 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D."
wrote:

My grandchild dropped the trumpet, denting the horn:
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2820/9...ac58b3d1_o.gif

He was crying up a storm (probably because he doesn't want me to tell his mom).

Do you think the now-bent trumpet can be saved before mom finds out?
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5500/9...ebdf135f_o.gif

I have about a day or two before she expects it back...

What tools would straighten the horn out?


If you were anyone else but the grandfather or grandmother, I would
say it's not your place to touch it and you should let his parents (or
whoever paid for it, decide what to do.)

But still, I don't think there is anything you or I can do that will
make it look original, or close enough that she won't notice if she
ever picks it up, or if she looks at it while he's playing.

Is there a place that make's trumpets nearby. Maybe they can put it
in the form they use in the first place and sqeeze it down again. Or
a music store that sells instruments can tell you who repairs them

I would not use a hammer. It will put little dents in on top of the
big dent and they will be harder to get out.

If I were trying to do it myself I would get someone who is used to
autobody work by hand**, or bending metal in general (I always bend
metal, usually until it breaks, before I throw it away.) and have him
do it by hand, with his thumbs in just the right place, moving them as
necessary.

**I've been able to make a 3 foot dent into a 6" dent, such that the
first 2.5 feet look perfect, with my hands or my foot,, but usually I
can't get the last 6" with just my hands or if I did, I know t here
would be a wrinkle in it. . Of course that is steel and not brass,
but it's thinner too.


How old is he? Was he roughhousing or being careless or was it the
kind of accident even an adult might have?

How does it sound? Maybe if it has extra sounds, one can get rid of
them without fully repairing it.

Can he get by the way it is, until he decides he's serious about the
trumpet and would want a better one anyhow?

He seems to have done a lot of damage. Does that mean it's soft and a
person can put it back with his thumbs, or did he drop it a long way?


Typically sandbags and specialized hammers and drifts are used

This may help. Its not an uncommon problem..but it can be fairly
expensive to fix "properly"

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=trumpet+repair+california

Simply change the state to whatever state/provence you live in.


"There are no leftists in mainstream American politics.

Just two right wing parties, one hard right and one softer."
Christopher A. Lee, 8/18/2013