slide work woes

[240z]

Does anyone have a good source on a slide tech in the lake of the Ozarks area Missouri? I recently acquired a horn in need of slide work... a friend of mine said to take it to one of those large "used car stealership" type music stores that I won't name (at least for now) and they said they would fix the dents and align my side for only $70.80 and they took two weeks and when I got the slide back they had just cleaned it and not fixed a thing.... they only good thing is they didn't make it worse... but it was already clean as "spit" because that is logically the first thing you check... Anyone know what the slide doctor costs? or could a decent job be had quicker and cheaper local???

[BGuttman]

You aren't far from Texas -- maybe get in touch with the Erics -- Eric Edwards (Bonearzt here) or Eric Swanson. Both in the Dallas area.

Slide Doctor has a Web Site (don't remember the URL) with prices. You will need a box to ship, and pay for UPS shipping both ways. I had a slide done there but it was too far back for my cost to be current. In my case I bought the box, had it shipped to me, sent the slide, and paid for shipping back, so 3 trips plus the setup. The slide needed some repair which he did not do.

[Driswood]

You aren't far from Texas -- maybe get in touch with the Erics -- Eric Edwards (Bonearzt here) or Eric Swanson. Both in the Dallas area.

Slide Doctor has a Web Site (don't remember the URL) with prices. You will need a box to ship, and pay for UPS shipping both ways. I had a slide done there but it was too far back for my cost to be current. In my case I bought the box, had it shipped to me, sent the slide, and paid for shipping back, so 3 trips plus the setup. The slide needed some repair which he did not do.

I was recently in contact with Eric Swanson. He retired two years ago and sold all his equipment.

[WGWTR180]

A quick google search:

http://slidedr.com

[AtomicClock]

You aren't far from Texas ... Both in the Dallas area.

It's about 300 miles from Dallas to the closest tip of Missouri. That's about a $200 drive at the IRS current rate of 70 ¢/mile. Double that for a round trip. Better to ship it somewhere. Using the Slide Dr.'s shipping box isn't a bad choice, even if you decide to use a different tech. I imagine all of the competent shops know how to send and receive packages.

[JohnL]

Does anyone know if Aaron Chandler is still doing repair work in the St. Louis area?

I don't really see anything online other than some social media stuff under Acme Trombones.

[bassclef]

Does anyone know if Aaron Chandler is still doing repair work in the St. Louis area?

I don't really see anything online other than some social media stuff under Acme Trombones.

I was wondering that myself the other day. I have FINALLY found someone local who both knows what a slide should feel like and has the skills to get it there, but I have used him in the past. His work was fantastic.

[JTeagarden]

I have never understood the preference to find a local guy to fix a slide you truly care about, when there are dyed-in-the-wool specialists you can ship a slide to, at a reasonable price through Shippo, and I have never had any issues with theft or damage in 25 years of shipping horns and components.

Any good person, local or otherwise, will have a backlog, that's an indirect sign they might know what they're doing.

There was a guy in Cleveland 20 years ago when I lived there whose specialty seemed to be making horns "shiny," taking liberties with them and generally doing a very bad job of improving their function, but he was a master in his own mind. The number of brass lamps and other shiny things for repair sitting in his workshop gave a good sense of his skill set.

[Matt K]

The obvious reason is cost, but there are others as well. Shipping anything 37" long now is going to be a significant fraction of the total cost, and where I'm at USPS leaves packages on the wrong porch all the time.

[JTeagarden]

Try Shippo! Always less than half the UPS cost, and USPS cost of parcels is ridiculous.

[pbone3b]

Slide Dr. is great. His shipping boxes are probably the best/safest possible way to send a slide, and the work is always top-notch. Aaron Chandler's work is also great. He made me a GREAT 3b slide, but he's a super busy player, so you'd have to work around that.