jpkaminga

so today I got home from school and started my practicing, then for a break I took one of the dogs around the neighborhood and when I got back my neighbor was outside spreading some salt on his walk, and he says that he heard me and it sounded good, so I thanked him for the compliment and he goes on to say that he used to play the trumpet and that he's got one in his house that he hasn't played for awhile, so I say what kind and can I borrow it and mess around with it, so he says sure. long story just a little bit shorter he comes by with a Selmer Radial, one of the only really sweet horns I've ever played on (the others are a Mt. Vernon, Equinox, and my present Olds) plus its got that unique valve block, so I'm thrilled even though every slide is completely stuck and the bell has been crushed a little, it still played great and the sound was quite nice too, I need a backup horn so I want to offer him some money for it but I don't know what is fair for a horn that needs so much work to be in good condition, I'm thinking $100 cause it needs so much work, anybody have an opinion on the subject

trptbenge

A one in pretty good shape (not mint) would go for $500 to $600 on ebay.
If you can get it for $100 it would be great but probably $250 to $300 would be more reasonable if the bell is repairable. However, my suggestion is that you tell you you love the horn and would like to pay him something for it but your not sure what is fair. Then ask him what he would like for it.

Good Luck! Those were great horns.

Mike

jpkaminga

thanks mike, how can you tell if a bell is repairable? This one has a series of creases, one fairly large, they start about 1 inch from the rim and end about 4 inches from the rim, I think I'll offer to take it to a brass repair tech for him and get a quote and then ask him what he wants for it, he said that it was priced close to a strad when he bought it so he'll proly want more than $100 but I'll proly haggle at whatever price he throws out there

bigaggietrumpet

bell creases are very repairable, and usually don't cost more than 20 to repair.

Robert Rowe

Twenty ($20) dollars ??
Maybe on a student horn, done by a blacksmith (you are in Texas, right?).
No way that low here on the East Coast.
If that's what the local charges are, I need to start packing-up some horns to send there for work.

Regards,
Robert Rowe

bigaggietrumpet

We're talking about repairing those little raised lines in the bell called creases/wrinkles, aren't we? I paid, best as I can recall, 16 and some change to have a music repairman take the wrinkle out of my Studio. Did a right nice job on it too. Just took him about an hour or so.

jpkaminga

when I said creases I was talking about folds in the metal of the bell that look like they were caused by the bell being pushed up against some surface, the largest fold in the metal is about 1 inch long 3 inches wide and up to a half inch deep, the rest of the folds are much smaller, the smaller folds could be described as wrinkles, basically the bell has been slightly crushed on one side

bigaggietrumpet

that's the same thing as I'm talking about, only yours is more serious than mine was. That would, at my guess, put you at around 30-40 dollars for the repair, if I'm right on my guess.