Solid silver neck and solid silver body; brass keys, bow and bell. The instrument looks good and is in good condition but for some issues with what I think are flux ‘stains’ that come from not cleaning flux from the solder joints well enough. I didn’t take very clear images of these spots but it looks similar to the wear that is visible on the neck and they are present around all major solder joints.
The owner uses a high mass neck screw and requested a better fitting of the neck. This kind of neck screw is just a ball with a knurled pattern to provide grip, but it does not give you nearly the handle that a standard flat neck screw will give you and throws off your sense of how much you are actually tightening the neck. The owner likely would not have asked for a neck expansion if he was using a standard neck screw, but I was able to expand and lap fit the neck addressing small leaks around the tenon and making it easier to clamp down on.
I really like the current pad work on this horn, it’s very snappy as the pads are firm and the tone holes seem level. As usual, firm pads are less forgiving but I was happy with the results.
Their were a few mechanical issues (and still are in some cases) that allowed a pad to seal perfectly with light pressure and leak with a firmer pressure. The post for the G pivot screw was slightly counterbored to take up the play that allowed the pad to lean in this way. The G# key was swedged to take up the internal play between it’s hinge tube and pivot rod, even though it had absolutely no side-to-side play. In the case of the G#, it would close perfectly when the G# key was released, but would not close when engaged and shut by the F# combination key below it, no matter the position of the adjustment screw. This speaks to the importance of having this G# very well adjusted (let alone your entire horn if you’re in the market for an overhaul as it is!).