Steve

I’m sure you will agree that as a collector, finding someone to do a repair or restoration is a major task. I like your comment about an “over the top restoration”. That happened to me once. The repair person was so taken with the instrument that she went overboard, not in price, but in making the horn look “new”, which was not my goal. I think she fell in love with the horn.

In any case, young collectors are up against high initial prices when acquiring an instrument, and an even harder task of finding a qualified repair person.

One of the best repair persons of my acquaintance quit the business because he became so disenchanted with the work. He did work for a very high priced middle and high school and said he was disgusted with the way the instruments were returned to him year after year for repair. The kids made a habit of trashing the instruments at the close of the school year. It became an annual ritual. It made him sick to see what the kids did to top of the line instruments. I think he sells insurance now, but is happier in his work.

But, seriously, there are many different flavors of collectors – from those that want affordable if not so rare antiques to those that want highly valued scarcities.

And, there many different flavors of repair services that do full (and maybe over the top) restores, conservative restores, refurbishes, to general fixes.

And the service provided somewhat depends on the hourly wage, but also the time that the work requires. But, just as importantly it depends on the philosophy, principles and approach to the work of the service.