David A Bierman Band instrument repair

01/02/2025

Happy New Year and the shop is basically closed for accepting new work until next week. Which allows me to catch up with family and some of the work that came in before the holiday. Again wishing everybody a Happy New Year.

12/24/2024

To our customer's, friends and colleagues.
Merry Christmas , happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year

12/15/2024

Before and after repairing dented tuning slide and Main body dents using Dent ball repair tools that are in 5 thousandths increments

This can be a somewhat slow process one has to start with a much smaller size Dent ball tool to get under the dented area and gradually change each size out by unthreading the brass retainer then changing the ball to the next larger size and after reinstalling the retainer using lubrication to work the dent out.
This is done in conjunction with using a burnishing tool on the outside of the tubing or light careful tapping around the edge of the dent to lower any raised areas that occurred when the brass tubing got dented.

12/06/2024

I thought this film clip of the making of an oboe is of Interest.

Top level professional grade instruments must respond the first and every time that a performer uses them. One can't use the excuse with an employer that they didn't sound their best because of the instrument. That would mean the performer would not be hired back again.

And so the time it takes to make such an instrument becomes important because it's a tool of that professional trade just like a particular tool in a mechanical trade.

And one might ask why not just grow this wood elsewhere.
Although this is being done in other parts of the world the end result of the quality of the wood is not the same. This is being proven in other musical instruments and other woodworking trades throughout the world.

For example brazilwood that has grown in other parts of the world that is used for making violin bows just doesn't have the same quality and durability and response as the original wood grown in the rainforest.

The same goes for mahogany and other Woods like Cherry and Redwood. For example Cherry that is properly stocked and air-dried and will have gorgeous marbling color to it unlike the blackened Kiln dried wood.

And wood used for porch decks from other parts of the world just doesn't seem to last as long as the original stuff did when it was built many years before.

So people may wonder why a particular instrument costs as much as it does it's extremely labor intensive.

This is also true when you're repairing an instrument.

I had a clarinet come in the other day from a school that the manufacturer did not drill the lever deep enough for the pivot screw. They chose to grind back the pivot screw which Set It Off Center. Soon the post loosened up and the instrument failed. This meant instead of just tightening the post, with several possible methods, the lever also had to be drilled out to match the original type pivot screw. Not only did it take time to Analyze This but, also the time it took to correct the problem.

Many times even with a lot of experience you have to play detective to find out a problem during a repair.
Such as the clarinet I play tested at a School the other day. 1 minute it played Perfect and the next minute it wouldn't. It was an intermittent problem when I brought it back to the shop and started to check the regulation or adjustments I can feel two keys binding. Almost unnoticeable was a lower side lever sometimes catching on one of the keys. 5 minutes later straightening it solve the problem. But that was after time spent at the school and in the shop.

In any field there's no such thing as 5 minute job. If it only takes five or 15 minutes that's a bonus.

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11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

11/10/2024

This Monday Nov. 11th We honor those who served our country with many thanks for their service

11/10/2024

Sometimes in repairing band instruments you have to be a bit of a detective. This instrument continued to leak on a pressure check after the D ring key pad was replaced and sealed properly.

That's when I noticed the side F sharp key was not staying closed. Upon inspection it was missing both the flat spring and retaining screw.

It always amazes me how such parts can manage to vibrate loose and disappear. 🤔

11/03/2024

10/19/2024

The last of this late summer 30 instrument repair order went back to the schools yesterday. The order had been delayed due to waiting for administrative approval for the purchase order. (Which didn't come through till late September!)

10/13/2024

With the fall season that includes marching band with sometimes extreme and damp weather conditions Outdoors. Woodwind players especially should make sure to wipe down the instrument if they've been out of doors playing in damp or rainy situations. And remember to get both woodwind and brass instruments serviced before concert season starts in. 😁🎷🎺🎶😁

10/04/2024

Bench is empty for the first time in four or five months. The last of the second wave of late summer repairs are finally done.😁

It's a strange feeling to have nothing waiting in line to be repaired.
It creates Mixed feelings one of relief and in a week or so then one of concern until more instruments arrive.

And the finished repairs from the last second wave of 30 instruments awaits return once the paperwork arrives via the building administrator and Central administration office

10/03/2024

* caution Thinking Out Loud again...

Sometimes I wonder why I continue going out to the schools to repair band instruments since security has gotten tighter and tighter year by year.
I understand this need but in my opinion we should never have gotten to this point in this country where we have to go to these measures.

Today I got out to a middle school in a neighboring town where I am a approved Vendor by the Board of Ed and as I got to the front door (which was wide open by the way violating their own security regulations... They make the rules but they break them)

I ring the bell anyway to comply with security issues.

Meanwhile I also texted the band teacher to let him know I am standing here at the front door. He comes down the stairs from the band room and meets me at the door.

meanwhile the security guard who's supposed to be at the door is out 100 yards away guiding the students out at the street onto the buses.

So Nobody answers the camera Bell or acknowledges my existence but I know I can't enter the building until somebody from security responds.

Meanwhile the teacher and I are chatting at the door and waiting about 5 or 10 minutes for the security guard to finish up what he's doing.

meanwhile two other security guards go out on the front sidewalk and chat with the students over some problem. But nobody is responding to allowing me in the building while I'm standing there talking to the teacher.

Finally after another 10 or 15 minutes the main security guard walks back from the street up the sidewalk and acknowledges my existence.

( You have to understand they have a whole office just inside the building with big television screens just to see who is coming to the front door which is also monitored in the front office next door but there was nobody inside monitoring this as they are all outside leaving the door wide open to anybody to stroll in while they're out on the front lawn.

Finally 15 minutes later as the main security guard walks back and acknowledges my existence I'm allowed to go into the building and stop right away at his desk where I'm required to present a photo ID my driver license. I also hand him a business card.
Now they scan the license and make up a sticker with my picture with a notation of "contractor" on the sticker which I now place on my shirt.

I ask if it's okay to enter the building.

Security guard says " no , wait you must walk through the metal detector".
Note I've got a clipboard in my hand with a metal tab at the top. Of course the buzzer goes off. He suggests I hand him the clipboard and walk through the metal detector again this time no buzzer goes off.
( I'm expecting it to buzz because I had a kneecap repaired with a surgical stainless steel wire in it that I expect to set off the metal detector but it doesn't)

Finally I asked the guard if I can now follow the teacher up to the band room.

He jokingly says yes unless I follow him, as he's going home. I jokingly ask him what he was having for dinner. He said he didn't know.
I said " then I'm not following you home".🤣🤣🤣

Now about 20 minutes to a half an hour later I'm allowed to follow the band director up to the upstairs Band Room on the second floor.

Just imagine as a business person you have to wait a half an hour at every building you go to. It's amazing any repairs get done at all in this environment.

And to add insult to injury. These days in Central NJ you're required to do an estimate for every repair. No longer do they issue the department a budget and have the principal simply okay it.

Now you wait at least a day till the secretary types up a purchase order request and gets the principal to sign it. This could take anywhere from a day to never.

From there it goes to the board of Ed business office where again it waits to be approved which could be anywhere from a day or two to never.

Meanwhile the students and the teacher don't have a usable instrument in their classroom. The student and the teacher are at the mercy of the administrators. Which should not be the case.

Then after the purchase order is approved and the invoice sent in and proof that the repair has been done and return to the building. You wait again anywhere from 30 days to
maybe 5 months to get paid.
And you have to chase it down because if it goes past the following July you probably won't get paid because the business office books close down after July 1st.

It's getting so, although I understand the need for such security , I don't even want to enter the building anymore. Especially with stories in other states of children as young as a kindergartener that brought a weapon to school.

Thank goodness it wasn't this way when I was teaching!

Later while i talked to my aunt on the phone this evening I couldn't help but wonder out load to her "when, were and how did we get this point"?
When did it get to the point where kindergartners have to worry about lockdown procedures?
And that's really sad to think about!!!

In my opinion It should never have gotten this far out of hand.

And if it gets to a point where teachers are required to carry weapons I will no longer be going into the school buildings.
at that point the band directors will have to make other arrangements with me to pick up and deliver instruments.

All I can say is there's got to be a better system than this chaos.

*Okay now you can return to your regularly scheduled programming😁

10/01/2024

Another of the soldering clamp tools I've created over the years. This one is to hold the small 1/4" slide pull in place while soldering it to the second valve slide on this trumpet

10/01/2024

Just some of the tools used to repair dents in brass Band instruments. Such as the repair that was done on this little second valve slide on a trumpet.

Has a little brass threaded ball has many companions that gradually increase in0005 ( five thousandths of an inch) increments to gradually get under the dented damaged area and push the dent out. This can be a very time consuming process. Depending upon where the dent is in a brass band instrument

09/29/2024

So ya' think saxophone necks from different manufacturer brands can be interchanged?🤣🤣🤣 NOT.
Just because the tenon fits the socket doesn't mean that the keys will be long enough to connect up, not to mention the possible intonation problem on the octave notes as the length of the neck can be a little bit different between different brands of instrument. Unless of course it's a company that has two different brands that use the same parts.

I had to spend an additional half an hour not on the original estimate digging through my spare saxophone necks to find a neck that would work on this older King that the school swapped the neck out with what appears to be a summer Bundy or busher neck. I even went through the other six saxophones in the order just to make sure it didn't get mixed up with one of those. As you can see in the top photo the octave key bail was not even close to the octave lever on the main body.
The bottom photo shows the replacement neck with the keys all connecting up.

I know this is done to just put a school owned instrument in a Student's Hand. But when this happens it makes it impossible for me to fully adjust the instrument

09/25/2024

These alto sax leather Palm key pads were eaten From the Inside Out by the pad bugs or as I call them moth larvae. At a quick glance especially the one on the right looked good. But the instrument wouldn't play. But on closer inspection the one on the left was baggy with no wool felt left underneath. Hence it wouldn't seal. So one can still occasionally get fooled without a careful inspection of the instrument.

09/21/2024

New or Young brass players such as those that play trumpet might wonder how many pieces get disassembled during cleaning and servicing of their instrument.

As shown in this photo during cleaning and Servicing there are three valve slides, one for each valve, a tuning slide, three bottom valve caps and the three valves. As well as the mouthpiece

**On a side note rotary valve instruments such as French horn should be sent to a technician as reassembly can be a little tricky and delicate.

After cleaning and during reassembly each valve slide and the Turning slide as well as the threads on the bottom and top cap of the valves get a dab of Selmer tuning slide Grease. (Caution DO NOT use this on the playing hand slide of a trombone, it's only for turning slides. It looks like pink honey and almost never dries out. He's very sticky sort of like honey. I've packed Instruments packed away 10 years or more and today usually will not freeze up when this is done. In a pinch Vaseline can be used instead of the Turning side Grease.)

Next each valve gets coated with valve oil and reassembled in the proper valve casing. Trombone players use hand slide oil on the playing slide or they will use a tiny dab of Cold Cream and water and work each slide in individually) valves usually have a number on the upper spring Barrel which corresponds with the proper valve casing.

On trumpets the number one casing is closest to the player and mouthpiece and the number three valve casing is closest to the Bell. But it can be a little confusing on baritones and tubas.
one must get the valve turned in the proper direction by lining up the valve guide on the side of the valve with the slot in the casing. Note some professional instruments can be put in 180° wrong so be conscious of this

Valves are very delicate and there is only enough room between the valve and the valve casing for valve oil. As any less room and the valve would jam and any more room the air would leak past the valve when playing and make it difficult to play notes using that valve. So wipe off any dust or case fuzz or anything else with a clean cotton cloth before oiling.

Taking the time to properly lubricate everything especially the slides with a Penny's worth of slide Grease will save the player in future years from expensive Frozen slide repair due to the brass slides actually corroding themselves together

This is the procedure I've used on my own professional trumpet for 50 years as well as the procedure my father used before me on his trumpet and as recommended by many manufacturers. In fact before Selmer came out with this tuning slide Grease the professional division recommended the use of Vaseline back in the '50s when my dad played in the Army Band..

This will help prevent grunge from building up inside the instrument which can actually start to close down the diameter of the tubing to the point where it will create back pressure. Especially in the mouthpiece. And yes I've seen this happen when a student didn't follow my directions to brush out the mouthpiece with a little evergreen tree shaped bottle brush called a mouthpiece brush.

Cleaning and servicing should be done at least once a year or even more often if the instrument is in constant use such as with a high school or professional player.

09/18/2024

Hmm you never know what you're going to find down inside of the trumpets when you go to clean them. This was a little ink stamp and from the same school a couple of instruments back there was one of those plastic darts.

Over the years I found an assortment of stuff down in the bells of instruments some of these little toys ended up on top of my workbench others like the dime I found that the younger sibling dropped down the bell of the older siblings trumpet I drilled a hole through and attached a string so that next time they could get it back out on their own LOL😁 and of course there's always the assortment of button studs and other stuff found over the years usually in school owned instruments.

And No matter how unusual the stuff is and you think you've seen it all something new pops up out of an instrument. Hopefully it's only an inanimate object😁