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! |
