Instrument Repair Technician
Larry Miletich along with his father and brother began playing music together as a group when they moved to Kalispell, Montana. As they continued to play gigs in and around town, they kept seeing a need for a store that provided lessons and repairs. In 1981, the three decided they would open a...
David Hosler had a friend in school whose father had a wood-working shop. It was in that small shop where David built his first guitar and where his passion for making instruments began. He opened a shop in Florida and later established The Guitar Workshop in South Carolina where he sold guitars...
Tim Luranc grew up in San Diego with his father, an educator, playing music in the house all of the time. His dad wanted to play a guitar with some of the popular music of the day, such as folk music. His dad didn't play the guitar as much as he had hoped but young Tim took a liking to the...
Frank Kilgard worked for Streep Music in Florida before opening his own band instrument repair shop in Georgia. His strong interest in quality repair led to a life time of learning new tricks and methods for cleaning and repairing school band instruments. Frank was one of the first members of...
Wayne Tanabe is a pioneer in the band instrument repair field who has helped create and improve several methods for instrument cleaning using ultrasound and cryogenics. Looking towards ways of cleaning band instruments without harming the horn, Wayne began experimenting with deep freezing the...
Bill Mathews is the Executive Director of the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians (NAPBIRT). In that role Bill has expanded the organization’s meaningful education sessions offered during its annual conference, regional clinics, and unique hand-on training at...
Craig Anderson is the General Manager for Allied Supply in Elkhorn, WI. Allied is the largest supplier of parts, tools and cases to the band instrument repair business and has been a cornerstone for the National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians (NAPBIRT), which was...
Chip Owen is the product specialist at Fox Bassoons who helped engineer a series of instruments for Fox over the years including the Fox Model 900 Contrabassoon, which was first introduced in 1971. Chip supervised the development of many of the Fox products since that time and has played a key role...
Russell Thomas was a band director for over 34 years. During his teaching years he often felt frustrated that simple repairs would take weeks and often delay concerts or rehearsals. A local music store provided him an opportunity to learn simple repairs, which led to a passion that resulted in...
Robert Fleming has been a long time member of NAPBIRT, missing only a few annual meetings during his long career as a repairman. He worked with Pete Valentino on how plastics could be used in instrument pads such as the flute. Patrick’s Music hired Bob as their repairman, which he enjoyed very...