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Mrs. bloke and I are both one or two instruments away from having SEVERAL schools (all in the same state, and in a few adjacent counties) ready to load and deliver tomorrow.

(Yeah...I'm pretty outspoken about Japanese-brand instruments, but whatever...) I just finished the last Japan-brand marching baritone, so no more
- broken off valve stems
- fussy valve guides
- pistons/casings which work perfectly well when mated incorrectly, but stick on drag when mated correctly (ie. tolerances are too close for the build quality)
- folded-back-over-themselves (sheet steel from which they were fabricated is too thin) case hinges
- glue-failed wood case edges (underneath the black vinyl fabric covering)

That having been said, I've fixed so many of them (this summer) that I've developed really effective routines and shortcuts for addressing those perennial problems with those instrument.

The last two I have to do are a couple of (crap, yes, but easy to fix) Dynasty (Weril) marching baritones. One of them has a snapped-in-two mouthpipe. I'd WAY rather deal with that than Yamaha marching baritone pistons/casings/guides/cases.


(I'm inside, taking a short KrogaCola break...while cleaning all the weird band-instrument $h!t off my hands with Dawn, and off my face with isopropyl alcohol...and - DUH - playing around on the laptop.)

OK...TIme to go face those die-nasties.

...There is ONE MORE high school (a very late-dates band camp) a few middle schools, and the universities (whose camps are the latest of all)...so we repair in order of need.

bloke "who can now imagine - or, at least fantasize - about getting through everything and (LOL...no way...) actually getting PAID...
...NET 45 TO YOU TOO, @$$H0LE$"

Everything is loaded (for deliveries to some of the schools [4] tomorrow, plus a late pickup from a fifth School). I can't believe how many baritone saxophones,, piccolos and bass clarinets Mrs. bloke has repaired this summer so far. I believe by the time she finishes with the universities and middle schools, she may have done nearly 30 piccolos, and they weren't just messing around type repairs. One of them required drilling a post out of a multiple post rib and soldering in a replacement post - into that rib - from a junk piccolo.
For what it's worth, that particular piccolo was one of those American-brand-yet-now-made-in-China piccolo's, and the nickel silver is softer than the old alloy when made in the USA.