TromboneChat

Hi! I just recently purchased a secondhand YSL-352, and I just noticed it was missing a slide lock. So far I have had zero luck in finding any of these online. I've seen a lot of YSL-354 slide locks, however somebody I asked told me that they don't fit on the 352. Does anyone know where I could possibly find one?

Somebody somewhere must have a trashed 352 with a slide lock on it. I have two 354's. I'll look and see if one of them might be a 352 and I don't know it.

Those horns are popular school instruments. A local tech who handles a lot of school repair work might have a stock of those, saved from trashed slides.

Jim Scott

CalgaryTbone wrote: ↑Fri Aug 13, 2021 4:40 pm Those horns are popular school instruments. A local tech who handles a lot of school repair work might have a stock of those, saved from trashed slides.

Jim Scott

Ah yeah I never thought of that, I've got a few around me I'll take a look into, thanks!

I just checked all of my parts catalog resources and you are correct. The part is listed as "obsolete and unavailable." I was surprised to see that the same obsolete part was used on the early YSL-354 models as well. If anyone has a YSL-354 with a serial # lower than 32816, don't lose that slide lock ring!

The advise given so far is good. There are probably some old 352 slides sitting in a "parts box" someplace that are being set aside for situations like yours. I worked at the main Music & Arts shop in Frederick, MD for many years and they had several boxes like that.....but that was back in 2012. My advice is to contact Music & Arts and see if they have a YSL-352 slide lock ring sitting in a junk box at one of their shops. Back some decades, M & A had hundreds of YSL-352 horns in their rental fleet. Yamaha stopped producing the 352 model in 1976, but I remember seeing many of them go across my bench from 1999-2012. That's how long an instrument can stay in a rental fleet if it doesn't get beat up and it gets proper maintenance every year!

If you call Music & Arts, be very clear in explaining that a ring from the 354 will NOT work. Also, you should request that they look for the part at ALL of their shops, not just the M & A shop closest to you.

There are a few YSL-352 models for sale on Ebay. One has a starting bid of $40 and the slide lock ring appears to be intact. If you can get it for $40 or near that price, it might be a good deal and you will have an arsenal of spare parts for your horn.

Since that slide lock ring is such a rare part, I'm thinking that the cost for that one component could be in the $25-30 range, if you ever find the part. If you had someone make one for you on a lathe, it could easily be $75 or higher. These are all cost factors you must consider. Of course, the cheapest option is to play it without a slide lock ring. I played for three years in college without a slide lock ring. I forgot to release my slide lockat a performance during my first semester and it spooked me!

I have one. You can have it. Just senf me your address.

I mean send! That's funny, senf in German means mustard!