Initially, I had a great experience with Kathleen. When I first found her, she corrected an issue with one of my horns that another local tech wasn't able to correct. At that point she became my go-to tech person. It was great that she was local and she really seemed to know what she was doing. Over the next couple of years, I took several other horns to her and continued to have a great experience. But my last interaction with her was not so great. I contacted her and told her I had three horns in need of minor adjustments (they all had pads that were sticking) and asked her when she might be available. She told me that her repair bench would be free in 3 weeks and to bring them then. I contacted her again 3 weeks later and confirmed that she was free, and I took her the horns. It then took her almost a month before she even looked at them to give me an estimate. I didn't understand why she asked me to wait 3 weeks and then still wasn't available. But ok. I was not really in a rush, as I had other horns to play in the meantime. She gave me the quotes and they were much higher than I was expecting - about $750 for the three horns. She said they needed to be broken down and cleaned, lubricated, etc. I thought that was a bit much for what was just a couple of sticky pads, but I trusted her so I approved the repairs. After she began working on the horns, she started texting me updates on how the repairs were going. At one point, I received a text from her one night at about 10pm saying that she had just finished one of my sopranos and that it was a "total piece of sh!t" and that she hoped I sold it before she ever had to work on it again! I don't doubt that what she said was probably true - it was not a 'top name' horn, and even though it sounded great and played perfectly in tune, it probably was poor quality in the sense that it was difficult to work on, and I did take her advice and sell it a couple of months later, but I couldn't believe how rude she was. There were definitely more tactful ways she could have communicated that information. I mentioned to her that I thought the comment rude and she apologized, but it definitely soured my positive perception of her a bit. Then, when I finally picked up the three horns, I found that two of them still had sticky pads! After all that! One she was able to correct. The other, a tenor, was still sticking, and she ended up increasing the spring tension, which stopped the pads from sticking, but made the horn really cumbersome (and tiring) to play. I eventually just took it to another tech and got it repair correctly. It was great having a local horn repair person so I didn't have to drive to L.A. or the Valley, but it's not worth it when that tech is not only rude and insulting, but provides uneven results while charging top rates. read more