I got the call. After three months my horn is back and ready for me to pick up. It will be very interesting to play it again because since I dropped it off at the music store last October I have been playing my Committee exclusively.
On our way to NAMM my lead (who also plays a Miyashiro, which also has red rot) and I stopped by Bob Reeves Brass for valve checks/alignments. My Committees valves were of by negative 9 thousands (on the upstroke) on two and 10 thousandths on one. Daniel's Miyashiro was off by nearly thirty thou and as we did not have time to get both horns' valves aligned I let him get his done. I did blow a few notes on his horn and other than the fact it's a silver horn, it felt fairly similar to mine, but after months on the Martin it was quite an experience. I love the sound of my Martin but you definitely have to work harder on it. I will likely return to my Yamaha for the big band ensemble stuff as my skill level dictates that I should use the most efficient horn I can find, and the Yamaha his that.
While they had the horn apart for the lead pipe replacement I asked them to strip the lacquer so I'll likely have the only raw brass Miyashiro in North America. It will also be interesting to see if the quality of the sound changes at all, although again, after 3 months I'm not sure how much of a critical faculty I'll have for such things.
I'll report back tomorrow afternoon!
-tj
