I recently bought a Getzen Super Deluxe Cornet on ebay. The description was perfect and the horn plays great. However, as the description mentioned it does have several "pin" holes in the bell flair from where repairs were made. I have seen patches on bells and I've replaced bells. But these pinholes are so small that you can only see them with light behind them. Could they be filled with silver solder. I have a friend that is a jeweler and said he could give it a try. Is this a bad idea?

If they are so small you can barely see them and the horn plays fine then why bother, but if you must, I say go for the jeweler repair. He probably can do a delicate enough job to be very cosmeticaly nice. If that doesnt work out the the bell replacement is your other option, but it will be hard to get the same horn after such a repair. Best wishes.

If they are so tiny, silver solder isn't necessary. Just use low temp silver solder so you don't have to sacrifice plating/lacquer.