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Three Valves wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 8:21 am Not all workers are cut out to be owners, however.

This. A local bookstore, husband-and-wife owners, decided to cash out and sell their space and inventory rather than turn it over to then current employees. It gave the couple a retirement fund and, according to an interview I read, allowed them to walk away with their store's reputation intact. It's hard to let a business close, but it's also hard to turn it over to someone if you don't think they'll be able to maintain your standards. There are more than a few old businesses around that are simply old names attached to a very different team and operation. Better to let someone else start a new business with a new name.

Example: Schwinn vs. Waterford

I saw that on FB too. Super happy for Dave. He ran a great business, but this is also a hit for the tuba community. Always enjoyed his displays at conferences, and their help with things over the years. Wishing Dave and all the folks there well.

The IDEA of having an employee buy the business sure is nice. But how many employees can make a business work when the much more experienced current owner can no longer make it work? I know it happens, but it does not happen often.

greenbean wrote: ↑Fri Jun 24, 2022 9:10 am The IDEA of having an employee buy the business sure is nice. But how many employees can make a business work when the much more experienced current owner can no longer make it work? I know it happens, but it does not happen often.

The short answer is that the new owner doesn't have to (and probably shouldn't) run the business the same way it was previously run.

I am sorry to hear that BB is closing, but I guess it is a case of somewhat diminishing profit and a desire of the owner to retire.

I am alarmed by the post that mentions all the great sellers and repairers who are close to retirement and have no successors.

What I would say is that, in my experience, small businesses pay way too little attention to business succession. Yes, in some cases it is better for mom and pop to merely roll up the sidewalk and take down the shingle, but in the case of the tuba businesses, there are probably ways to train employees to take over or expand the scope of the business to where it would be viable enough to sell. I know that my friend Rich Ita, the brass repairman, has grown his business over the years and taken on and trained some very capable brass repair people. He also has a good business selling as a dealer for some new instruments as well as maintaining a good stock of used instruments and even historic ones. Atlanta is a big town, but not bigger than Baltimore, which is also near enough to DC and even reachable from NYC and environs. I think that there is prospect for a low brass showroom/repair facility in that area. Whether a buyer will be found in the short term is anybody's guess if there's a deadline on closing.

royjohn, tuba newbie at 75

royjohn wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:30 pm royjohn, tuba newbie at 75

I agree with everything you said, but I can't get past how cool this last line is.

Dave:

Best wishes in the future. Baltimore Brass Company, was a first-class source for all things musical including instrument sales, repair and performance instruction. Your business as well as you personally will be greatly missed.

Just heard a potential candidate to purchase BBC has surfaced and the store may be staying as it is....even the same name...

Sad to see the shop close, but I am wishing Dave a happy retirement.

I only bought one item from them, a tuba rest. On the day after I got it, I tried it out on a gig rehearsal and unscrewed the wrong knob slightly when loosening it and it came out. Then, I realized there were two knobs and I had unscrewed the wrong one. I e-mailed Dave asking about the use of the knob since it fell out and he mentioned it was a dummy knob, essentially an extra that wasn't needed, but since he stood by the product so much, he already had one boxed up and wanted to know my address. I had never seen such great service. I later met him at a conference where I got to talk to him. He was such a nice guy, enjoyable to talk to, and of course, very knowledgeable. His playing with Baltimore was fantastic (understatement of the year). I hope I can get to see him at future events,

bort2.0 wrote

royjohn wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:30 pm
royjohn, tuba newbie at 75

I agree with everything you said, but I can't get past how cool this last line is.

Thanks for the compliment, Brett, but I have to say that last line would really be even cooler if I
could play worth a damn! I will say that I am practicing about 50% of days because tuba practice
is not looked on with great favor by my life partner, but I do seem to be improving, if my ears
are to be trusted.
royjohn, tuba newbie who turned 75 about 35 days ago

royjohn wrote: ↑Tue Aug 02, 2022 11:43 am ... tuba practice is not looked on with great favor by my life partner, but I do seem to be improving, if my ears are to be trusted.

royjohn, tuba newbie who turned 75 about 35 days ago

Would noise cancelling headphones help? I've had some normal over-ear noise cancelling headphones for several years, but recently I've been really impressed by how well the AirPods Pro do for noise cancelling, while being small and comfortable. They'll do noise cancelling even without any Apple device attached.

hrender wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 10:16 am

Three Valves wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2022 8:21 am Not all workers are cut out to be owners, however.

This. A local bookstore, husband-and-wife owners, decided to cash out and sell their space and inventory rather than turn it over to then current employees. It gave the couple a retirement fund and, according to an interview I read, allowed them to walk away with their store's reputation intact. It's hard to let a business close, but it's also hard to turn it over to someone if you don't think they'll be able to maintain your standards. There are more than a few old businesses around that are simply old names attached to a very different team and operation. Better to let someone else start a new business with a new name.

Example: Schwinn vs. Waterford

I used to road race in my younger days. I had several friends who owned bike shops at the time Schwinn filed for bankruptcy in '92. That is probably an example of a time when employees should have had a chance to take over. As the story was told to me by several bike shop owners, it was kind of a collective middle finger from bike shops everywhere. Schwinn was the big name player for decades and expected to be treated as such. Schwinn treated the shop owners as peons who were lucky to be carrying their brand in their stores. Around that time, American brands like Trek and Cannondale were taking a big bite out of the business (along with Tiawanese built bikes under "American" names) and treated the shop owners that carried their bikes with way more respect. When Schwinn started losing business to these other companies, the shop owners said we don't need you anymore. This is how the story was relayed to me anyway. Maybe someone else on here knows better.

What is the topic here, currently?

headphones that cost more than $5, I think

jtm wrote: ↑Wed Aug 03, 2022 1:37 pm headphones that cost more than $5, I think

thanks...

OK...Off I go with my contribution, then:

SOTA $300 - $500 headphones: great for audiophiles who love to listen to music

~ vs. ~

20-year-old Walgreens $5 headphones: whereby bloke can listen to some well-enough-played non-familiar-to-bloke recording of some (probably) fairly recently-composed piece on youtube, watch the tuba part (or score, if that was sent as well) go by a few times, and - at the reading rehearsal - be ready to go (without doing all of the typical tuba-dolt wrong-entrances and getting-lost things). Alternately, bloke can listen through them (also on youtube) and be quickly reminded of how the funky bass lines go on some NOLA brass band tunes that bloke may not have played since the beginning of the plannedemic.

bloke "I seem to be able to remember chord progressions much better than I do funky NOLA or R&R bass lines...OK: "Gimme Some Lovin' "...I can remember that one.

I am quite happy with my over-ear Sennheiser HD 280 pro headphones, quite possibly because my ears stick out a little bit and these don't squash them painfully to my head. Plus they have pretty decent sound.

However, I am not an audiophile and the sound quality of the cymbals does not affect my listening pleasure.

I have nice headphones that have particular features, but there are also headphones that measure very well that are not in the hundreds. But maybe they are a bit better than headphones that cost $6.

Wait, what are we talking about?

Rick "I thought this thread was about the viability of Oldsmobile big block engines in 2022" Denney

This thread has clearly been derailed.