Just brought my old Mahillon to the shop to ask about repairs. The experience was a little strange imho, and I was wondering/interested if any of you guys have had similar experiences with repair shops and your thoughts about it.
At first, I should say I didn't go directly to the repair-shop I used to go, which used to be very good. Unfortunately, when the old guy died about 15 years ago, it was taken over by a larger firm with several shops in The Netherlands. Their HQ is close to my home, so I went there for advice.
It already started when I came in with my horn in its case. The man at the desk somehow didn't know how to handle the situation, so he went to get the owner. I don't know what he said to him, but when the owner came, he looked at my case and said: "No no, that is not a horn. That is a Baritone or Alto horn, maybe." I said it might even be a Saxhorn (in fact I know it is according to the Museum of Musical Instruments in Brussels, which is founded by the son of Charles-Borromée Mahillon, the maker of my instrument and which has many Mahillon instruments in their collection, including a similar one as my instrument, so I think they know what they are talking about) but he just said: "No I don't think so, let's open the case and see who is right." And when I opened the case, he said: "Yes, you see, a baritone. It's definately not a horn." (At that point, I was already biting my tongue not to say "I said SAXhorn, do you even know what you are talking about?" not to mention what the musem had told me....)
Then he immediately said they wouldn't service it, because it was not worth it. I found that strange, because I believe that is up to me to decide. He then told me again it's not worth it, because it's too old and probably older pitch, so not compatible in ensemble with modern instruments. I said I just wanted to play it for fun and don't intend to play it in ensembles (actually I might, because I know it is modern pitch, but I didn't want to get into an argument at this point). Then he said they could do it if I really wanted to, so I said I did.
He then proceeded to write up the service-ticket. The he said again: "But you do understand it's not worth it, do you? So you don't throw it back to us afterwards..." I said "Yes, I do understand, but I just want it to play fine, with new corks etc. and the valves moving smoothly, so I can play it for fun."
In the end, I found this experience very strange. I would understand it when they would have politely adviced against servicing my horn, but just bluntly say "no, it's not worth it" is beyond me. Again, it's up to me to decide what to do with my own instrument, isn't it? If it's worth it to me, a paying customer, it should be worth it to them as well, whatever the condition of the instrument.
The fact is that I know this man is not personally going to service my horn, otherwise I would not have left it there...
I am probably overreacting, but still interested what your thoughts are on this.