New Shires Trombone, Plus, More Back Pedaling!
In the last post last month, I was forced to back pedal about the proper ways to celebrate the holidays. In this particular post, I’ll be back pedaling about refering to Minnesota as the “Quasi-Frozen,” or “Tepid North.” In point of fact, nothing could be further from the truth. It’s actually been quite cold here in Minnesota. How cold? Well, beers placed in the outside planter become icy-cold much more quickly than in either the standard refrigerator or freezer. When walking outside, old men with long flowing beards can be heard to mutter, “It’s all cold up in here,” right before boarding the number 4 bus to go downtown.
You may be wondering exactly why there hasn’t been a load of updates here recently. Well, I’ve been distracted by a variety of people, things, and shiny objects, including a new trombone. The trombone was very well made by the faithful workers at the SE Shires Shop in Hopedale, Massachusetts.
While it’s a great trombone, one thing in particular was not perfect. A nickel lead-pipe (one of three removable lead pipes) I took with me from the shop turned out to be not entirely straight, throwing the upper tube of the inner slide out of alignment. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this immediately and thought that I had “sprung” the slide myself somehow while transporting the trombone home.
Back in Minneapolis, I took the slide to an extremely competent repairman I know. He put the slide right with the offending lead-pipe still in. Guess what happened when I removed the nickel lead-pipe and replaced it with another later? The slide went out of alignment again! It was then that I realized what had happened. Back to the extremely competent repair guy. He put slide right again, and was also able straighten the nickel lead-pipe, which wasn’t necessarily an easy feat. Yes, the lead-pipe should have been straight to begin with, but the general disorder of the universe argues against easy perfection in all cases.
Anyhow, after that (and some other small events that made me wonder if I had been cursed by a shaman for accidentally cutting him off in traffic or something) the slide works perfectly…