Dented Headjoint

Have you ever accidentally hit your headjoint against, say, the corner of a music stand?  Seems like no big deal, but then you check to see what the damage is, and yes -- it's dented.  No need to worry, though, because it really is quite simple to repair.  We recently stopped into Powell's repair shop to our find repair technician, Rachel Baker, about to repair the dented headjoint in the photo below.

The headjoint was dented in, so it needed to be corrected by bringing the dented metal up and smoothing it out.  Cleaning everything first is very important, so Rachel began the process by running the headjoint through the ultrasonic cleaner.  She then used alcohol to clean the inside of the headjoint and the outside of the repair mandrel.  The cleaning process is very important, because any dirt particles could cause separate bumps when you are burnishing the metal against the mandrel.  Once everything was clean, Rachel placed the headjoint on the mandrel.  She then pressed the headjoint against the mandrel and pulled it toward the mandrel's edge, using the mandrel's edge to push the dented metal back up.  This step was repeated a few times to really "iron out" the dent.  She then took a burnishing tool and burnished the metal back down against the mandrel to smooth out any high spots.  Finally, she polished it, and that was it!  Done and good as new.  The whole process was complete in a matter of minutes.  So, remember, a small dent is not the end of the world -- it can be corrected!

The dented headjoint

Cleaning the inside of the headjoint.

Visual inspection -- making sure it's clean.

Placing headjoint on mandrel.

Pressing headjoint against mandrel and pulling toward edge.

Mandrel's edge helps bring up the dented metal.

Burnishing to smooth it out.

Last step -- polishing.

Good as new!