Pick up ye old trumpet case with trumpet enclosed, secure with a
couple of rubber bands, and head for a musical instrument dealer.

He keeps weird hours. I can never catch him "at home" when I am. (Probably
because he's 425 years old, and has been repairing band instruments for 375
of those years. I think he plays a lot of golf or something these days.)

(Yes, "he" as in "the one." I only know one place around here I would trust
to sell me anything more complicated than a pack of guitar strings.)

Yup.

Another possibility is the band teacher. When I broke the latch on my

Don't have a band teacher yet. That comes next year.

What he thinks he's going to be taking to band next fall is a 1948 Getzen
Super Deluxe with **** poor valves, severe pitting and red rot problems
that I fixed as well as I could, dings galore, with most of the intra-valve
tubing caved in somewhat. It's been stripped, and all the pretty tri-tone
metal stuff turns a pukey brown if you breathe on it twice. It sits in a
hideous "tweed" green case that's covered with cigarette burns, gouges,
scratches, and has been to hell and back at least six times. (He's playing
it now. Or, well, he's making really horrible noises with it anyway. He's
taking good care of it, and has no idea it isn't his new baby after all.)

What he's actually getting is a '69 Olds Ambassador with a 95% intact
original epoxy lacquer finish, only one itty bitty ding that's not remotely
worth having taken out, perfect valves and slides, in a comparatively much
more tasteful brown faux leather and orange shag carpet case. Except for
the orange (I hate orange) it looks pretty cherry. It has seen some use to
be sure, but the thing is like a Rolls Royce compared to the battered,
crappy looking thing he expects to be taking with him.

Don't tell him he's getting it.

I'm trying to fix the original case, but I could always just suck it up and
buy him a new one I guess. It seems like this is a difficult thing to make
well at home if you want to keep it light and strong. Maybe I'll keep the
case for me and not send him off with orange shag carpet inside. That's
bound to get him beaten up by someone, don't you think? It looks tres
Austin Powers bayyyyyyybe. Still need to fix it either way though.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/