Repair Pictures

I wish I was Marty McFly

Crocodile Rock - SIR Elton John

No but really, after the half week I've had so far I really want a Delorean to flash forward a few years just to make sure it all turns out okay. This week has been very discouraging because everything is kinda in a stasis as it comes to repair. The work is steady but it's all rental return instruments which thanks to my company's severely outdated price list is very close to the point of not worth my time. If you remember I have my own school to work on but thanks to the geniuses in the Dallas Independent School District we still haven't gotten a new purchase order to allow any of the tech's in our shop to work on the loads of DISD horns we currently have. Honestly we have about an even amount of DISD as well as rental return instruments; but the three of us that are commission pay are stuck working on the beaters that are in their own special circle of hell: being perpetually destroyed and fixed only to be destroyed even worse.

I'm sure everything will work out in the end but I can't say I've been more discouraged at work this week than I have today. And I don't mean to be all sad and gloomy, but I think a lot of my frustration is stemming from little things in the work environment I haven't adapted too yet or flat out don't like. Such as the ridiculously outdated price list. I mean seriously I'm sure my fellow tech's will read this and agree at how stupidly low the prices are for us to fix next to destroyed instruments.

I guess I'm just going to do my drone thing for a little longer and hope something changes or that things will actually start to look up and my future won't seem so murky. I'm constantly reminded that I need to keep working hard at it and eventually something will happen.

I Walk the Line

Antiphonal Brass Music - Boston Brass Section

So lets start off with me apologizing for not posting a lot this week. I am getting married this Saturday and you know, writing this stuff for you people isn't very high on my priority list at the moment. I mean the world doesn't revolve around you, so stop texting me begging for my next post; I will put a post up when I feel in the mood.

All joking aside, I am getting married so this will probably be my last post for a week or so since we leave for Seattle on Tuesday! I'm super excited about this weekend and spending the rest of my life with the girl of my dreams.

Side note you all should check out my buddy's tumblr: http://adamkoble.tumblr.com/ Great friend that is starting out in repair and doing some awesome custom work for tuba players around the Metroplex. Looking forward to some of the crazy stuff he is doing, like venting rotors!

So on to the post:
There is an indescribably feeling when you completely destroy something on accident. It happens to everyone, that terrible moment when you realize that whatever design or plan you had going in your head will no longer be attainable. The moment you begin to think of how long until you might be able to get your original design back. That my friends happened yesterday at 4:30pm. I have been lucky enough to have some friends in 'high' places and managed to land a school account of my own.

As I was plugging through the marching brass I ran into a very stubborn Mellophone tuning slide (And Thomas if you are reading don't worry). So I did what I have done hundred of times before except this one time while trying to pull it out the entire lead pipe got ripped off of the horn and crushed in a terrible way. Commence the moment I described in the above paragraph.

Being my first school account I have fielded a lot of questions to my boss and he has been super helpful. So I ran to him asking what would be better: to replace the part or fix the existing part. This is the line we as repairmen are constantly straddling. I like to think of it as a proverbial tight rope walk that happens daily. As repairmen we are constantly struggling with thoughts of: "Is that good enough?" "Will anyone see that little dent I didn't get out?" "Is this flute actually sealing? Or am I mashing the keys down too hard to get a seal?" These little moments happen to even the best repairmen. It's not like these moments are a bad thing, self-questioning can only lead to improvement. But I think that the longer you are in the field the quicker you are at coming to the realization of what should be done.

My boss is like this: Upon seeing the tubing and hearing my question he called into the Yamaha ordering center and got a price for a replacement, then went out and did a very quick glance at 'how much' it would be to fix the existing part. (Side note replacing that specific lead pipe costs $110 before shipping.) He is a firm believer in the best of people, he came out looked at the rest of the horn smiled and said, "Fix it." He then schooled me on how 'long' it should take by removing the worst part of the crushed section in a way I never would have thought.

It was that little 5 minutes that really got me thinking about the struggle up and coming repairmen face when it comes to ability vs. practicality. We all like to believe we can fix something, but how practical would it be to just replace that thing? I guess if I were to sum up this post it would be that the line we as repairmen walk sort of a fickle thing that only exists in our head, but walking that line is where you can gain a lot of wisdom and insight when it comes to practicality v. ability.

That Awkward Moment...

Dreams - The Cranberries

So everyone knows life is full of awkward moments. I think some of the most awkward moments come when you least expect it. If you don't know, I recently moved and started a my career. In an effort to not starve to death I took it upon myself to start nosing around the area looking for business. To say the least I'm already an awkward person, add in the fact I'm emailing people I have never met and the awkwardness seems to multiple. I mean in the technological age, something like emailing potential clients should seem normal right? WRONG! Apparently email is strictly for people you already know and reaching out should still be done in person. 

I just hope that I'm not shooting myself in the foot when it comes to networking. I want this career to work and I am just being active in my future. Despite what most people think Band Instrument Repair isn't about skill at all; skill comes with experience which I already wrote about. No the biggest part of this industry is who you know. This has already proved to my advantage greatly because I know a lot of people, and my boss and the owner have begun to notice my potential. 

Where I live now is actually great for me, because it is a giant untapped region when it comes to repair. There is a huge volume of work that the few Mom and Pop shops around here can't or won't handle. So my goal is to by the beginning of next year to be the primary resource for these (extremely rich) school districts. And it starts with doing freebies. Luckily for me I know some private lessons instructors in the area and maybe I can get my foot in the door that way. All I know is that with 10 days to the wedding, I need to get my act together and stop playing video games. 

Grinding Experience

Music Mood: Panama, Van Halen

NERD ALERT!

So repair is an interesting career in that it takes a lot of skill to be considered 'great'. And the only real way to get that skill is practice and experience. So when I use such a gamer term as grinding let me just say it is almost exactly that. Today was proof of the 'grinding' nature that is repair. I wouldn't say today was bad, but man did was it long and tedious. Kind of like when you are running the same instance in WoW day after day trying to get that one trinket only to never see it until it is obsolete. 

Today's grinding experience was brought to me via my good friends known as the 'flute'. (I feel like using parentheses a lot tonight so deal!) No matter how 'good' I think I am flutes always manage to knock me flat on my but and get my tires spinning the 'proverbial' mud! I know that all of this is 'good' for me, but I just wish it was as easy as clarinets are to me. It took me a mere 2 hours to overhaul a clarinet today where as I could barely do 3 flutes in that time. (For those not aware: 'overhauling' consists of removing all the keys, pads, corks, cleaning the instrument and keys and then replacing all the aforementioned items. Very time consuming)

Any way, I'm just really hoping work picks up more so the grind won't seem as tedious as it did today. And knowing that I blogged about how grinding today was, tomorrow will either be just as bad or go by without a hitch. I'm hoping for the latter but expecting the former.

Stay tuned! :D

Obligatory Post

Music Mood: 1979, Smashing Pumpkins

So here is my obligatory post for the first of many overhauls of my blog/website. Just to catch everyone up to what's going on in my life: I'm getting married to the most amazing girl I have ever met in about 3 weeks and I'm super excited about that. I am out of school now still pending a degree. I figure that will come whenever and I should just jump into work and get that experience in my belt. I hope that you will continue to put up with me as I write pedantic ravings about how 'awesome' I am. Just know I am doing that as a self promotion as well as a way of sharing with others what I really do from 10-6 everyday. I'm not an egomanic. I am, however, quite good at what I do and that is repairing band instruments. 

I recently got a full time position at Brook Mays Music in Irving, TX and I am hoping to expand while I stay there. I recently bought business cards so peeps might be reading this from those if so, "Welcome!" I am trying to attract as much business as possible including the elusive school district accounts. But for now I'll just say "Hello" again and actually start updating this quasi-daily. 

Goodnight!