I'm not having much luck with google today. Lee Valley's hardware catalog
seems a dead end.

I could rig something up, surely, but it would be easiest to replace the
original latches with similar parts. I have two old trumpets here with bad
cases. One of the cases (from '48) is fugly, and I'm not worried about
fixing it because I plan to build a new one. The other one (from '69) is
in good enough shape to send the boy off to school with it (as long as no
one in his class notices the gorgeous orange shag carpet lining it...
ugh!), but the latches that keep it closed are broken. Well, one of them
was broken. Now they've both been removed.

I mention the fact that there are two cases because by the look of it, the
parts are of an identical form factor (slightly different locking
mechanisms), even though the two trumpets are from different decades, and
different manufacturers. It looks like the rounded brass-plated steel edge
guards are identical too. These look like off-the-shelf parts from the age
before high-impact plastic (though curiously, the '69 case has a styrofoam
insert... did they have styrofoam in '69? I guess so... I ain't that
old. Sorry all you geezers.)

Anyway, anybody got a clue here? The more stout half of this is 1/2 plywood
with about a 2" long oval hole routed in it (with a 7/8" bit it looks like)
to accept the locking part. The other end just has a little spring loaded
flippy thing that engages with the locking bit, and the part where it
attaches is only about 3/8" thick. Hard to describe, innit?

If I can't come up with something for this, I'll have to come up with a
whole different plan. It's covered with mottled faux leather brown vinyl
stuff. The wood is too thin to do anything creative with, but I'm thinking
walnut might look OK against the vinyl. Maybe attach some kind of extra
mounting pad and use some other kind of hardware on it.

In the latter case, any good ideas (with URLs, preferably) for some kind of
non-OEM rig-something-up replacement hardware that would make for a good,
very secure, spill-free closure of an instrument case? Preferably with
some kind of locking mechanism. (My flute case was always flying open in
middle school. I don't know how many times I dropped that thing on the
stairs. It's no wonder I was 13th chair. I don't want the boy doing the
same to his trumpet.)

And finally on this subject...

That one case is seriously, seriously fugly. I have a dent bag... Um... A
gig bag I can use for the time being, but I want to build a new case for
that horn. I started off with some plywood I have on hand, and by the time
I cut out the parts, I had a 40 pound monstrosity. 3/4" oak ply with birch
faces. (Why birch on the outside, oak on the inside? I'll never know.)

It's too heavy, and it's too light too. Oak wouldn't be much better. What
Daddy really wants for his precious baby trumpet is something done up in
walnut and brass. Oooooh, ahhhhh.

I could use some joinery ideas. I'll never find boards wide enough, so I
figure start by gluing up 3" wide strips or such. Then I have six pieces
to make a box, more or less, but beyond that I'm not quite sure what to do.

I could actually use a gasp plan, I think. I don't want to get too fancy
(no dovetails or anything) but I want it strong and well-built.

I have a long time to think this one over, since I have a walnut budget of
$0 at the moment. Any nifty ideas?

What about hardwaring it up? One thought I have is to do simple double
rabbet or whatever joinery (two interlocked L shapes) and hide the end
grain under brass angles running between brass corner plates. Dremel up
the brass and make it spiff, then cover the whole thing in... well,
probably poly I guess. (Yes Monsieur Jacques, I'm thinking about polying
walnut, because poly is indestructible, and this thing might see some nasty
substances spilled on it.)

That could look seriously cool if I pulled it off right. I want people to
go "holy crap dude, that's an instrument case? why? why on earth do you
have such a gorgeous, ridiculously ornate and spiffy looking thing as an
instrument case?"

Blah blah blah. Thanks for listening.

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