TubaForum.net

• Locally, band parents agree that'd be important, but who wants their kid to do 1-2 years of trade study/apprenticeship to start out at 30k a year?
  
  On a district or county level, school administrators and boards are flipping out at reduced federal funding, extensive administrative payrolls, and declining enrollments. They're not even gonna hear that some individual enrolled kids they just want to get reimbursed for could/should become "band instrument repair technicians."
  
  Regionally living wage activists mandate 40-52k for burger-flippers who have morphed into adult workers.
  
  States have their own Dept of Ed bureaucracies, they don't even have to produce readers and writers from K-12 systems that (if rightly-aligned politically) can get their kids into Berkeley or Cal Poly.
  
  Every single person who thinks that "they" are educated has buried their head in the sand, 3-4 generation's worth.
  
  Thats what federal funding of education for a Great Society has got you, and you say we need band instrument repair techs??

jose the tuba player wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2026 12:46 pm
The gap between the New techs and old techs will continue to widen due to the loss of knowledge transfer in order to gatekeep a trade that much like mechanics is in desperate need of young eager people.

dp wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2026 2:52 pm

jose the tuba player wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2026 12:46 pm
The gap between the New techs and old techs will continue to widen due to the loss of knowledge transfer in order to gatekeep a trade that much like mechanics is in desperate need of young eager people.

I call sour grapes (or, if you prefer BULLSH'T) on you for this. NONE of the repair/artisans here have been anything but forthcoming and supportive, but the ones who have been around a long time and are still (mostly) sane have learned to manage their time in a way that works for them personally. I haven't experience the gatekeeping you refer to. Withholding their skillset from eager would-be apprentices? Are you sure you wanted to use that word? Sound like you just fell off a turnip truck, after spending too much time leafing through Webster's looking for big words. No one I know is jealously and competitively protecting their niche by turning away young eager people who want to learn a trade. Are you 20? 30? 40? 50? An unsolicited offer to apprentice has to be attractive to the guy you want to learn from. You really have to sell yourself to someone who is looking for what you offer. In all honestly, the way you come off here doesn't sound like I'd immediately welcome you in my life, let alone my shop, trade, livelihood, and for many, safe place. Calling an entire profession of artist precision toolmakers (or even dentball wizards) "gatekeepers" betrays an attitude that someone who's been tapping out dents or re-padding flutes for DECADES can smell a mile away. Thats insulting AF. Whether someone makes a nickel, or 20 bucks at what they do if they're capable and proud to do it they already have the fun of "customer-facing" often every day sometimes 24/7 365. They're under no obligation to "young eager people" who in the same breath disparage them. If I could adamantly say "skew you" here, I would. But since I cannot, I'll just say "booooo......"

bloke wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2026 9:37 pm I'm not soliciting any more business, but there are people who - rather than deciding to buy a dent machine and jumping right in with no experience - stick their instruments in their cars (after scheduling two or three days with me). They leave with me exhausted and their stuff prepared.

Humans can tear stuff up pretty good by beating on it with their fists, but they can tear up stuff even faster and more thoroughly via the use of tools.

hrender wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2026 9:03 am For what it's worth there are schools out there that still teach instrument repair apparently outside of NAPBIRT. Locally we have CIOMIT which I've heard is good. I know I've had them do work on a couple of my horns, and they've done a good job. Their "Band Director Basics" course cost is below the cost that I used to see for 5-day IT courses 20 years ago.

jose the tuba player wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2026 9:32 pm

dp wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2026 2:52 pm

jose the tuba player wrote: Thu Sep 10, 2026 12:46 pm
The gap between the New techs and old techs will continue to widen due to the loss of knowledge transfer in order to gatekeep a trade that much like mechanics is in desperate need of young eager people.

I call sour grapes (or, if you prefer BULLSH'T) on you for this. NONE of the repair/artisans here have been anything but forthcoming and supportive, but the ones who have been around a long time and are still (mostly) sane have learned to manage their time in a way that works for them personally. I haven't experience the gatekeeping you refer to. Withholding their skillset from eager would-be apprentices? Are you sure you wanted to use that word? Sound like you just fell off a turnip truck, after spending too much time leafing through Webster's looking for big words. No one I know is jealously and competitively protecting their niche by turning away young eager people who want to learn a trade. Are you 20? 30? 40? 50? An unsolicited offer to apprentice has to be attractive to the guy you want to learn from. You really have to sell yourself to someone who is looking for what you offer. In all honestly, the way you come off here doesn't sound like I'd immediately welcome you in my life, let alone my shop, trade, livelihood, and for many, safe place. Calling an entire profession of artist precision toolmakers (or even dentball wizards) "gatekeepers" betrays an attitude that someone who's been tapping out dents or re-padding flutes for DECADES can smell a mile away. Thats insulting AF. Whether someone makes a nickel, or 20 bucks at what they do if they're capable and proud to do it they already have the fun of "customer-facing" often every day sometimes 24/7 365. They're under no obligation to "young eager people" who in the same breath disparage them. If I could adamantly say "skew you" here, I would. But since I cannot, I'll just say "booooo......"

Perhaps I struck a nerve. To clarify i was not referring to the techs on this forum but the people at the napbrit conference and the tech that agreed to do dent work on my 21j. I apologize to everyone here who took offense.
My experiences led me to buy my own dent machine which you simply told me I was impatient instead of offering a real response. However going on this ad hominem attack is telling, you don't know me and I don't know you. I'm simply posting about my experiences as a younger person wanting to break into an industry which like the mechanic field requires expensive specialized tools and knowledge of how to use it. I'll agree with Joe and Wade that a novice with a dent machine isn't practical and can do damage which I did and I'm not afraid to admit. I had to redo things after removing a dent left a crease from a roller. Rick Denny's comment about what is the trick to jazz is starting to make sense.
Even though you're not obligated to, why not offer actual advice for future readers of this thread on how someone with no directly related skills is supposed to sell themselves to get an apprenticeship? I have worked with my hands for almost a decade now at various jobs and I'll acknowledge that repair is functional art that takes skills i do not have. With that being said I will keep teaching myself despite your booing.

hrender wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2026 9:03 am For what it's worth there are schools out there that still teach instrument repair apparently outside of NAPBIRT. Locally we have CIOMIT which I've heard is good. I know I've had them do work on a couple of my horns, and they've done a good job. Their "Band Director Basics" course cost is below the cost that I used to see for 5-day IT courses 20 years ago.

Teubonium wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2026 11:44 am

hrender wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2026 9:03 am For what it's worth there are schools out there that still teach instrument repair apparently outside of NAPBIRT. Locally we have CIOMIT which I've heard is good. I know I've had them do work on a couple of my horns, and they've done a good job. Their "Band Director Basics" course cost is below the cost that I used to see for 5-day IT courses 20 years ago.

CIOMIT is going out of business. Liquidation sale coming soon.

Adrian Monk wrote:I don't think so.

AI wrote:The typical full-time community college faculty salary in the Mid-South region ranges from $55,000 to $76,000 per year

Mr. bloke corrects me work more than everyone else, and makes me feel inferior. I'm suing !!!

We can't furnish flammable materials nor lead-solder for this class...

Mr. bloke, You're going to have to carry insurance for anything that might occur in here. We can't be held responsible.