Based on wonderful reviews, I connected up with the Slide Doctor in Dawsonville Georgia, received their custom slide shipping packaging, sent it back with my old slide, and a couple days ago received back a trombone slide that is as close to perfect as I have ever touched… and they advise it will get better after a brief break-in period. WOW!
I had worked it over with brass cleaning chemicals, abrasives, tools, and hand-straightening … I was hot stuff and got it about as good as it gets … so I thought. Recently I started wondering if the comparative smoothness of my 13-year-old Conn 88 slide might be a significant reason I play it almost all the time and the 61-year-old Conn 6H so rarely.
What IF?
What if the Slide Doctor could make the old jazz horn slide like new?
What A Deal. Trombonists: you deserve this on your main axe … or even your second-to-main. You cannot get better on any new horn. If, like mine, your vintage horn has particular high-value tone, response and construction, restore it.
Upper inner slide tube, lower inner tube, upper outer tube, lower outer tube plus connection points for each at both ends, each over 2-feet long, and they all have to line up PERFECTLY along their entire lengths to make a really good slide. This is why trombonists from all over the world send theirs to Dawsonville, Georgia.
Then the price tag. Double Wow. I recently chatted briefly with a local attorney who wants more than three times as much for accomplishing 100% absolutely NOTHING. In a stark contrast, Ray worked dents, kinks and rough spots from all four tubes, even cutting one loose from its moorings and re-soldering it on straight. All this and more magic for $180 plus shipping!!! (including a welcome military discount)
I attach two .pdfs to show you 1) what he found and fixed on my slide and 2) their standard post-op instructions. But first, in case you have a trombone worth fixing:
Slide Doctor
5290 Dunroven Way
Dawsonville, GA 30534
(770) 888-4111
slidedr@att.net
2) Slide Doctor discharge instructions
I was a bit hesitant to send my valuable, rare, vintage slide across the country via parcel service handlers, but I suspected these guys might have figured out how to do that. Reading their instructions allayed my fears enough to forge ahead.
I placed my order, they sent the empty packaging to me.
I put my slide into it according to their clear, specific instructions.
I shipped the package to them, then waited my turn.
My awesome slide came back along with break-in instructions.
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Check out the packaging:
wooden box with styrofoam above and below snugly inside sturdy cardboard box
tidy, sturdy wooden box – lid held on with 6 Phyllips screws
precisely cut thick foam above and below slide
foam inserts custom cut by the Slide Doctor for my make/model slide
