When I get slide work done, I want a great slide. And growing up, I never got that from the local shops. So now, as an adult, I always look for the best shop possible. But is that always necessary? Surely there are a lot of basic repairs (or routine maintenance?) that any competent shop could be trusted with. Where's the line? I imagine a chem clean or dent removal done by anyone who takes pride in their work should be sufficient.

There's a lot of people who can do "good" dent work, but not that many who can do "almost like it never happened" dent work. I think the main difference is that the difference between "good" and "great" dent work doesn't impact playability the same way good vs. great slide work will.

My opinion:

There are a lot of instrument techs who do good to great work for 90% of instruments they see: beginner to intermediate instruments that need repair to get back to playing shape. Good amateur players, professionals, and semi-professionals have different requirements.They look for techs that have the skill and experience to bring their instrument up to specifications, or repair it to how it was (more or less) before it was damaged, or even improve it in some way.

Some techs are honest about their limitations. They might even tell you, "I'm really good with dents and valves, but for your slide you'll want to see _____ on the other side of town." I've asked for referrals sometimes: if my tech can't do it, and I don't know the quality of the local shop, I'll ask my tech who they recommend.

But I think good slide techs are few and far between. Yes, there's a lot of techs who can do a good job, but only a select few who really know what they're doing, have seen a lot, and know how to handle different things.

I took my older bass trombone to three reputable repairmen (including sending it across the country to a fellow with a national reputation) only to be underwhelmed by the results. I eventually took it to #4, a young woman recently hired by the LMS. She literally transformed the horn, fixing several problems that the others didn’t even see, let alone fix.

She recently performed some magic on an old player grade 2B that a couple of the other techs had worked on. It plays beautifully now. Remarkable.

I wonder if the standard is something along the lines of good enough for school band, which is probably the bread and butter for most shops.

Slide Dr., Dick Hansen in MA, and now Sweeney Brass in NC have all done work on my slides and they are the ones I would keep going back to. The best!

An excellent repair tech is worth their weight in gold and can completely transform your instrument. If you are a pro/semi-pro always go with quality of repair over convenience. We spend hours playing/practicing our instruments and we need our focus to be on music not instrument issues. Some great repair techs have been recommended above!