Trumpet for sale, but bell has scratches/dents

HaveTrumpetWillTravel

I saw a Fides on sale. Original price used was $1000 but the guy said it would be $400 because the bell has dents/scratches. It's near my parents with no case or mp.

The ad was up several months ago and then disappeared [edit: and then was reposted]. I don't know how much of a hassle pick-up would be.

I'm also curious if people ever swap out whole bells and the cost. On ebay I only saw Bach bells for sale. Here are Fides's listenings on what the (I think model) trumpet would take:
Bells: Standard Ø 124 mm (4-7⁄8“)
or BBG Ø 127 mm (5“)

Andy Del · Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2018 10:39 pm Post subject:

Used trumpet. Damaged. Ad has been taken down months ago.

I gently suggest move on and find a different horn to buy, this is long gone.

cheers

Andy
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so many horns, so few good notes...

HaveTrumpetWillTravel · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 2:54 am Post subject:

Andy thanks for the response! I wasn't clear--he relisted and wrote me back with the $400 price. I asked him to send me a bell picture, but s/he hasn't yet responded.

On TH I've seen people before say that often bells are fairly fixable, and I've also seen people here who mix and match bells (Bach bell on a Yamaha, etc.). If it could be a quite good trumpet for $500 I'd be interested, and if I could put a new bell on it, that's also a little appealing.

Like I've said in the past, I don't have as many trumpet options here, so I was just curious about this.

HaveTrumpetWillTravel · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 4:52 am Post subject:

It's the C symphonic, so I think new it would be a $2000+ trumpet. My thought was this might be a way to try a pro C on the cheap. Here's the image of the dent in the bell:
https://imgur.com/a/2wMKh

It doesn't come with case or mp. What's the best case/worst case on a bell like this in terms of repair or replace?

Thanks!

scottfsmith · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:21 pm Post subject:

If dents are just dents they are usually easy to roll out on a mandrel. If there are sharp kinks or rips it can be difficult. The picture isn't great here but it doesn't look too bad - I would say that will be maybe $100 to get rolled out... $500 total for what looks like a nice horn doesn't seem bad at all.
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blbaumgarn · Heavyweight Member Joined: 26 Jul 2017 Posts: 705

Yea, from the look in the picture that could be rolled on a mandrel. There are some really good instrument repair people out there. There are a number of videos on YouTube that show trumpets being restored from much worse states than that. Check on out if you want to see.

HaveTrumpetWillTravel · Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:03 am Post subject:

Thanks guys! I may give it a try. In the close up it also looks like there's a bell scratch at the bottom that is pretty serious. This is one where I'd be having a family member buy in person, but still feeling a little unsure about it.