Welcome, Bienvenido, Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welkom, Benvenuto!

We are here to repair your band instrument correctly, quickly and economically. This is achieved by experienced repairmen that take pride in their work, and pay attention to detail. Our inventory includes parts for the most common repairs and currently made instruments. Having your horn for rehearsal or a gig is essential. So, getting it back to you expeditiously is one of our goals. We also have a large selection of parts for older, used instruments. Come to the shop and let us see if we can help you. Remember, ESTIMATES ARE FREE !

Elswick Band Instrument Repair repairs woodwind and brass instruments. We also repair instrument cases. Here is a brief list of the band instruments that we repair: piccolo, flute, alto flute, bass flute, Eb clarinet, Bb clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, contra-alto clarinet, contra-bass clarinet, oboe, english horn, bassoon, contra bassoon, Eb sopranino sax, Bb soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, bass sax, contra-bass sax, cornet, trumpets of all kinds, mellophone, alto horn, French horn, baritone, euphonium, trombone, tuba and sousaphone.

If you have a wind instrument that is not listed here and it is in need of repair, please give us a call. If you have questions regarding the performance, appearance or repair of your instrument, please give us a call. Better yet, bring the instrument to the shop and let us take a look at it.

Our Technicians:

Michael Elswick
I have been a repairman since 1972. I started as an apprentice at a small music store called The Music Stand, in Abingdon, VA. After repairing brass and woodwinds for three years I moved to a shop in Bristol, VA called Southeastern Music, where I was the sole repairman. I worked there until the beginning of 1977. In January of 1977, I joined the Navy as a musician. Being stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, in Waukegan, IL, I toured the mid-west performing in several different groups. We performed big band, rock & soul and ceremonial music. I repaired the horns for all the Navy musicians at that base. I also had a part-time job repairing horns, near the base, in Libertyville, IL. This shop was called Sage Band Instrument Repair. I worked there for three years as the saxophone repairman.

In 1979, I returned to Abingdon, VA. I opened a small repair shop in a local music store for one year while going to college. In 1980, I received a music scholarship at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. While attending JMU, from 1980 thru 1982, I opened a repair shop for Huffman’s Music. From 1982 thru 1987, I worked in Charlottesville, VA for Stuart’s Music, repairing brass and woodwinds. From 1987 until 1998, I worked at Crutchfield selling electronics. During this time I had a repair shop at my house. I did repair for local musicians. In 1998, I started working for Stuart’s Music & Arts, which slowly morphed to just Music & Arts. I was there until January of 2008. That is when I opened Elswick Band Instrument Repair. So, here we are today!

I do have other employees however they have chosen to not supply me with any biographically information. So, I’ll “fill in the blanks” with whatever I want. Some of the info will certainly be true!

Xxxxx Xxxxxxxxx (aka – The Brass Goddess)

Xxxxx has been repairing since she was 3 years old. She was kidnapped from her crib by gypsies. They took her to Latvia. Initially they taught her to repair accordions. Later she moved on to repairing wind instruments. Now she repairs all brass instruments, clarinets, flutes and piccolos. She has sworn off repairing accordions because of the bad memories. One interesting thing that most people don’t know about Xxxxx, during her time in Latvia she was a member of the 1976 Latvian Olympic Volleyball Team.

Timothy Turner (aka – Dude)

Tim repairs clarinets and flutes. This is a tremendous undertaking. Since the economic downturn more people are choosing to repair older instruments rather than purchase new ones. At last count Tim was facing 25 flute and clarinet overhauls. Each of which takes 4 to 6 hours of repair time. On top of that we have a constant flow of lesser clarinet and flute repair jobs ranging from 1/2 an hour to 3 hours. Tim also has a musical past that is riddled with pain and misfortune. During his high school years he was an acoustic bass player with a country band. Times were hard. The band could not afford a vehicle large enough to carry all of them and their instruments. Consequently, Tim had to tie his bass to the roof of the car. While driving down interstate 81, on the way to a gig in Grundy, his much loved bass came untied. It flew off the roof, skidded across the asphalt, down the hillside and slammed into a locust tree. Members of the band said that he wept while collecting the shattered pieces. The pieces were scattered across a 100 yard radius. It took nine Piggly Wiggly grocery bags to hold all the slivers of wood. Tim worked for 13 months trying to piece the wreck of an instrument back together again. The task was too much for him. It was a huge puzzle that was impossible to complete. Because of this he never played bass again!

Bruce Penner (aka – Mr. Man)

Bruce is the “man on the road”, roadie or road rep. He is on the road four days a week. He brings horns to us for repair. His travels take him to Burke, Manassas, Oakton, Springfield, Woodbridge and all the Prince William County school system. Also, he goes to Louisa county, Fluvanna county, Richmond, Nelson county and Amherst county. Plus, many of the local schools and the UVA marching band. Bruce also has a musical cross to bear. He is a percussionist. Even after enduring two percussion related injuries he still performs and works in the music industry. The first accident occurred while performing at Ash Lawn for one of their summer music events. It was during the Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture. It involved a cannon, a tympani and a set of chimes. I sorry, that’s all I can say. If you see him limp, don’t say anything…… please! The second injury occurred while in Africa. He was visiting a friend in the Republic of Mali. While there he had a vision. His vision led him to north eastern Tanzania to ascend Mt. Kilimanjaro. He took with him a glockenspiel. In his vision he saw himself playing the glockenspiel on Kibo, one of the three inactive cones of this stratovolcano. However, on this particular day Kibo had some volcanic activity. Ooooh! The scars it left on him………..  Well, just another reason why he limps.

Martha Worley (aka – The Administrative Wench)

Martha has a variety of jobs. She repairs clarinets and she is the administrative wench. Wenching involves logging in instruments that Bruce brings to the shop, answering the phone, talking with customers, dealing with incoming faxes, banking, ordering parts, fixing the van, glass blowing and a plethora of other things. Something not commonly known about Martha is, for a short period of time, she was a Canadian lumberjack. And that’s “OK”. Unfortunately she developed an allergy to tree sap. Fortunately the camp cook was an acupuncturist. He would perform acupuncture treatments on her daily to help alleviate the symptoms from the tree sap allergy. Unfortunately her allergy progressively worsened. So, more and more treatments were need. Fortunately she was secretly a masochist and enjoyed the pain. Unfortunately she became a hemophiliac. Consequently, this ended the acupuncture treatments, that she masochistly enjoyed, and caused the allergy to tree sap to return which ended her career as a Canadian lumberjack. Whew! So, that’s how she ended up at Elswick Band Instrument Repair repairing clarinets and being an administrative wench.

Matt Jackson (aka – Repair Monkey, First Class)

If  you desire to learn to repair musical wind instruments there are two ways to achieve this goal. FIRST, you can go to a repair school. There are only four on the North American continent. Three in the United States and one in Canada. SECOND, you can apprentice with a skilled repairman, if one is to be found. Matt has chosen the latter. Apprenticing is a time honored method of learning the art of musical instrument repair. Matt came to us nine years ago while still in high school. During his high school years he worked only in the summer. In year one he started as Flush Monkey, Third Class. Many a fine repairman started from these humble beginnings. In successive years he scratched and clawed his way up the ladder of musical instrument repair. Flush Monkey, Second Class, Flush Monkey, First Class, then he achieved the status of Master Flush. I clearly remember the look of pride on his face when he was awarded a gold chevron, signifying his constantly rising flush status. The gold chevron was tacked to his apron and he wore it well.

Finally Matt went off to college. He chose Virginia Tech. As always, he worked during the summer vacation. Then, there was the Court Martial. It was unfortunate but necessary. He was drinking denatured alcohol on the job. The blatant snorting of  shellac at his work bench. He grew his hair long. Next were the dreadlocks and the full body tattoos. He was busted down to Flush Monkey, Second Class. It was a dark period in an otherwise up and coming career. However, after some incarceration, counseling and severe scarring from the tattoo removal he got back on track. Before long he achieved Master Flush status again. Then on to Repair Monkey, Third Class, next Repair Monkey, Second Class and finally Repair Monkey, First Class. Once again Matt walks with his head high. Wink, wink, nod,nod. For the past year Matt has been working at the shop full time. We are so glad to have the real Matt back with us.