Well... it's been a few days... and my lists about what everyone has been working on look kinda crazy. Where to start? Joe has been plowing through nuts on the lathe. I don't know the total number of nuts produced in this run because I neglected to ask him... but it was A LOT... and I know he's ready to move on to other things. While on this project he's also been doing email, phone and shipping with Christine. 

Jason helped do program and set up the nuts on the machine... as well as running it while Joe is busy on other projects. Earlier this week Jason was turning some custom Art Series 5MM Mouthpiece Bodies... which turned out just beautifully... I think I mentioned it here once already... but just came across a few other photos so I thought I would add them here as well. Two of these have already sold and I have been so busy that they aren't even up on our website yet. 

Jason never does one thing at a time... because he gets pulled in a ton of directions... so he's also been building custom horns... working on the laser to create the remainder of our showroom displays and helping me set up some new equipment in the office and showroom. Today we had a couple of guys stop by from FUSION360 and tour the shop... so he was meeting with them as well. 

Looks like I don't have many photos of Christine from the last few days... but she's been putting together 5MM orders to ship out. Packing and shipping trim and other trumpet orders as well as her regular customer service. We are really excited to see that there are less than 20 custom 5MM Mouthpieces left waiting on parts either to be machined or that are out at plating. I spent the better part of yesterday restocking parts and it's possible some of these will fill orders as well. Things are really coming together for the 5MM system and the phones are busy almost constantly. I have also been running the laser to cut displays. Setting inlays and what else I can't really say... but whatever that has been it sure has been keeping me busy. I have two Harrelson Trumpets to list on our website... I am hoping I can do that yet tonight before I leave... and those custom 5MM Mouthpiece Bodies as well... Excited to get those out there! 

Each of these parts have tiny numbers on them... and go in a special spot in the mouthpiece stock cabinet... turns out my eyes aren't exactly what they used to be. And... these too... 

This is a little teaser for the next round of custom Art Series 5MM Mouthpiece Bodies... stay tuned! 

Here's Jason working hard to get the best light to photograph a silver horn. These are tricky!

Last but not least... since I am on the topic of mouthpiece nuts... I wanted to share a link with a little bit of information on how to get the perfect seamless fit between your Harrelson 5MM Mouthpiece and trumpet receiver. I will be adding more photos here in the coming days... but in case you weren't sure about how to do it... this might be helpful to you. http://www.whyharrelson.com/nut-sizes.html Also... Joe and Christine are always ready to help over the phone 303-657-2747

Until next time... from all of us here at Harrelson Trumpets working hard to deliver you the finest in instrument technology... have a great weekend! 

PS. The laser cutter and the 3D printers don't need to sleep! We're hoping to train them to do some of the work around here! 

I have been out of town visiting my family and friends in MN for a few days... but I flew back to Denver today. I was hoping for an awesome view of the eclipse from the airplane... but mostly it was just like any other flight... plus a 4 year old next to me that likes to kick strangers... but I am very happy to be back! Everyone has been hard at work while I was away. Joe worked Saturday and met with a trumpet player that was in town playing at Red Rocks and wanted to stop by the shop and try out mouthpieces. Jason's been working on custom horn builds... but also somehow finding time to cut custom art mouthpiece bodies. He and I poured blanks for turning a few months ago... and they're finally "taking shape" and looking REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLY AWESOME! But don't take my word for it... just look at some of these! 

Truth be told I didn't really ask Christine what she's been doing since I left ... but I do know that she's probably been filling 5MM orders and doing client service and shipping... other than that... I would guess finishing trumpets... but I will have more information tomorrow. 
It's 8:45pm and I am still here at the shop... it's only fair since I got here around 2pm and everyone else has been working hard these last few days while I was away. I stayed late to finish two trumpets that came back from plating and also finish cutting displays on the laser for finger buttons and the new custom art mouthpiece bodies. 

I think this is my favorite mouthpiece body... 

Or maybe this one... 

Some other cool bodies from the week... 

And... my anti-climactic eclipse experience on my flight earlier today... 

Yesterday... despite sticking around the shop until 7:30... I didn't have time to update the newsfeed. As you can see Joe & Christine shipped out a lot of orders yesterday afternoon! 

Jason took delivery on a Picza 3D Laser scanner from Roland... Zander is seen here helping to unpack the very large and comfy box. 

Joe was on the phone a LOT yesterday... it seemed to be ringing off the hook. 

I did final assembly on this horn for a couple of hours yesterday... luckily I have several books on tape I am in the middle of... since this room doesn't have windows.  We are catching up on a ton of work this week... because it's the first week back to school our constant stream of visitors is slowing down just enough for us to complete all the little things that go undone at times. We are all looking forward to a very productive and exciting fall here at Harrelson Trumpets!

​

Jason spent the day working on an ART Horn bell crook & tuning slide. There were some machining issues and he had to trouble shoot for most of the day. As is often the case... something we thought would take just a couple of hours took the better part of the day. He also did some work on the laser to get the finger button displays rolling. I have been turning out a lot of trim parts and we want to properly display them in the showroom. ​

I have spent most of the day working on inlays and organizing the finishing room where I spend a lot of time doing the final prep on horns before they ship out. As you can see Zander is still here... he had to practice outside for a bit while Joe returned some phone calls. 

If you haven't heard yet... Jason and Harrelson Trumpets were featured in the latest Harvey Tool BLOG... that you can check out here: ​http://www.harveyperformance.com/in-the-loupe/harrelson-trumpets/

Christine has been hard at work finishing trumpets as they come off of Jason's bench. She's also been filling orders... answering phone calls and processing orders. Here's a quick shot of Zander... who's really excited to play his lesson tonight... on his new Harrelson 5MM Mouthpiece. Until tomorrow!

I spent most of my day so far creating the engraving files and cutting custom mouthpiece bodies w/ Art on the Hurco. I've also been doing email and chat... and general office Monday chores. I will be updating some client order forms and then restocking mouthpiece parts for the rest of the day... possibly some more art work as well before the day is over.

Jason has been working on custom Art for a Summit Art model horn. He's been doing the program and design of the intricate bell crook and tuning slide. This is another horn headed to New Orleans. 

Christine has been doing emails, order processing, shipping and finishing work on a trumpet.

Joe has been shipping, working with an unexpected shop visitor and will be assembling mouthpiece orders to ship out. We have a plating order that came back and I will probably be helping to sort that shipment as well.

Some of the design work I've been doing today. 

Christine working hard on finishing a horn. Below... Jason teaching Zander about inventions... 

We've all been working in hyper speed this week. Joe spent the day doing emails, shipments and building mouthpieces. Christine was answering phones and finishing trumpets. Jason completed two trumpets and did a run of VGR insert box designs on the laser. I engraved 5MM Mouthpieces and did final assembly on two trumpets. I also spent some time doing custom mouthpiece designs for client orders in Rhino. It's Saturday... and Jason, Christine and I are all here... we have a client visiting from Minnesota... and I want to finish the custom mouthpiece designs I started yesterday. It's a beautiful Saturday in Colorado... and I think we all have tomorrow off! 

Josh Cameron in the showroom all the way from Minnesota!

Yesterday Zander had a trumpet lesson with Jason and one with Joe... and I taught him some tricks on piano... everyone is having fun at the shop with him around.

Today went by fast. We had 2 scheduled visitors today. Local guys that were coming to swap out mouthpiece parts on their 5MM orders. We also had a family stop in unexpectedly from Minnesota. That was a lot of fun as well. Zander is still here and he's been helping out a lot and teaching us a lot about things kids know these days. Around the shop here's what's been going on. 

This morning I answered emails and did some basic office duty stuff. Then I did the final clean up and assembly on a custom trumpet build that Christine finished off yesterday. Did some photographs of that... and chatted with our MN visitors. Then I spent a couple of hours engraving mouthpiece bodies. 

Joe finished up making mouthpiece bodies this morning. Other than that he's been doing shipping and building mouthpieces for clients. 

Jason completed a custom horn order this morning and has been working on another today as well. He's moving on to engraving mouthpiece throats with the laser. He will need to put in an order for brass stock before he goes home. We're hoping to get another impromptu trumpet lesson in before we all head home. 

Christine completed finishing work on a custom horn today and has been working on another. When she hasn't had her hands in gloves for finishing... she's been helping all of our visitors try out horns and fit them for mouthpieces. 

One of our surprise visitors today all the way from Minnesota!

My screen on the CNC for mouthpiece engraving and Jason at the lathe cutting a few specialty bodies. 

Sometimes it seems like it takes us until Wednesday to catch our breath here. Guess who is here visiting for a while? Jason's nephew Zander (helping out above) from Billings, MT. He's getting in the groove here at Harrelson Trumpets and helping us stay on task. 

Joe finished up VMTs on the lathe this morning and switched tooling back over to Mouthpiece Bodies.  The tomorrow the lathe will be set back up for custom mouthpiece bodies. Then a run of Pollard Water Keys. The lathe has been in almost constant motion... which is how we like it.

Christine has been doing finishing work on custom trumpet builds. Once those are hand finished... I will be doing final assembly. 

Jason is building said horns... and I have been handling residual emails and random tasks that were lagging behind in my absence. Tomorrow I will be finishing horns and designing the CAD programming for a number of custom engraving projects that have been waiting for me. What else have I been forgetting? We had two visitors yesterday... and it was quite the full house. In a good way. John Reid was in town trying out mouthpieces. John tours with KC and the Sunshine Band and has a lot of note not in the staff... if you know what I mean! 

Joe's pretty happy he switched the tooling and set up the machine to cut bodies this morning without having to ask a single question... and without breaking any tools. And... below... you can see both Oscar... and John Reid's daughter were pretty happy to play with Zander yesterday. Full house!

So... I just returned home from a very watery visit to New Orleans for the Satchmo Summerfest. I will be doing a separate blog on that later today or early tomorrow.... just trying to get my bearings here. But... I wanted to do an update on the work that's been going on here at Harrelson Trumpets while I was away. We've had a very busy summer... which has included an ever increasing number of shop visits. This week we had several... but the one I missed was Joe and Kendra on Friday. They were in town to pick up Kendra's new custom Summit Trumpet. 

Everyone is hard at work... for you, our clients. This has been the busiest Summer we've ever had... and it's about to go crazy around here. September to January is consistently strong at Harrelson Trumpets... we're all looking forward to an exciting Fall!

Ok... that's all for now... I am going to get my thoughts and photographs organized for my recount of New Orleans and Satchmo Summerfest 2017. It feels good to be back!