Satchmo, Throats and Acoustic Armour

Hello out there! We've been really busy here in the shop... which is nothing new... but I've finally had some time to pay attention to little details that have been neglected here and there. Jason and I are working together to simplify the website once again... and in doing so... also update things that have been left behind. This News Feed is one of them! I am going to make it a personal goal to update this every day with photos and a short little bit about what we're working on. Hopefully you'll check back often and feel like you really have an idea what we spend our time doing each week. 

So, we had a team meeting today, like we do every day... and this is what we're all working on today.

Joe (pictured top left) is working on the Lathe Machining 5MM Modular Mouthpiece Throats. So far he's devoted a total of 68 machine hours to this portion of mouthpiece production... and yes, that's on this parts run alone. We're machining a total of 125 varieties of throat sizes in this run... and if you do the math that's about 1200 individual pieces. 

Christine (pictured lower right) is hand engraving sizes on all of those throat parts. We're hoping to invest in a laser engraver soon to take this step out of the process. And... as you can see, she is also answering phone calls and assisting clients with their orders and questions while she's engraving. 

Jason has been devoting today to redesigning a system we have for displays in our showroom and cutting them on the laser. We are having 2 open houses this summer... and we're hoping to put all of the finishing touches on our showroom before the first one in July. He spent the last few days spraying Acoustic Armour on a few clients custom built horns... pictured top right. We're really excited about this new finish and will be releasing other colors in the coming months. 

Jen (that's me and I am not in any of the pictures... haha... I take them so I don't have to be in them) ... I am working on this News Feed. I am also working on coordinating with Satchmo Summerfest in New Orleans. Every year we build a custom Satchmo Trumpet and donate the proceeds of that custom instrument to the festival. If you don't know about it you should really find out more about it! It's a completely FREE Festival in New Orleans every August... and it's devoted to Louis Armstrong, his music and his legacy. Check it out: http://fqfi.org/satchmo This year... we were going to try to do a raffle for the trumpet... but the logistics of this ended up being more than we could figure out in limited amounts of time. So... this year we're sponsoring a musician's performance instead. Sounds like we'll be sponsoring Kermit Ruffins. (A client of ours) Personal bragging side note... his latest album features one of our horns on the cover... (one he owns) and I took the picture! See below... you can order it here: https://www.basinstreetrecords.com/artists/kermit-ruffins/ I also just booked my travel for my trip to the festival. I will be meeting with clients. Documenting the festival with photos and a blog... and just generally having a blast celebrating the city of New Orleans and the musicians there... many of which are our clients and friends.  

One last thing... shameless plug... check out my blog here: www.whyharrelson.com/jens-blog
This is where I will be posting all about the festival... and doing client interviews on a weekly basis!