I'm a new member here, but joined because I was told there were first hand reports here of the new service center.

I do not live near a boutique or AD, so mail order service is my only option.

I have two LEs I've bought in the past year that I'd like nib swaps on. One is the Walt Disney, bought in January of last year(so the clock is ticking for me on that one) and the other is the 146 80 Days bought pretty much as soon as they were available(I want o say mid-May). I really want an OBB on the Disney and an OM on the 80 days, but had drug my feet on sending them to Texas.

To be honest, in my communication with MyJewelryRepair, I was a bit put off. I didn't in particular appreciate that I had to arrange shipping through them, but that's a different story(also did Texas charge for return shipping?).

Also, reading this thread, it seems that they don't really "get" in-date nib swaps if I understand correctly, and also it looks like they'll hit hard if they need to send to Hamburg. I was under the impression that Texas would order the LE nibs from Hamburg and install in house, but I'm wondering if this place will simply send swaps directly there.

Separate from that, I have a 60s 149 with a cracked barrel and I'm afraid I might be at the end of the road on finding a replacing or repairing it(plus I still have the lingering leaky piston seal, which I did patch up with silicone grease, but I don't know how permanent that is). From what I understand, in the past at Texas this would have been an L1 service and basically been fitting the old nib onto a new 149 body. It sounds like the new place might not treat it as such.

Because of all of that, I'm seriously considering bypassing them and going directly to Hamburg with all three. Has anyone in the US had any experience with doing that? How would you all approach what I'm wanting to do?