Roger Price Brass & Woodwind Repairs

        Chirk, Wrexham

        UK

        Tel: 01691 774350

         Email: male@rogerprice.co.uk  (will need to be copied manually)

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About Roger Price....

Roger Price has been repairing brass and woodwind instruments since 1986. He has now repaired more than 8,000 instruments, which have come from all over the UK (and a few beyond). The complexity of these repairs has varied between routine servicing to major restoration work.

Brass instrument repair usually involve one or all of 3 aspects: damage to the valve section, dent work and re-soldering work. The woodwind instrument repair work also usually involves 3 aspects: correct functioning of the keywork (including the mechanical action of the keywork and condition/accurate seating of the pads), the air-tightness and ease of fit of the various tenon joint (including of course the re-corking of tenon joints) and 'bodywork' which can include broken tenons and cracked wooden clarinets and oboes. Much of the 'bodywork' on saxophone repairs often employs similar techniques to those  in brass instrument repairs but with the added complication of restoring the correct alignment of the pillars for the keywork and the condition of the toneholes.

To accomplish this work he has developed comprehensive workshop facilities with a wide range of specialist tools for woodwind repairs and brass repairs. He has been fortunate in his work as a repairer in having previously spent 22 years as a metallurgist in some of the leading British engineering companies. This specialist knowledge of the forming, joining and finishing of different metals has proven invaluable. Equally useful was his early upbringing in an 'engineering family' - his father was an engineer by profession but also a passionate model steam engineer. Observant visitors to the workshop may notice a model mill engine on one of the shelves which he built under his father's guidance when aged 11. Having 2 elder brothers who also went into engineering he was brought up surrounded by metalworking and a 'hands-on we can do this' approach to problem solving. But it is the experience gained from those 8,000 plus repairs that counts the most. However, 'the more you know, the more you know that you don't know' and the learning never stops. Roger takes every opportunity to get involved with developing new techniques, materials and networking with other repairers. He has been an enthusiastic and proud member of the National Association of Musical Instrument Repairers (www.namir.org.uk) since its formation in 1994.

His workshop is located in the village of Pentre just outside of Chirk, only a couple of hundred yards from the Llangollen Canal and falls within the "Pontcysllte Aquaduct and Canal World Heritage Site". The area is also famous for the historic Chirk Castle and  the village of Pentre was originally part of the castle estate. Offa's Dyke runs through the edge of the village. The area has a vibrant musical culture with many orchestras, bands and choirs within easy reach at Wrexham, Chester, Shrewsbury and Oswestry. Of course the area is already very well known in musical circles due to the Llangollen International Eisteddfod and is now gaining more musical fame thanks to the Fron Male Voice Choir, which takes it shortened name from the village of Froncysllte, the next village along the canal from Pentre as the canal approaches the Pontcysllte aquaduct. And yes, a few instruments for repair do sometimes arrive on canal narrow boats!

Like most repairers, Roger is a keen musician himself but he always stresses that although he repairs professionally his playing is that of an amateur. His musical interests started as a child on the piano and then having acquired an early electronic organ had his 'bohemian' period in the mid and late 60's with such mind conjuring named bands as "Sect Appeal" (Swansea based) and "Walpurgis" (Derby based).

Then came wind instruments and many years of  tuba, euphonium and saxophone playing in various brass and wind bands in East Anglia, West Wales, Mid Wales and North Wales. These days Roger concentrates on his saxophone and keyboard playing (once again) with his wife Penny (flute and saxophone) mainly in small groups with a wide taste in music. He often gets asked whether he can play all the instruments he repairs. Well he can certainly get 'something' out of all of them, though some more than others!

Roger Price PhD,AP (Sheff), CEng, MIMMM is a Professional Member of the National Association of Musical Instrument Repairers (NAMIR)