Band + Baseball = Expensive Drama

About a month ago, Gabriel came home and said he wanted to try out for the Jr. High baseball team.  They had two weeks of conditioning after school, followed by a week of tryouts.  I noticed that he was going to have a problem with his bassoon during these after school activities, so I endeavored to find him another bassoon that he could keep at home, while he kept the one he already had at school, and wouldn't have to carry it around, and out on the practice field and whatnot.  The bassoon he has now, belongs to the school.  It's one of only a handful of instruments the school has on hand for students to use.  All the other band students have to rent their instruments from local music stores.  So I called the local music store and asked if they had a bassoon I could rent.  No, they said, they didn't.  I asked them if they knew anyone who did.  No, they said music stores generally don't rent bassoons.  What??  Why??  Because I need one, that's why!  So I emailed the band director at the Jr. High and told her that I was looking for another bassoon for Gabriel so he could keep one at home, and one at school and not have to carry one around every day.  She said she'd make some phone calls and write some emails and find one for us.  The next week, I got an email from her saying that one of the high schools had one we could use, but it was in bad shape.  It wasn't playable.  She sent it to the instrument repair shop, and they said it was going to be $110 just to get it in playing condition.  It would be almost $300 to fix everything that is wrong with it.  She also said that since this instrument wasn't "required" for Gabriel to participate in band class, the school wouldn't pay for the repairs, that would be our responsibility.  OK, fine.  Get it repaired to playing condition, I'll pay for it, and the boy can play stinking baseball without having to carry around an instrument case.  I'm still trying to figure out how the high school is getting away with loaning out an instrument that's not in playing condition, and not getting the bill to get it back in playing condition!  The whole situation is shady!  Meanwhile, the bassoon Gabriel has been playing since the beginning of the year has some issues and needs some repair.  None of the school instruments are in good shape, it seems!  At least I don't have to pay for those repairs.  So, he's got the high school bassoon, and the other one is in the shop now.  He's STILL carrying this instrument back and forth to school every day.  Plus, he didn't make the baseball team, so he doesn't have any after school activities anymore.  The entire reason I wanted to get him a second bassoon is completely out the window.  We don't need that second bassoon anymore.  But we've got it, and it's STILL in bad shape!  While practicing yesterday, the bocal, (which had a huge dent in it that wasn't repaired because it wasn't required in order to get it into playing position), broke in two at the point of  the huge dent.  Guess who is responsible for replacing that little piece of metal tubing??  That's right!  We are!  Guess how much that little piece of metal tubing costs??  That's right!  Way more than it's worth!  The cheapest one I found was $199.00.  The cheapest one Steve found was $169.00.  And did I mention that we don't even need this instrument anymore???  UGH!!!