Saturday, December 17, 2011

Winding down for 2011....

    With one day left of class, I have finished my customer project horn, and my mouthpipe turned custom build horn.  You should check out the Trumpet page, as there are so many pictures, I'm pretty sure it's going to crash the internet. 
     Reflecting back on my semester (because that's what I do) I can't believe the progress and confidence I have gained while in school.  I was a little nervous making this huge decision of switching out of Music Ed, graduating, and moving half way across the country to study band instrument repair- but it was totally worth it.  I have never had this sense of accomplishment in anything that I have ever done so far in my life.  I truly LOVE going to class every day (which is not something I could say about my undergrad.)  That being said, I value the experiences and knowledge I gained while at UMass - it's just this is a whole different ball game.  I can not thank my instructors at MSC Southeast Tech enough:  Greg, John and Lucas.  They are always pushing us as a class, individuals, and repair techs.  They are three of the most thoughtful, non-judgemental and critical instructors I have ever had - they are right up there with GNP. 
     So as my semester ends, and I fly home for three weeks, I will be starting to apply to local area repair shops, and I hope something comes up.  This place will probably be quiet, but rest-assured, come January 9th it'll be back up and running with more pictures of my happenings and progress.  Thank you to those of you who follow me, I have over 1,700 views since this blog's inception.  I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures.

Friday, December 2, 2011

the shop is a-buzz with activity...

So there is a lot of stuff going on.  I have my clarinet overhaul, my bugle overhaul, my proto-type horn project, and that's not even counting my actual stuff for school that's required!  I actually just started working on a "custom" trumpet build and hopefully soon we'll be getting our actual customer trumpets, which is what we get graded on.  Check out the trumpet page, the horn page, and the clarinet page for updates, also my most recent lathe project is the post below this one, check it out.  T-minus 15 days until the end of the semester, and I've never had so much fun at school.

euphonium/tuba valve stem lathe project

So right before turkey day break we had a lathe project to do. We were given a valve stem and had to figure out the measurements and dimensions to make an exact replica.  It was graded, and if you were wondering I did get full credit on it. :)