TromboneChat

Does anyone know what the average cost of a Cut Bell/Screw Bell Conversion is ?

That depends.
Is the bell detachable from the gooseneck/valve section?
How much refinish work do you want?

I think mine was $500 in 2017. Detachable bell horn, Shires parts. Done at the boneyard in LA.

Also.. how round is the stem/flare where you want to put the ring?

I have a Bach flare that I was going to cut… it is decidedly egg shape when you set the ring in place. Would need a bit of work to even get to mounting the ring. Looks perfect, just not round.

Cheers,
Andy

elmsandr wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 4:57 am Also.. how round is the stem/flare where you want to put the ring?

I have a Bach flare that I was going to cut… it is decidedly egg shape when you set the ring in place. Would need a bit of work to even get to mounting the ring. Looks perfect, just not round.

Cheers,
Andy

When John (Sandhagen) did mine he had to round it out, but that was included in the labor. Said basically almost all bells need to get rounded out, so just includes it in the planned labor cost. Dunno if that's standard practice, but it only took him a few minutes to round it out.

There’s an older thread on here somewhere that addresses this, I would say to factor in $1000 in the very least if you’re getting the work done and buying a brand new case

On average? $4373. But that's due to that one guy who got a bell cut for $15,000.

To convert a horn to a cut bell should be between about 300 - 800 make sure the tech has done it before.

Don’t the parts alone cost $300? I would expect the floor to be about $200 for a horn that is already modular (and therefore doesn’t need to be unsoldered and then reattached.

I've cut a number of bells and generally keep with within the 300-400 range depending on how long it takes. Rings are around 130-150$ and need to be modified to fit the specific bell tapers

Benn Hanson did my Bach 50A3 back in 19.. think it ran me 7 or 8.. Oh yeah that includes cutting to G valve and lacquer touch up. good guy good work.. think my MB case set me back close to the same.. Would be kinda hard to go back to normal. Sticking a 10in bass in the over head storage is pretty sweet.. as well as the looks from the TSA x-ray op when the put your "violin" case through lol
EZ