I have no idea how I got here, or why I stayed. In fact, I was wondering if I needed to just get a life. However, after the first 10 minutes of watching a master craftsman at work, I was grateful I found this channel. I'll proceed to binge watch now.
LOL - same here. DId play trumpet in school though. And did get a few dings, including snapping off the center-valve's tuning slide. My father took it to a local music store, which back then, had an in-house repairman who soldered it back good as new. So, yeah, I had a life until I stopped playing it ... :))) Very cool to watch this man's work.
It's so refreshing to have the problems included in a video and not deleted out. I'm so tired of seeing videos where everything goes perfectly, which we know almost never happens.
Loved this video. I have an early 60s olds ambassador that I played for 7 years in middle/high school, and still play occasionally 18 years later. Before that, it was my dad’s, and has played taps at many a Veterans Day, and Memorial Day functions, as well as military funerals. Those horns have incredible longevity. Thanks for giving this one new life ✌🏻🇺🇸
I had one too - probably around the same vintage. My parents bought it at a pawn shop for me sometime around 1989 or so. Had an awesome sound, but the valve action was pretty heavy.
Gotta love watching all this fine metal work. As an electronic rework technician, I have done and seen a lot of brazing, but not on finer brass tubing with a torch. This is really impressive work. Different technique from electronics but still require very fine work. Thank you for making this available. I won't ever know anything about music, or playing an instrument, but now I got a much better grasp of how brass musical instruments are made and repaired.
I played my dad's old 1949 Ambassador when I was in the band - my son also played it and my nephew still plays the horn. After 3 generations and 4 players, it still looks and plays good. The Ambassador was a fine trumpet.
That would have had the round pinky ring like this one. Those are a much better playing horn than the ones they made after the Olds company moved from LA to Fullerton, but some of the first ones made in Fullerton were made the same way as the LA models. You have one of the good ones. 😊🎺
I had left my trumpet out in high school and some family member must have stepped on it and then shoved it under a coach. I found it and tried to work out all the dents as best I could. After seeing this I’m going to see if my mom still has it and get it fixed for future trumpet players in the family.
I think you have a really cool job. You get to repair those painfully damaged instruments for a living. It is quite satisfying, watching your hard work remove those dents and dings.
That Mister, was one superb job done by a REAL PROFESSIONAL!! Yo've got a happy & satisfied over all subscriber, I surely enjoided every second of it, from Monterrey Mexico with a whole lot of greetings.
suggestion: When pushing the the metal in place from the "outside" you can eliminate any scratches to the "outside" of the bell area if you roll wax paper or thin buckskin around your burnishing tools surface.
Back in the late 60s and early 70s I was a gutar repairman for a local music store. Yhe shop next door to mine was the band instrument shop. I wish I could recall the name of the gentleman who did that work, he was well into his seventies, I guess. He was the consummate professional who could completely disassemble a horn of any kind and recondidtion them, even replate the siver ones. He had his favorite failure hanging on his wall, a trumpet that had been completely flattened under the wheels of a high school band bus. He said it was the first and only instrument he didn't try to restore. It was almost comical to see, only the valves weren't smashed to a half-inch thick slab of brass.
I made some tools for a guy that repaired instruments like this. I had never heard of him and didn't know how famous he actually was. His name was Bobby DeNicola and was famous for his style of mouthpeices.
You Sir are a True Artist and it shows in your passion for what you do. My question for you is, What would be the cost of doing a repair like this versus the cost of a similar High School Band grade replacement trumpet? Is it cost effective to fix this type of damage?
Sir, you are a master. I would never believe that bell could be straightened out. Job well done. About how much do you charge for fixing a disaster like this?
Very impressive Wes! I wonder if you have ever considered trying to use a rolling pin with leather glued to it, to pull in a downward motion to help pull the wrinkle out when using the bell tube mandril that is in the vise. I think it would bring really good results. Just a thought.🤔Truly worked some magic with this one.
I was watching an old Pink panther cartoon about the guy playing a tuba. The Pink panther was trying to sleep and the guy kept playing the tuba, poorly. Anyway the Pink panther busted up the tuba several times. Long story short I watched a cartoon about a tuba getting smashed and I scrolled down and Wala, your fixing a busted trumpet. RU-vid is weird. Oh, good job on the trumpet.
Thank you for the video. First time I watched something like this. With that stuck tube, I was wondering if you could solder onto it with a scrap piece of tubbing that you could gently tap on. Also, would heating that area help loosen it? I am only a little way into the video before I made this comment. Can't wait to see how you fix it and straighten it. Thanks, Terr Ok, I kept watching. Yup, you moved on to more aggressive techniques. Nice nice nice work. I never would have thought the horn could be worked out like you did. Excellent! Terr
It's amazing that you can fix a bent flower part😯 How to repair brass: This is how we make uneven parts even It's supposed to be hard, but it's soft and looks like tanned leather, which is a strange feeling.
I wonder if an electric paint stripping gun might go well in your tool box. A sort of hot, but not too hot :o) Anyhoo, that was amazing, like watching a glass blower. You can see it happening, but it doesn’t look possible.
For beauty, to hang on the wall - it will do. But I would not play it, because the zamins have changed the sound and instead of a monolithic sound, it will have overtones of fragments from former zamins.
I loved watching this To the point I want to try this I fix cars for norm welding them . Your job has the lighter touch . Is it tin solder that you use ? Or is it silver rods ? Thanks for your video 👍👍👍😜🏴🦕🦄😁✌🤞
you said "this one is going to have some scars", can those scars be avoided if the repairs are made sooner, as in immediately? I have heard it said that metals have memory that sets in over time.
Could someone please tell me the name of what I use to polish the solder part at minute 8:28 please, or any advice for polishing the brass of an instrument? Thank you, regards
@@Vegetaa4242 Aye ya, when I was in marching band, my new shiny silver Bach took a tumble off the top row of stands, fell down a gap under the bench seats and landed on concrete some good ways below, was crunched worse than the one in the video, but whoever my parents sent it off to made the resto on it look almost new, these craftsmen are legends at how much they can almost rewind time on these instruments.
Metal is just as able as playdoh in the right hands. If you really want to see additional craftsman at work, check out the masters of paintless dent repair on vehicles and such.
What does you being a machinist for 25 years have to do with anything? Were you an excellent machinist for 25 years or just someone who operated by rote process, for example. SMH
I dropped my trumpet down a flight of stairs in 1984 as a freshman in high school. I was heartbroken it was my most valuable and prized possession because it was a silver Bach which was rare in those days for a high school kid to have. My parents had it repaired like new; I gained 1st chair, 1st trumpet the following year and still play it to this day. I always wondered how this was done, thank you to all Master Restorers & Mr. Wes Lee. You do more than fix instruments-you keep dreams alive.
I fully anticipated him to pummel it with a mallet, but he's been incredibly precise and used the absolute minimum of force to persuade the metal into shape. Truly impressive.
as some one who works with metal, steel and some times aluminum, I too expected some pummeling. pretty amazing to see him persuade the brass back into shape with his hands.
@@NebachadnezzaR tbh for a metalworker that normally works with steel seeing him using a hammer so little you unironically can count the hits with your fingers. Every time I work with steel the hammer is not far away. Be it on the anvil or the welding table.
I'm not a musician, but a mechanic, I've worked lots of similar dents out of steel pipes and tubing, never imagined you would so smoothly and cleanly iron those dents out. I've played various instruments in my life, not much good, and just stumbled across this video, and found it fascinating. Brass is so nice and straight forward to work with, and you did a beautiful job resurrecting that horn. Thanks for sharing that. I mess around with the violin and the piano to a small degree, but that trumpet came out very well.
@@fratt-boy6268 "I've played various instruments", "not much good" and "I mess around with the violin and the piano to a small degree" is in some way different from "I'm a musician"
I get it. I play trumpet, piano, guitar, harmonica (harp) and the ukulele. But I dont really consider myself a musician. I just love music. Real musicians can play song after song without any type of mistake. I can barely make a measure. Some would disagree, but not me. Im not really that good. Totally makes sense. Yeah! Insane how well you worked that out. Excellent work! I am considering a Bach TR200 that looks like it was used as a missile in war. What do you charge to do something like this job in the video? Do you take jobs from people like me? I would love to chat with you! The Bach is honestly nowhere near as bad. But its not good!
Whatever you play, you're probably going to mess up an instrument or two over the course of your life, unless you're very careful or fairly lucky. I'm a guitar player, and I've worked in guitar repair, so for me watching you work on brass is a bit like watching an alien mechanic tune up his spaceship--but there's something universal about caring for musical instuments so they can keep making music. I always wondered what a horn-player's repair man got up to in the shop, and watching your videos has been an eye-opening expericence. Many happy returns, man.
I believe no matter what instrument you play however sturdy it may be you should always take care of it. Right now I am in my middle school band and I have seen numerous clarinets dropped by beginners and just plain carelessness, but no matter how far of a drop I always winced at it. Not only that but when I was in 5th grade my friend held my saxophone by the neck and dropped it. When i came back to it it was in tons of pieces and since that very day I hadn't ever let anyone hold my instrument without me having my hand on it.
As a journeyman Millwright and Ironworker for 40 years, I am fascinated by fabrication, restoration masters. You should be very proud of your accomplishments. You are at the very top of your craft.
A long time ago, I did repairs at Getzen. Watching you do what you do takes me right back. I have similar scars on my hands from needle springs on saxes. You make it look easy, like they guy who taught me. His name was Wes!
Nice work, Wes. Thanks for sharing your skills with us other techs. I recently straightened a severely damaged King 4B T-bone bell that had been beautifully custom engraved along its entire length, so it was worth the effort to straighten it. It had been crunched like your trumpet bell, but had a more severe twist. It took me a lot of time to get it presentable, but it still has some light scars from where the crimped metal from the twisting motion had done its worst damage.
Not a musician. Never learned how. Don't know how this came into my feed. But happy it did. I knew that instrument was ready for trash. Never knew someone had such a skill to repair. Thanks.
I am impressed with how you worked so hard to try and preserve the one badly corroded part. And you did an amazing job with the bell. In the end you had a great vintage horn, and not a re-manufactured horne. Wonderful! Great work. Thank you!
I've got my old Selmer Bundy trumpet from when i was in grade school. Got dents, all the slides are frozen and the bell is sort of jacked up. How do I contact you to get it fixed up as only you can??
Incredible rehabilitation. Those Ambassadors are great instruments. For a horn that was the AK 47 of the high school trumpeter, it's just a terrific go-to axe for any type of job; the company invested a lot of engineering in giving it really respectable sound, which you wouldn't expect from a horn in that market position. This one has a dark, backdoor jazz club sound now, with its brass dulled up and its lacquer mostly gone. I'd be tempted to keep it just that way. Simply amazing restoration. Thanks for the show!
