I don't know who installed this mechanism, but I'll call them Repairman X. I might call them "The Butcher" or "Captain Decimation," but I would never insult someone else's work like that in a public setting.
On the most basic level, the accepted way of doing such an installation would be to adapt the new key to fit the existing key work. Repairman X did the opposite - adapting the existing keywork to fit his key, as can be seen in the photos below. The first 4 photos show some of what he did. The diagram below is just to give a reference for where on the instrument each picture comes from.
1. The arm Repairman X made to connect the left F lever to the F key. The arm itself is actually pretty sturdy and well made, and there was clearly some attention to detail. Note however that the F key touchpiece is bent to the right to accommodate this new piece. The lower post for the arm, the one that they installed (with the rod sticking out a little bit) is not quite aligned with the other posts, so the arm is angled slightly toward the bottom of this picture. Note also that the recess in the E key has been filled in with something, probably solder.
2. The posts for the left F lever. Aside from the very obvious and severe body damage between them, the area around each post is gouged out, especially the post on the left of this picture, which had to be sunk pretty far into the body to prevent it from rubbing against the Eb/B/Bb key. It looks like the posts were taken from two different instruments.
3. In order to remove the hinge rod from the key that Repairman X made and installed, it was necessary to remove one of the posts for the Eb/B/Bb key stabilizer ring. During the installation of the left F mechanism, the stabilizer posts were moved, and there damage that was done when they were reinstalled is clearly visible in the center of this photo.
4. The same as #3, but with all the posts removed. As far as I can tell, the area in the upper right is where the stabilizer posts used to be, and was filled in when those posts were removed. From the inside of the instrument, it looks like the hole underneath that filler goes all the way through to the bore.
These two photos show the left F touchpiece that Repairman X made. The left is a general view of the key, and the right is a detailed view of the hinge tube and the two pieces of the key joined on it. On a factory-made key, those two pieces would be one solid piece of metal, with a hole drilled through that the hinge tube would be fed through and soldered in place.
Not all of the damage was man-made. (Let's be fair, though, most of it was) There are also cracks around both sockets - on the lower joint and the bell. Both sockets have metal linings, and over time it looks like the wood has contracted more than the metal - or the metal has expanded more than the wood - and as a result the wood has cracked. Both sockets have two cracks that go from the ring at the top to approximately the bottom of the metal liner. Below on the left is the lower joint with the socket ring removed and wooden shoulder visible, and on the right is the bell.
Other issues resulting from the installation of the left F mechanism are:
-A notch was cut in the Eb/B/Bb key rod to accommodate the mechanism
-The alternate C lever (banana key) appears to have been moved, and part of the C key was bent to accommodate its new position
-The arm connecting the Eb/B/Bb key to the D key (which closes the D key when left Eb is pressed for trilling from Eb to E) has been completely removed, as has the spud on the D key that it would have touched
One other bizzare modification was a bead of solder that was laid along the bottom of the C key assembly. I haven't yet figured out that mechanism, but it looks like there are three separate pieces on the C key hinge rod, with the outer two attached directly to the rod (so they move together) and the middle piece able to move independently or as a part of the larger assembly. Here's the bead of solder:
There's some sort of spring under there somewhere
Among other issues are damage to tone hole rims and worn keys. And it may go without saying, but all the pads and corks need to be replaced along with several springs. There are also a lot of scratches and gouges. I'll likely leave a lot of the smaller scratches, if only to leave some evidence of what things used to look like. No, that's not true. It's really because filling them all in would be a giant pain in the ass. There are, however, some large gouges taken out of the crown that I'd like to address.
I'll end this post with what may have been the most egregiously hackish thing done to this instrument - red Loctite on EVERY pivot srew, hinge screw, and shaft lock screw.
In the background you can see where a shaft lock screw was replaced with a simple knock pin. The pin effectively held the key together, but potentially damaged the threads inside.
Much to do!
