My Band Instrument Repair Story
I have been repairing “band instruments” for 52 years. “Band Instruments” or “Wind Instruments” are piccolos, flutes, clarinets, oboes, English horns, bassoons, saxophones, trumpets, cornets, trombones, French horns, euphoniums (baritone horns), tubas and sousaphones. I have repaired recorders and Irish flutes. I don’t do harmonicas or accordions. Otherwise, if you blow wind through it, I can probably fix it. I have done band instrument repair in shops in Bristol, Va., Abingdon, Va., Harrisonburg, Va., Waukegan, Illinois., Libertyville, Ilinois. and of course Charlottesville, Va.
During my stint around Waukegan I was a Navy musician and toured the mid-west with several different Navy bands. I also did repair work on some Navy band instruments. Around 1979, after getting out of the Navy I attended JMU as a music major, of course.
During my time at JMU I performed with some different area bands like Wave, Moment’s Notice and Second Opinion. In 1983 I moved to Charlottesville where I worked for Stuart’s Music. In 1987 I started working for Crutchfield as a salesman selling car stereo and home stereo equipment. During this time I was still repairing and playing music. Around 1997 I switched back to band instrument repair when I started to work for Music & Arts. I worked there until 2008 when I started Elswick Band Instrument Repair and here we are, 17 years later.
My Musical Performance Story
Besides repairing band instruments, I am also a performing musician. I’ve been playing saxophone for 56 years as of 2024. I have played and toured with Navy bands, Top 40 Bands, Jazz quartets & quintets and some 18 piece tradition Big Bands. In years past I have performed with Big Ray & the Kool Kats, The Coasters, The Temptations, Gladys Knight and even Bob Newhart.
These days I perform locally with a variety of different groups like, my own group The Michael Elswick Gathering which is a jazz quartet that also plays Blues Latin and Ballads. The Chickenheads Blues Band, ZuZu’s Hot 5, Baby Jo’s Boogie Band and occasionally Big Ray & the Kool Kats.
In the photo to the left, my wife, Vanessa, got a photo of me setting in with Cherry Red, which is a local Rolling Stones tribute band, at Callie Opie’s Orchard Restaurant in Louisa county.
My Pastimes
I am also an avid bicyclist. I ride both “on-road” and “off-road”. My on-road bike is a Trek Domane SL-5 made of carbon fiber which I really like. My wife Vanessa bought it for me several years ago and it really rejuvenated my desire to ride.
My “off-road” bike is a Trek Excaliber made of their alpha gold aluminum. That just means that it’s a strong material and very light. It’s not as light as carbon fiber but it’s pretty dang light.
I like to ride fairly long trails like The Virginia Capital Trail in Richmond, Va. and The Virginia Creeper Trail in Abingdon, Va., which happens to be my hometown.
Every year, usually the week of my birthday, I will ride a Century. This, as you can probably figure out, is a 100 mile ride that I like to do in one day. I normally do this event with my bicycle riding friend Sara Sherrard. Over the years we have ridden together quite a few miles.
I enjoy riding just to stay in shape and not to become old and decripit.
