Horn overhaul
On Saturday I took my French horn to the shop to get various things repaired, and this morning I got the repair checklist:
- Pulling stuck slides (1st and 3rd F slides, at least)
- Flushing the valves and pipes
- Working out various dents in the bell tube
- Removing a sharp dent in the 1st F slide
- Replacing the rotor bumpers on all four valves
- Shimming the rotors with Mylar to reduce noise
All told, only $280! I was expecting a much steeper bill for the work items, since this is the instrumental equivalent of an engine rebuild, but I will freakin’ take it. The shop offered to do a total reconditioning of the valve rotors, but that would have bumped the bill to $400…strongly tempting, and if I were planning to go pro with this horn I’d have done it, but I’m not so I didn’t. I’ll just be happy that everything’s clean, moving, and quieter. It should be done by this weekend.
In other horn related news, the music store I went to gave me the number of a French horn instructor in the area. Once I get my horn back and playing again on my own, I’m planning on giving him a call and setting up at least a weekly lesson to improve in areas that I find myself lacking. Embouchure is pretty high on that list, I’m not sure that I was ever doing it “correctly.”
