Rick, be my guest. Oh, I see you already were. *BG*

You're right on about the repair advice too. The local music store hired a part-time guy who just lost his job at the TV repair shop but is pretty handy with tools. They keep him busy by contracting the band instrument repair business for the local school district. You probably don't want this guy working on your instrument. Learn to do as much as possible yourself but find well known professionally trained craftsmen to handle the big stuff.

Rick, maybe you'd be willing to provide lists of the sort of things a player can safely attempt and another of the things that should be left to widely known professionals.

      - Mark