Horn

Stopping Mute:  Broken solder joint.

So this is a common issue on these expensive mutes.  Mine was around $70.00  for a little piece of metal with some cork.  Anyway, after one fall from a foot and a half off the ground back in my undergrad, the solder joint (which is almost non-existent) broke.

the reason the solder joint broke so easy, was because there was too much space between the stem and the little bell on the end of the mute.  So using the technique I learned when fitting an outer upper main slide tube on a trumpet mouthpipe; I measured the diameters, made a shim out of brass, fit it, and resoldered the parts.  This gave a much stronger bond since there was more contact surface.  Apparently the mute was lacquered with cellulose lacquer, so while I was soldering, it burned and looked ugly.  I sanded it down:

buffed it, and relacquered the stem and bell, finished product:

Personal Horn:  Complete Overhaul. Holton Merker-Matic H-276

Issues:
- dirty from over a year of not being cleaned
- stuck water key "hinge rod"
- excessive amount of solder on 8 out of 10 inner slide tubes

(I have an issue of forgetting before photos...)

I first chem flushed the horn, then reemed out the slide tubes to remove the excess solder:

When removing the Holton water key from the horn I accidently knocked off the nipple from the lead pipe.  So instead of resoldering the nipple and a new Holton water key, I installed a JoyKey Water Key:

And completely assembled:

I then polished the horn with "Miracle Cloth":

 

I then oiled, assembled, and strung the valves (and greased the slides):

The horn is so much more free blowing, it's literally like having a new horn: