What does a professional repairman offer the client?
To start with, experience, they have seen most of the problems with the instruments they have repaired. I have been repairing saxophones and clarinets for now over 50 years and I think I have seen and repaired most of the problems that can happen to a saxophone or clarinet. Including instruments run over by cars, saxes that were thrown against the wall in a fit of why can’t I play the thing. We have also heard many of the problems players face on their instruments.
One of the important things he or she has again, are the right tools. Trying to do the job without the right tool can do more damage to an instrument, than fix the problem most of the time. They also have experience in using the tools.
You must trust your repairman and get to know him. See if he listens to what you say or just tells you what he thinks. A very good repairman will listen to your problems and try to help fix the problems you are having. If he can’t fix it, then he or she will likely tell you they can’t. EXAMPLE: If you cannot go from a low C# to a Low B on the sax, it might just be your technique and not the instrument. When most saxophones are new the pads are not set very open, so the lower little finger keys are easy to use. As we open them for tone and response the distances between the keys becomes greater making the technique more difficult.
Professional Repairman (101)