OH Taxonomy
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...
Dick Waldron came to music in a most unusual way. His father was a house painter who completed a job only to find out the house owner did not have enough money to pay so he offered a cornet, to which Dick took a liking. He played the horn during school and served in the US Navy at the tail end of...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Chuck Dadisman grew up on a farm and went to school to become a school music teacher, which he did for five years before moving to Omaha, NE, where he worked in piano and organ retail. It was at that store that he met one of the mentors in his life, Dick Carlson. Dick was the road rep for...