Posted by Chuck(G) on December 23, 2002 at 13:04:21:
In Reply to: Ho Ho Holton II (or III?) posted by DS on December 23, 2002 at 12:20:27:
I've seen several 60's era Holtons with cracks or small tears in the bell. It seems that the bell material on these is fairly thin. Fortuantely, it's fairly easy to have cracks repaired, but it does damage the lacquer finish. If you want to play test the horn and it buzzes, try putting some tape over the cracks to quiet them down. If it still buzzes, try some 3M silicone bathtub calk that comes in roll--it can be removed cleanly and won't make a mess.
Cracks are sometimes repaired by soft-soldering a thin brass patch over them on the outside. If done carefully and the edges of the patch are feathered, the result can look quite good.
On silverplated horns, I prefer to carefully hard-solder some 63% silver solder into the crack if the metal's not too thin and the crack's not too large. It takes a controlled flame and a light touch, but the result is nearly invisible.
There are also brass- or gold-colored hard solders, used mostly in jewelry production. I've not tried any, but I wonder if it might not work on brass finishes.