Thanks to the kindness of James Monaghan, I got to visit the new Shires factory in Holliston.
The Shires company is one of the top manufacturers of brass instruments, and is now producing trumpets, flugelhorns, piccolo trumpets, alto, tenor and bass trombones (I love my Shires bass trombone)(and my tenor), and is now producing euphoniums, tubas, and French horns.
They are being bought by professionals all over the world, and have set the bar very high for quality.
They have an amazing variety of choices in metals, bores, valve configurations, etc. Here are a few shots from "inside".
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| Trombone bells ready for spinning. |
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James Monaghan with a valve casing blank.
James is second trombone with the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (my orchestra)
and is bass trombone with the New Bedford Symphony.
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| Solid brass stock |
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| Brass coils for bells |
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| Trumpet bell blanks |
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| Trombone bells ready for spinning. |
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| Trombone bell flairs |
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| Valve sections prepped for Lacquer |
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| Nick Martino building a valve section. |
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| Finished Lacquering |
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| A rare blue lacquer bell. |
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| Taka Hagiwara, James |
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A design James did for bell engraving for special presentation instruments for
the 25th Anniveersary,
instruments sent to Sanada, the
Japanese distributer for Shires instrumets.
James, I hope I got all this right, and thanks again for a great tour, and a good education!
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