Since 7 years I play a Yamaha 567GDB in a local marching band (The Netherlands). During an event a football damaged my horn. The ball actually hit the bell of my horn really hard. This horn has a detachable bell. The bell must be replaced, the tubing from the bell towards the rotors must be replaced too. The insurance company covers the costs for repair (new bell, new tubing and new epoxy lacquer finish for the whole horn). Costs: about EUR 2.000! This instrument is EUR 3.500 new.
I am in doubt: The repair company assures me that they can repair my horn (visually 100% ok). My fear is that a repaired horn will not be able to sound like “new”. Is that only my perception or just reality? Does such a repair really harm the sound of this instrument?
On the other hand buying a new horn will cost a lot of money and I am not sure if the insurance will cover that. What if I could arrange something and get a brand new Yamaha 567GDB (NL EUR 3.500). Than the question would be: is buying a second hand professional horn like the Yamaha 667D/V or Alexander 103/503 a much better alternative for this amount of money (EUR 3.500-4.500)? Is a professional model much harder to play (at a marching band: concert & marching) than my current horn (f.e. air/control)?
In short: repair my horn (costs covered by insurance), buy a new 567GDB model (plus EUR 1.500) or a used professional for the same amount of money?