Woodwind Repairs

Woodwind Instrument Repairs
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I carry out repair work on all Woodwind instruments such as:

Bassoon, Contra Bassoon
Oboe, Cor Anglais, Oboe d'Amore, Bass Oboe, Heckelphone Sarrusophone etc.
Clarinet, Alto Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Eb Clarinet, C Clarinet
Flute, Alto Flute, Wooden Flutes, Piccolos, Fifes
Soprano-, Alto-, Tenor Saxophone
Recorders

Cost

The prices for repairs vary a lot due to the work needed and it is only possible to give estimate prices for repairs. Work is charged on an hourly rate and discounts are given for labour intensive jobs that take longer - you pay for more hours, you get them cheaper! That includes batches of instruments.

For more details, please give me a ring on 09-814 1940 or 021-181 9269

More about repairing...

Repair Work is a vital part being a Woodwind Instrument maker. Throughout the years I came across various repair situations that challenged all my skills as Woodwind Instrument and Tool Maker.

Coming from Instrument Making rather than Repairing and with my own Flute production running, I am not shy to do repairs on instruments where other repair-technicians stop. Making a new key or even whole new Instrument parts, all that can be done.

Since I learned my Instrument Making skills on the Bassoon and the manufacture of it, Bassoon Repairs and complete overhauls are my speciality

Here are some examples of some special repair work that I did:

You get a description of what you see when you hover over the picture!

Flute Repairs, examples of Ripped pads that are hard to spot sometimes...

A damaged Lip-Plate of a wooden Flute head joint is fitted with a African blackwood Patch

Making a missing Ab key from scratch

Keycup and keypart silver soldered together

Key-Rod and key-cup part with the hole for the Key-rod

Key-cup part after silver soldering the key-rod and needle spring hook

Handmade Roller key, cut out of sheet Nickel silver

Cut out Raw key before filing and bending to the final shape

Filed Roller key wih Roller and Roller-screw

Assembled Roller Key before soldering onto key-rod

Roller Key fixed with wire to the Key-rod before soldering

Test-fit of the now silver soldered key before sanding and buffing

Roller Key buffed to high sheen before Nickel plating

Roller Key now Nickel plated and properly installed with Pad and key-corks

Repairing a broken Wing joint tenon on a wooden Bassoon

Repairing a cracked and out of round Bell tenon on the same Bassoon:

The Original Tenon, cracked and out of round

A custom turned wooden sleeve pushes the timber together and into a more round shape

The cracks are now glued together and the timber is pushed close to round by the sleeve and a mallet

A brass ring is turned to fit onto the skimmed down tenon

The brass ring is then turned to the correct diameter

Underneath the tenon cork, the former crack is still visible

Here the same repaired crack visible from the inside

Saxophone Pads are not properly glued in and cause leaks:

Rotten Timber Repair

Bassoons can have rotten timber around the wooden bore in the boot joint where the gusset sits. Too much moisture and not enough care after playing the Bassoon can cause a lot of damage. Repairing is possible and can safe the whole instrument. The rotten timber is drilled or scraped out and the bore is then re-cast with Epoxy Resin...

Woodwind Instrument Repairs