Seattle Area Repair Venues

[Leon]

I'm going to be in Seattle for a couple of weeks and would like to test some horns and mouthpieces. I am aware of Oberlows in Lake City, and Sarge in Everett, but that's all. I would like to perhaps test a few Link mouthpieces and pick one, and I don't think Sam Ash has a store in Seattle. Are there any other large woodwind or general music stores where they might have a selection to pick from?

Thanks - looking forward to my stay in Seattle - I'm a native who has been away a long time -

[Ken]

It's not a large shop but I think it is one that is/was used by some of the local pro's. It's called Northwest Winds. It's in Lake City. They specialise in woodwind (mainly sax'es) and brasswind. I haven't been there in a while though.

There's also general music stores like Capital Music in downtown Seattle, and Kennelly Keys which have several branches in Seattle.

[Whatasaxman]

There's usually a decent consignment bunch at NW Winds, there's also Akright's in Lynnwood. I don't really sell anything at my shop. Right now I only have a couple Zephyr altos.

[FunkyIntern]

Techs -

Northwest Winds in Lake City (Brad)
North Benson Music Center in Renton (Fritz)
Oberloh's in Burien (Dan)
Granlund in Seattle (Scott)

[Joey the Saint]

When you go to NW Winds, get Bob Carpenter's info from someone who works there and give him a shout. Bob is one of the local mouthpiece wizards and has an arsenal of excellent pieces. He's in Bothell, about a 15-minute drive from Northwest Winds.

[Gandalfe]

These are just my experiences. There are some people in the Seattle music world who talk trash about everyone one of these sites I recommend except for Northwest Winds. But I have not found that to be true in my repair adventures.

Mills Music in Redmond and Issaquah:
Steve Nelson is the tech manager for this shop. He does excellent work and stands by his repairs. He has refurbished my primary clarinet a Selmer Paris silver clarinet and my primary sax a Couf Superba I. He also saved a Leblanc bass clarinet that was dry, cracked, and missing parts. He is fast becoming popular and thus busy. But I usually can find time to call him in advance and talk with him about a new project.

Kennelly Keys in Lynnwood:
Paul Woltz is the sax repairer extrodinaire. I've heard his vintage Buescher bass sax whisper and roar and if that is any indication of his repair skills. Well I'm gonna have to visit this guy at his shop. The shop isn't as friendly as Mills as you have to sign in and state what is wrong with your instrument before you see the tech. Hmm...

More on Paul: Paul Woltz - As an oboe and bassoon specialist, Paul has mastered his craft with over 35 years of experience as a professional repair technician and musician. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor in Music on Bassoon and ran a repair shop in California for several years. His work is trusted by many of Washington's most accomplished musicians, whom repeatedly seek his expert services. As a professional bassoonist, Paul performed for 10 years at Disneyland and also worked as a studio musician in Hollywood. He currently performs with the 5th Ave Theater, the Cascade Symphony, and The Uptown, Lowdown Jazz Band; a touring Dixieland band.

World Wide Sax in Everett:
Steve Stranski is the man when it comes to vintage sax restores. He has restored a C Melody sax and a C soprano sax for me. He is fast, capable, and approachable. Oh, and you can see his vintage tenor sax collection too. There must be 20 or so tenors in his little museum.

Northwest Winds in Lakewood:
Brian is reputed to be the best repair guy on the west coast. I have been to his shop a number of times, but he is always way too busy. I took a Buffet SDA to the shop to get it looked at because they had repaired it before and got one of the underlings to look at it. They said there was nothing wrong with the instrument. Subsequent repair shops said that the stack was bent and some of the pads needed adjustment. I worked with this instrument for a year before I finally traded up to a Couf Superba I tenor.

But I don't doubt Brian is good, if he is available. Unfortunately it means that his backlog for repair work is months long, or longer. He also had some very nice vintage saxes for sale too. And the smashed sax on the entrance door is a gut stopper.

Oberloh's in South Seattle:
I took a relatively new Yanagisawa baritone in for repair. The high F# rod had been damaged when my son used it in high school. That was fixed rather handily. But from D3 and up, the bari never spoke the same for me again. Could be more about me than the instrument, but I didn't have these problems before I took it in. I did note that a brand new Yanagisawa has the same problem. Maybe I should disable the high F#?

[Ken]

I just had my bass clarinet repaired by Paul Woltz. He was recommended to me by Jay Easton as a good repairer for low woodwinds, along with Scott Granlund who is in Bell Town. I think he did a good job. However I had to take it back to get a minor adjustment on the 1-1 fingering for the Eb-Bb which was the original reason I bought it in to get fixed. I should have play tested it before I left the shop the first time.

I had a similar experience to Gandalfe at Northwest Winds. I took my soprano sax to get some minor repairs with specific instructions to replace a missing cork on one of the keys. One of his assistants did the job. Anyway I had to take it back to the shop since they didn't replace the missing cork. I bought my Conn New Wonder bari sax from Brad Wherry who had it restored so that it was looking in fine condition.

I've used Scott Granlund the most in the past, however he seems to be backlogged, and can be difficult to get a hold of imo.

[FunkyIntern]

Have heard through the grapevine that Brad at Northwest Winds has flipped the sign to closed and left it that way. Any truth to this rumor?

[MPL]

The "word on the street" on NW Winds is that Brad's shutting down until sometime next year. Apparently he plans to fix up everything in the back of the shop, sell all of it, and go primarily into the high-end vintage horn market, with further repair work only for selected clients. Seems like he's got a lot of catching up to do, what with all the other high-end vintage horn vendors already on the Internet.

[Gandalfe]

Hmm... that's not what I heard. Two big time instrument sellers told me that Brad is only doing wholesale work now-a-days--no more retail work.The "word on the street" on NW Winds is that Brad's shutting down until sometime next year. Apparently he plans to fix up everything in the back of the shop, sell all of it, and go primarily into the high-end vintage horn market, with further repair work only for selected clients. Seems like he's got a lot of catching up to do, what with all the other high-end vintage horn vendors already on the Internet.

[Swampcabbage]

Brad is in the whole-sale business these days. Some guys on e-bay use him for repairs. I was going to Brad exclusively for several years before I moved and still track him down whenever I need to make a big purchase or major work done. I have a Conn 30m and 26m that I got through him which still play lights out with nothing but minimal work over the past 10 years. I will be seeing him in about a month when I visit there again.

I've had good experiences with Scott Granlund and Paul Woltz. Scott was quick but Paul is subject to the process of a large operation so the wait was more than I could handle.

I've heard great things about Fritz but never had work done by him. Good person though.

[MPL]

Fritz Whitney is a solid player who's also a solid tech. He worked on my Martin baritone when he was employed at Oberloh's and did a superb job, so he gets all my repair work, which has included a full repad of a low A baritone I picked up a couple of years ago, and general maintenance of all my woodwinds. He also is very honest about what he thinks a horn needs or doesn't need, and isn't afraid to tell you his opinion if asked.

He's at North Benson Music Center in Kent, about 20 mins. drive south of Seattle proper. The store handles a lot of school rentals, so that's his bread & butter.

[BrianDL]

Just to update this list...

Mills Music in Bothell employs a gentleman by the name of Johnathan, a fantastic tech who's saved a couple saxes and clarinets from my high school that I could have sworn were lost causes. He's always willing to come up to the sales floor and talk to the customer at length about what he can/can't do. If the repair is minor and you're willing to wait 20-30 minutes, he'll perform the repair as you browse the store.

[Gandalfe]

I've taken my bass sax to Paul twice now. Both times I called ahead and was able to sit with him and watch him work. The first time, my brother, a luthier from Texas and my wife a crafts person were allowed to watch too.

What a stellar repair man. The Buescher bass sax I had was damaged when I got it. (I knew that up front, well most of the story.) The things Paul can do with a sax are unbelievable. The bass sax now plays the full range with great power and sound.

The second time I went, I had Paul put a spit valve on this instrument. We decided upon an Amati (trumpet) valve that Paul uses on his instrument. It is streamlined with nothing to get bent or bumped ajar. Once again, a great modification. And Paul worked with me a bit on my voicing of the infamous D2 and showed how easily the altissimo pops on this instrument.

Other than registering at the front desk, there was no problems at Kennelly Keys for me. And I won't go to a tech who I can't talk to and in some cases sit with while the quick fix repairs are being made to my specifications.

[Dave Dolson]

Have you ever heard Paul play alto? He is the hottest altoist in early jazz I've ever heard. His bass sax playing equals the alto. Years ago, Paul put a fix on my MKVI alto and it has never needed anything else after that. DAVE

[reubin]

The Rumors are true ... NW Winds has completely vacated it's old lake city location. (no more knocking on the back door with the hope of finding brad or travis!)

:walk:

Anyone know if Travis R is doing repairs anywhere?

reubin.

[reubin]

ps - scott g helped me out a while ago - and was excellent. located (at the time) behind the pet food store on 2nd ave downtown.)

[MPL]

I have a gig with Travis next week and can check. If Brad's shop is gone I can't imagine where Travis would do any work...

[silverselmer]

travis has his own shop now, he just rebuilt my selmer tenor last week. he does really great work. brad is working from home on matt stoecker's ebay stock full time now.

[harpgirl12]

I had an unfortunate accident with my Bach Strad a little while ago, and usually we asked Brad to fix any of our instruments. I was wondering if anyone knew matt stoecker's ebay username, or how to contact Brad, or of any other good instrument repair men.

[Gandalfe]

I had an unfortunate accident with my Bach Strad a little while ago, and usually we asked Brad to fix any of our instruments. I was wondering if anyone knew matt stoecker's ebay username, or how to contact Brad, or of any other good instrument repair men.I've sent you a PM with that info.

[MPL]

Yup, Travis Ranney is in the business for himself now, and does spectacular work. He told me he's looking for repair jobs for the next couple of months or so. Silverselmer...do you know if Travis prefers phone calls or E-mail? I forgot to ask him...

[Ken]

I'd also like to know Travis Ranney's contact info for repairs. It's about that time for my tenor...

[silverselmer]

I don't know what he prefers, but if you PM me, I will send you his phone#. I don't have his email....

[EllisJohnson]

I highly recommend Dallas Neustel as a repair tech. He works out of Metropolitan Music in Seattle and can be contacted at 206.491.9832 to set up an appointment. You can also reach him at his email which is dallas.neustel@hotmail.com He just did overhauls on my Selmer Series 10 Bb Clarinet, my Selmer Series 9 Bass Clarinet, and my Conn Chu Berry tenor. I have never had these horns play so nicely. I know several other people that know and recommend him as well. I know Jim DeJoie, Gary Hammond, and Mike Yasetake are among those who have recently had their horns serviced as well. Dallas is very meticulous, thorough and very quick. He also works with Kieth Bowen who is the best double reed guy around. Give him a call next time you need your horn worked on. You will not be disappointed.