Band Instrument Repair

My name is Bennie Erickson. For the past few years I have repaired musical instruments for Watermelon Music in Davis, CA. My specialty lately has been wind instruments such as flute, clarinet, trumpet and the like. I take pride in usually being to adjust an instrument so it plays better and more easily than it did when it came from the factory!

My mission as a musical instrument repair technician has always been to improve the quality of a musician’s overall experience with music performance – whether a beginner or advanced player – by assuring that the musician’s instrument is in proper working order. I have many years of experience in high quality instrument repair procedures.

My apprenticeship training began in 1969 in Fresno, CA at a business called California Musician’s Service . Over the elapsed 37 years since then, I received additional specialized training at the F. E. Olds brass instrument factory in Fullerton, CA and the B.C. Rich guitar factory in Los Angeles, CA – PLUS: Every time I work on an instrument, I usually learn something new. It has not yet entirely become “old hat” to me although sometimes I think I could repair any instrument with my eyes closed. But frequently when I start thinking that way, along comes a horn that will make a monkey out of me and challenge my abilities. Nearly every repair job is a new adventure.

   Almost all instruments are now predominately machine-made but there still are no two of them that are identical.  The owners of Watermelon Music, in their wisdom, have chosen what I consider to be some of the "best of the best" of the instruments currently on the market.

As a hobby, I make custom jewelry in silver and gold. (Many skills used to repair instruments also apply to jewelry making.) As a rule, though, jewelry making is less challenging to master than instrument repair.

            My largest satisfaction (or reward) for what I do to my customers' instruments: It's really "music to my ears" to hear a musician comment, "Wow, it's really easy to play now". Now THAT really makes me smile because I know I've really done my job!