Low Key Music

02/09/2026

Reviving a Buffet pre-R13 clarinet. It's very close to the 50k serial numbers where the R13 began. Was it a thing to use kid skin pads back in the day? It's probably not been repadded since the 1950s.

09/23/2025

The King Silver Sonic turned out not too bad for a trumpet that had been kicked down the road. I replaced two sections of tubing and refabricated one patch and had to make another patch for one of the knuckles on the first valve. The bell being sterling silver had some very tight wrinkles that I could not completely remove in fear of it tearing. It's a shame that the engraving is so weak from previous refinishes. It plays well and has a great tone

09/16/2025

Been working on a King Silver Sonic trumpet for a while now. I may get some grief on the finish that I chose, but this one has been refinished possibly twice before and it was not going to buff out well without thinning. The bell is sterling silver and it had been buffed heavily already. I am just focusing on getting a playable trumpet that doesn't look like it was run over by a school bus. Here are the before photos. Stay tuned for the rest.

04/04/2024

Finishing up some repairs on a King 3B Trombone. Slide crook replacement, cork barrel and, tuning slide repair.

03/12/2024

Made some custom buttons for the pocket trumpet.

03/12/2024

02/14/2024

Working on a sad little pocket trumpet. I'm not the first one on the scene, but I will put it in much better condition than it is right now. It is missing some braces and the bell to body connector ferrule is completely split. See more photos in the album.

10/11/2023

Soprano sax repair can sometimes be a real challenge. From tiny pad leaks to crazy previous repairs.

11/10/2022

Just finished a pretty challenging repair. This soprano took a bad fall. For practical purposes it wasn't really feasible to repair. The body tube was badly stretched in the bend. I machined a partial mandrel for just the upper body. It's not as perfect as I wish it could be, but I don't think it could be much better. It is playable again and doesn't seem to exhibit any intonation or tone issues, but they may be there to a more critical player.

08/09/2022

The Conn Connstellation was definitely a challenge. It was bent in just about every direction. The goal was to save it without doing a full restoration and refinish job. There was one tear in the rear of the bell that required a patch. Some places the metal was stretched badly and still show signs of repair.