Looking at horns on ebay and such. Even seen several linked to here....
Should I be concerned about the valves?
I feel like the general condition of the horn, scratches and dings can be understood through photos pretty well, but I'm concerned about spending a bunch to get sticky valves.
I pulled my old trumpet out of the closet for my son's 4th grade band start-up this year. After many years of neglect, the valves are just sticky. Some of the plating is worn off the pistons, but I had hoped that they would work themselves in through use. No luck. So I took it to the local instrument repair shop and had it ultrasonically cleaned. Still no luck. Tried a couple types of oil too...
So now I'm shy about buying used instruments.... should I be?