Posted by sidelines on February 09, 2003 at 04:13:39:
In Reply to: Re: Tuba overhaul web page completed posted by Tom B. on February 08, 2003 at 13:51:19:
You know, I have a brother-in-law that I really like to have around at parties, because he always asks people those questions that I just don't have the nerve to ask.
Tom B., you are my surrogate brother-in-law on this website!...
Yes! MAGNIFICENT work!!! ...elaborating on what Tom was thinking: As I've recently been quoted c. $400 for a brand-new bell (never creased / never weakened / never scratched / just needs a color buff once soldered in place ...it looks like possibly
1/ buying the garland and paying shipping (of course, the shipping can be absorbed by ordering quite a few other misc. parts)... wholesale $50 - $75 (??)
2/ plus ALL of the labor (removal of garland / removal of solder / extensive dent machine work and hand work / surface prep / very carefully trimming the edge of the raw rim / soldering on the new garland / possibly some very light and careful sanding / considerable futzing around with the garland lip / buffing out the marks from the old creases, dents, and scratches...
Wouldn't a really talented repairman (whether charging for his impressive speed, impressive skills, or both) wish to charge about...$400...to do all of that for an old bell?...and, though the work is extraordinarily impressive and the bell looks almost as new, would a new never-creased $400 dealer-cost bell be more resistant to creasing?...and would a typical customer pay, say, $600 for a new bell vs. $400 for the extraordinarily-well-repaired old bell?...and free up considerable time for the repairman to apply his extraordinary talents on the next instrument waiting for his attention?
- " a penny-counting and minute-counting sidelines guy who sees the necessity of keeping these Miraphone restoration jobs below $2800, as a brand new instrument is only about $1000 more"