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Today's Guest: Kim House of Play it again Sam in Frankfort, Michigan
Today's Host: John Bentley
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Kim House Transcript Page
Kim House Expert PageANNOUNCER: Welcome to the VTalk Radio Hour with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Welcome to VTalk Radio. I am your host, John Bentley. Today we are talking to Kim House, business owner-sole proprietor of Play it Again Sam Band Instrument Repair. Hello, Kim.
KIM: Hello, John, how are you doing today?
JOHN: Just fine and dandy. Thanks for joining us here via telephone. We want to talk a little bit about your business, Play it Again Sam. Can you tell me a little bit about it?
KIM: Sure, Sure, I'd love to. Play it Again Sam is a small business I started about 13 years ago and basically what I do is brass and woodwind repair and restoration. Back 13 years ago, I had really not a lot of idea about which way it was gonna go, but through the years it's kinda filtered its way out and found my little niche in the area and restoration probably is one of my big areas where I'll totally restore a saxophone or a trumpet and I get a lot of repairs also, but that's kinda what it's been. I've had two side trips along the way, you know working for different corporations and things, but it pretty much stays focused on brass and woodwind repair and in addition to that I also refurbish and sell used instruments as part of my line also.
JOHN: So, you'll actually purchase somebody's old instrument and fix it up, refurbish it, resell it?
KIM: Yeah, yeah I have people that look for instruments from me and buy them and I buy them from those folks pretty much sight unseen. Sometimes I get a real gem and sometimes I get a nice makings for a lamp. But I take the good with the bad and refurbish the ones that are well worth it and sell them. I use ebay to get out. I sell world-wide with some of the instruments. It's been a real fund part of the business.
JOHN: What about advertising? What do you do for advertising this service?
KIM: Well, things have changed over the years and right now I guess I would say that I have down sized somewhat due to economy. Being that my shop is in my home in Frankfort and it's kind of in an area where I would get no walk in exposure. My advertising right now has slowed down and I pretty much focus it from August to Christmas for the students and the schools, but beyond that I don't really advertise much. Word of mouth has carried me along quite a ways because I did have a nice location in Traverse City for several years almost 10 years.
JOHN: And your not doing that location anymore?
KIM: No, unfortunately that location came to an end because of the economy also. And that was a nice footprint for me, and when I lost that I just kind of regrouped and that was a little over a year ago and at that point I kind of changed my focus to ebay which ebay has worked out well for sales. However, it doesn't do anything for repair. So, I'm looking right now to kind of study options and maybe get back up in the Traverse area because Traverse is a good strong area for me.
JOHN: Now you have some strong affiliation with Yamaha instruments, do you not?
KIM: Well, like I mentioned in this 13 years of being in the brass woodwind repair, it takes me down different roads. I belong to an organization called NAPBIRT National Association of Professional Band Instrument Repair Technicians. That's a mouthful. Through NAPBIRT I've met a lot of people and the folks at Yamaha out of Grand Rapids hired me probably 4 years ago to do all their bass clarinet setups. And the reason that was that they had their bass clarinets manufactured for them at that time from another company in Wisconsin so I would set the clarinets up to Yamaha's standards and that was really the only instrument they would have worked on out of house so to speak with an independent person. That was a nice job, and I, the Yamaha people were fantastic to work with. That lasted a couple of years or so, maybe a little longer. Eventually, Yamaha tooled up to make their own bass clarinet so that avenue kinda came to a stop. I do some things for them off and on, but that's been it.
JOHN: What about First Act instruments? I see a lot of people purchasing these entry level instruments, Chinese made in Wal-Mart perhaps. What do you think of these instruments and is it something you see a lot of that you do repairs on, or?
KIM: Well, First Act is a name that's certainly brought a lot of controversy to the business, pro and con. There's a lot of instruments coming from China now. There a lot cheaper than the instruments we have made in the country, and you know for a number of reasons, the first act of a company who I believe are here to stay, they've got a strong network behind them. They've focused heavy on repair. They're presence is very strong at NAPBIRT every year. They're the only, well at the time, they were the only instrument from importers that had a strong presence at NAPBIRT and they've set up a network of repairs throughout the country and I at Play it Again Sam would be a warranty repair area for First Act. That right there, you know, that's a good comfort level I believe if somebody buys one at Wal-Mart and does fail, you can get it repaired locally, fast and under warranty.
JOHN: That's great. That's a great service to be giving to your clientele.
KIM: It really is and you combine that with the fact that they are very inexpensive instruments, it has changed the industry a lot. I'm not sure, you know, it's there's scary parts to that too. The good ole companies in the America are gonna suffer from that, but that happens in about every kinda industry across the board.
JOHN: Certainly. Now do you have a website or email people can go view or get ahold of you on the internet?
KIM: Yeah, at this point I have my email address is all. I'll be glad to share that with the listeners. Basically my email is 6285swamp@msn.com. I just use my street address.
JOHN: That's great could you repeat that?
KIM: Yes, it's 6285swamp@msn.com
JOHN: Great. Excellent. Now I got a question for you. I know a lot of people, especially at this time of year, are going to garage sales and let's say they run across a Bundy trumpet at a garage sale. What should they be looking for in a used instrument to make sure they're not getting ripped up. Now, what's a good price for something like that?
KIM: Alright, that's a good question cause there are that's where my instruments come from. Primarily yard sales and back rooms and places that were storage areas, but if you were to look at, let's say a Bundy trumpet, which is a really nice brand, what you would want to look for would be major dents. Does it have a mouthpiece? Do the slides work? There's three tuning slides on a trumpet and you want to make sure they will at least move. They don't have to be perfect, but they've got to not be stuck. And then most importantly would be the valves. Do the valves travel up and down freely? Lack of condition. Anything from you know $50% of lacquer on it up to 80% of lacquer is probably about normal for a trumpet. They do get worn in those areas, but I'd say $200 - $250 would be a fair price for something like that. And a lot of times you get them for $75, you know.
JOHN: Great. That gives people an idea of what to look for anywhere from $75 to $250 depending on the condition of the instrument.
KIM: Yeah that's right. And people are thinking in those terms which I highly recommend. There's a huge value of used instruments. The time to start looking is in early August. That's when I tell people who are trying to sell instruments. I don't end up buying them outright from them. I'll say for sure if you're not in a bind to sell it immediately, hang on to it and put it in the paper in August and that's when a lot of them will show up.
JOHN: Great. We're gonna take a short break here, Kim, we'll be right back on VTalk Radio with Play it Again Sam's owner, Kim House.
ANNOUNCER: Musicians, your gear is an extension of your art and your voice. You shouldn't have to settle for less than perfection in the tools used to make your vision real. Grand Traverse Amp and Instrument Repair offers full service and repair on all music instruments and electronics at affordable rates. Our expert technicians use quality replacement parts and years of training to set up and maintain your instruments optimal playing conditions. Whether you need a simple set up or complete restoration of your string instrument, you need new tubes installed in your amp, Grand Traverse Amp and Instrument Repair is always open to serve you. Convenient pick up and drop off location at Ron Getz' guitarist studio at Logan's Landing right across the hall from Samara Guitar. Please call (231) 499-5266 for more information. Grand Traverse Amp and Instrument Repair is a proud supplier of Kurt Magan Strings, CBI cables, and Jagman Custom Pickups.
ANNOUNCER: VTalk Radio. First in informational programming, first in independent entertainment, and the last word in internet radio. VTalk. Radio for the 21st century.
ANNOUNCER: You are listening to the VTalk Radio Hour with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Welcome back to VTalk Radio. We are in th studio via phone line with Mr. Kim House the owner/operator of Play it Again Sam Band Instrument Repair. Welcome back, Kim.
KIM: Yeah, thank you. Good to be here with you guys.
JOHN: Now, we were talking about different instruments that you might find out at rummage sales or sold on the market. Tell me a little bit about the brands you have refurbished that you actually have for sale right now.
KIM: Well, currently I probably have over 200 instruments in stock. They're not all refurbished, but I work constantly at them in getting inventory up and running, but those instruments I do have, I have a complete line of student line flutes through professional flutes. Trumpets, trombones, you name it. Saxophones are probably my favorite because I play saxophone. I spend a little more time looking, but I've got great Mark VI's from the mid-60s and King Zephyrs from the 40s - 60s with sterling silver necks. I've got some really nice instruments. Some of them have been totally overhauled including new engraving. I have a customer I work with out in Portland, OR, who handles engravings for me. He will take an instrument that's been buffed on real hard and maybe the engravings washed off a little bit, he'll recut that and does a beautiful job and then when we lacquer them, we use a gold tint black that resembles the lacquer of the era.
JOHN: Excellent. So what if somebody has a someone in the Grand Traverse, Michigan, area has an instrument they want to have refurbished. How would they get that instrument to you?
KIM: Well, there's a couple ways to do it. My phone number (231) 882-4433 and I'll repeat that again here in a second, but also those instruments can be dropped off. Grand Traverse Amp and Instrument Repair Service at Logan's Landing is a great place to stop and consequently I get a lot of folks calling me with questions about amp repair because they see repair. I refer all the amp, electronic repair to Grand Traverse Amp and Instrument Repair and that's in Traverse City. My number here in Frankfort again is (231) 882-4433 if you want to talk to me. I can sure help you and if I can't I can direct you somewhere that you can be taken care of.
JOHN: Great Kim. Well, we're gonna wrap this up. Before I let you go though, give me that email address once again so people can contact you on the net.
KIM: Ok, I'd be glad to. My business name is Play it Again Sam Band Repair; my email address is 6285swamp@msn.com.
JOHN: Excellent. Once again, this is VTalk Radio and we've been in the studio with Kim House from Play it Again Sam Band Repair. I want to thank you for taking some time out of your busy day to talk with us here today, Kim.
KIM: It was my pleasure. Thank you guys for having me.
JOHN: Well, we're gonna wrap things up for today, have a great afternoon and thanks for listening to VTalk Radio. This is John Bentley, have a great day.
ANNOUNCER: You've been listening to the VTalk Radio Hour with your host, John Bentley. The VTalk Radio Hour is produced by Volunteer Records, LLC, Traverse City, Michigan, proud of home and sponsor of VTalk Radio and vtalkradio.com
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