Dented Instruments

Dents occur in both woodwind and brass instruments made of metal when dropped or hit against something. These damages can affect the sound, playability, and appearance of the instruments, sometimes to the point that they are completely unplayable.

Here is an example of a flute headjoint that was dented when the musician fell and the flute landed on a set of bleachers at a football game.

Dents like this make the instrument unplayable and must be repaired by an experienced technician. When removing dents the technician will use a variety of tools and go through several steps to remove the dent. First they will take a mandrel, a type of solid steel rod at a varying diameters depending on what type of instrument being worked on and the size of the dent with a rounded corner. The mandrel is inserted into the tubing and presses the dent up from the inside. Once the dent has been pressed up, the next step is to take a rawhide mallet or rubber mallet to the dent from the outside. This will smooth out the high spots in the dent. It can take the technician a long time to work out all of the spots of the dent. Then the part is polished and fits back in the instrument as good as new.

Repaired Flute Headjoint

If you've experienced damage like this to your instrument contact me today for quick and reliable repairs!