Making a Patch for a Patterson Triple

For years I have had negative feelings about patches on horns, but the more I work with professional level horns for professional players, the more I realize that patches can not only be a great idea (it is certainly better than a hole!) but they can actually look nice and function perfectly, making the horn play wonderfully again.

The hole in the Patterson

I don't claim to be a professional patch maker, but I do have some skills that allowed me to create a patch on a Patterson triple horn recently. This was quite a fun project which came when the owner (a major player in the Phoenix area) was noticing some issues with the F-alto side of his horn. The horn was very dirty so he decided to take the opportunity to have his horn cleaned, which also allowed me to inspect it more closely, eventually revealing this hole. When cleaning the 3rd valve slide I noticed a tiny crack in the top of the tubing right next to a dent which I assume was from the water key over and over hitting the slide. (As a side note, I encourage everyone to have their horn cleaned at least once per year, if not more if you play very heavily - corrosion is an internal cancer to a horn).

The donor slide

I have a small box full of old slides, pieces, and parts from horns that I've collected over the years. I found a Yamaha slide that seemed to have a section of good enough condition metal, chopped a section out, flattened it (after cutting it in half long ways) and annealed it. The annealing really helped later I think. After annealing it I used sandpaper (400 and 1000 grit) to sand down the now raw material brass, to a dull finish.

Then, I went to take the dent out of the slide (easy enough with the tools I currently have). I was surprised when the tube cracked even more. Obviously this needed not only a patch but some reinforcement. This also points to the fact that there almost certainly is some serious corrosion inside this slide.

The completed patch

Then I carefully cut out the section that I needed with metal cutting pliers and sanded down the edges to get rid of the burrs and sharp edges. Then I used my dent hammer to slowly and carefully shape the patch to the horn. After wiring the part to the slide (with 19 gauge annealed steel wire) I finished shaping the patch with the dent hammer. I've learned over time and in talking to people that slow and steady really does wonders when it comes to shaping brass with a hammer. Then carefully applied the flux (I use Denver Flux) using a small metal needle tube attached to a small bottle. I have found that if you wipe up any flux that runs down the slides it will more than certainly help with a cleaner application of the flux.

After the flux was ready, I heated the patch area up again (being very careful to not heat up the nearby joints and the water key fixture too much so that they separated) and then gently touched some flattened solder to the hot area. The flux drew the solder in perfectly. I added enough solder (touching it to the metal a few times) until I could see that the solder had filled the entire patched area. It held perfectly.

I always use the "heat and wipe" method for any solder globs that run down the side of a part. I did have one in this case but it easily cleaned up. There was a "solder ghost" of course once I was done heating and wiping, but this is where my 400 and 1000 grit sandpaper come in. They make short work of that ghost, and take very little metal off the slide at all (always my goal). A bit of light buffing work and this slide looks great is air tight allowing the horn to go back to the symphony stage!

The patch on the horn

The Patterson Triple