OH Taxonomy
David Straubinger started a small business in 1969 to repair and rebuild woodwind instruments. He determined early on that one area of consistent concern was they way flute pads were replaced and the design of the pads. Over time he designed his own products, including the Straubinger Flute Pad and...
Denny Lawson began learning and playing instrumental music while in college. He soon found he had a great interest in playing music and switched his major to music education. While he was a band director, a music store had an opening on its repair bench and Denny took the job to learn basic...
Ed Strege is known within the band instrument repair world as “fast Eddie” for his speed at repair and short-cut tricks he has taught members of NAPBIRT for several decades. His classes on repair started as a service within his company and served as the only training program for band instrument...
Eric Satterlee founded Meridian Winds in 1984, in Lansing, Michigan. The store specializes in wind instruments and has a very innovative repair shop. In fact, the repair shop is the birthplace of several of Eric’s ideas in tooling enhancement, including a series of products he sells under the...
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...
William Scarlett has dedicated his career to band instrument repair and the history of the many instrument makers in and around the mid-west. He studied the York Band Instrument Company and the many well-known products the company produced over the decades. Music is in his blood. His grandfather...
David Horine opened a small piano store in Bloomington, Illinois in the 1980s. David became a piano technician and gathered a nice reputation for tuning and repairs before he decided to open his own retail store. He found in short order that his customers were eager to try new models of the...
Jim Stella began playing the trumpet in the fourth grade and continued to play throughout college and went to instrument repair school right after school before landing a job in manufacturing. He began working for Leblanc in the Martin Band Instrument factory and soon thereafter became plant...
Larry Ramirez had a fascinating career in music! As a trumpet player he landed his dream job designing instruments for many of his childhood heroes! While working for Leblanc, Larry was assigned to repair the instruments of many of the company’s top endorsers. Over time he developed friendships...
John Meyer founded Meyer Sound Laboratory back in 1979 and soon became an important pioneer and innovator in sound reinforcement. He worked to establish a balance in the sound created by the microphones, signal processors, amps and loudspeakers to produce the desired sound for both live and...