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In 1966, at age 15, Tom started working in the local music store helping out in the repair shop. The head repair person (Len McKee) quickly praised Tom's work in areas such as parts ordering, buffing, degreasing, and piccolo repair - all areas which coincidentally were not Len's favorites. As this was the local band instrument shop, he repaired all wind and percussion instruments, from piccolos to sousaphones. Tom continued working at this shop with Len and (later) Cecil Markel (from Conn, Selmer, Linton, and Markel oboes) for seven more years before deciding to move on, first to another school music store in Evanston, and then in 1975 opening his first shop at Lake and Wacker.
In 1976 the shop moved to Glenwood Avenue (Rogers Park, Chicago), and gradually narrowed focus (because of excess work) to first woodwinds,
then flutes and saxophones, then flutes. During this time he established relationships with the major flutes companies (Haynes, Powell, and Brannen Brothers), until returning to school in 1990 to complete a degree in math and computer science that he had started in the 1960's. During this time Tom continued to repair flutes, and in 1996 accepted a position as a finisher (one of the three main jobs of flutemaking) at Brannen Brothers in Boston. He left Brannen in late 1997, and now works
as a programmer, and repairs flutes when time permits, in order to keep in touch with the nice people that have always characterized the music
business.
Tom is currently doing flute repair on a limited basis.
PM Woodwind Repair Technicians & Staff:
Jason Cates
Ramon Esparza
Bob Fried
Jon Griffith
Jessica Maxfield
Tom Peterson
Andy Schlinder
Cheng Zu
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