Originally Posted by
John Morgan
Well, when it rains it pours. I mentioned above that I found a tiny little pin prick dent in the bottom bow on my Adams E3 a while back. I contacted Lee Stofer after reading about Dave's mishap and repair above. I am going to ITEC and so is Lee, so he suggested we might meet right after ITEC. Well, no sooner than Lee and I started our conversation, the hand brace came unsoldered/undone on my Adams on the side closest to the bell. Fortunately the other side did not come undone simultaneously or I would have dropped my horn. So, now, after another conversation with Lee, I am, believe it or not, packaging up the Adams (myself) and sending it to Lee by Greyhound (Lee says most of his work comes to him that way and never a problem - I am already a nervous wreck). Linda and I started today, and will finish packaging it up tomorrow. I have read all I can about packaging (I have sent several horns before with good results in all but one case).
I also plan to bring my 1956 B&H Imperial to ITEC and get a quote from Lee for a complete restore (although the horn is already in remarkably good condition, not much to do in my opinion). If the quote sounds okey-dokey, then I will leave the horn with him and let him work on it on his schedule over the next several months. He is extremely busy, so just getting him to bite on some new work is gratifying. He remarked to me that he sold a 1957 B&H Imperial a long while back and could kick himself for doing that, so maybe working on my 1956 model will be some sort of therapy for the emotional loss of his long gone horn.
I will report back on my experience with Lee, which I expect to be excellent. I am really anxious to see what he can do for the Imperial. It has that gun metal type finish (not frosted, not shiny except inside the bell, and not brushed). Not sure how you "redo" a finish like that, might not even need it actually. I just have a couple very minor dents, a piece of metal work needed on the 4th valve casing, new valve guides installed, and probably all new corks, felts, etc. That is all I know about. Oh, and the 3rd valve compensating slide is stuck and I haven't done much to get it unstuck.
My Wessex to the rescue!! I am playing Blue Bells of Scotland this semester in New Horizons Band, and will probably perform it in concert about a dozen times over the next 3-4 months. Got it out yesterday and am getting used to it again for a month or two. Still a really nice horn to have, and I am glad I kept it.