rhdroc

Anyone familiar with a company that specializes in restoring vintage Benge trumpets?? Or, is anyone familiar with a company that does quality restoration work on trumpets (regardless of the make) for a reasonable price??

Thanks---<Rick

Liberty Lips

I just got my overhauled 1975 CG Benge back from Kanstul in Anaheim. Zig made the horn originally, and I figured that he would be the best person to overhaul it. He did a great job, and didn't rape me on the price, either. He even had some parts left over from his tenure at the Benge plant. It looks and plays beautifully now, just like it was when it was new.

rhdroc

I'm getting ready to send my Benge 2X to Kanstul for restoration, however, I'm still curious about the cost. For those players who have been through a restoration, what sort of ballpark price should I consider for a job of this nature -- including complete silver-plate, moderate amount of dent removal, chem-cleaning, 3 valve replating, replacement of a third valve side screw stop, and inspection for red-rot (maybe replacement of the leadpipe if they find any)?? Kanstul refuses to qote an estimate until they see the horn. I know it's difficult to accurately estimate restoration without seeing the horn but I really need some sort of estimate so I can consider the possible $$$ implications. I'm certainly not going to ship the horn to them at $30 - $40 EACH way only to find out a restoration will cost $$$ beyond my budget. I'm considering about $500. Is this even close for the amount of work mentioned earlier??

Thanks---<Rick

JDWildcat

I just looked at this for one of my horns. I talked to several of the top repair guys. The quotes I received were around $500 for an overhaul, inclusive of plating, with an additional cost of about $200 if the valves needed to be done. YMMV.

rhdroc

Finally decided to send my Benge 2X to the Kanstul factory for restoration. Turns out that it needs $556 worth of work -- including valve replating, a new leadpipe, dent removal, valve alignment, chem cleaning, and new silver-plate. It's been there for about 3 weeks now -- I'll let you know how it turns out.

---<Rick

trickg

I think that you would be hard pressed to find anyone out there that would be better at rebuilding and old Benge than Zig Kanstul and Company. It would be nigh to impossible to find anyone else out there that is as familiar with how those horns were put together and how they should play. You might be able to save some money by going elsewhere, but I also think that you would have a hard time finding a "better" deal than sending it Kanstul, i.e, you might spend a more money, but it would be money well spent.

Just my $.02

rhdroc

Spoke with one of the office personel at the Kanstul factory last night about a completion date for the restoration of my LA Benge 2X. It should be completed by the end of this week or early next week.

While I'm sure Kanstul will do an excellent job on my horn, I wish I would have known that restorations are more of a sideline to them -- their primary concern is builting new instruments. I realized I was sending my horn to the factory but never stopped to think how this would impact my restoration. Actually, they do repairs and restorations as time allows -- just my luck, they're very busy building new horns right now.

They have been very patient with my numerous phone calls.

---<Rick

Tootsall

If you sent it April 1 and you're getting it back next week, I'd say you did pretty darn well with Kanstul. A lot of "overhaulers" will take MONTHS, not weeks to get a job done. I was fortunate that Leigh was able to get onto my cornet as quickly as he did... I shipped it out around the 1st of March and It would have arrived here around the end of this week if I hadn't asked him to hold it for a few days (I'm going on a week vacation and wouldn't be "in town" to take receipt).

Be happy.

rhdroc

April 1 is when I finally got around to updating my earlier posts. Actually they've had it about 4 weeks so far. I definitely was a bit naive going into this restoration -- a typical first timer

---Rick

rhdroc

Just received an email this afternoon saying that the restoration of my Benge 2X is NOW COMPLETE!! Phoned the factory office and provided my credit card number to complete the transaction. My newly restored horn will ship Monday, April 19.

I'm one happy camper ---<Rick