TromboneChat

Sorry if I missed the announcement, but Did Osmun Music close down for good? When? Why?
I was going to recommend them to a friend in ME for repair work, but when I did a search I saw the sad news.

Bob was planning to retire for at least a year.

One of his guys opened a shop in Nashua, NH but I don't remember who.

Jim Engele opened New England Brassworks in Nashua.

Afraid so. There is one brass repair shop in ME left, though I'm told they're slowing down.

Closest after that is Nashua or Boston.

AtomicClock wrote: Fri Jul 18, 2025 1:00 pm Jim Engele opened New England Brassworks in Nashua.

He’s great. I highly recommend his new shop.

Kdanielsen wrote: Fri Jul 18, 2025 4:44 pm He’s great. I highly recommend his new shop.

Plus, they're right by a nice-looking roastery/espresso bar. I'm looking forward to trying it when I pick up my slide in a few days.

AtomicClock wrote: Fri Jul 18, 2025 8:57 pm Plus, they're right by a nice-looking roastery/espresso bar. I'm looking forward to trying it when I pick up my slide in a few days.

Very disappointed. I bought a bag of their "medium" beans, which were badly over-roasted, and taste like charcoal.

AtomicClock wrote: Mon Sep 29, 2025 1:10 pm

AtomicClock wrote: Fri Jul 18, 2025 8:57 pm Plus, they're right by a nice-looking roastery/espresso bar. I'm looking forward to trying it when I pick up my slide in a few days.

Very disappointed. I bought a bag of their "medium" beans, which were badly over-roasted, and taste like charcoal.

At least you didn't have a problem with Jim, I hope.

BGuttman wrote: Mon Sep 29, 2025 2:41 pm At least you didn't have a problem with Jim, I hope.

I don't think I gave him a very hard problem to fix ... but the slide sure was slippery when I got it back.

Does anyone know when Osmun left Belmont? I'm trying to judge an auction which has a shop badge on the case.

AtomicClock wrote: Mon Sep 29, 2025 8:08 pm Does anyone know when Osmun left Belmont? I'm trying to judge an auction which has a shop badge on the case.

Quite a few years ago. 2015?

Posaunus wrote: Tue Sep 30, 2025 11:33 am 2015?

I came to town in 1995, and they were in Arlington. Belmont was before that.

I bought my Yamaha 682G from them in 1985 in Belmont.

AtomicClock wrote: Tue Sep 30, 2025 12:03 pm

Posaunus wrote: Tue Sep 30, 2025 11:33 am 2015?

I came to town in 1995, and they were in Arlington. Belmont was before that.

I believe that Osmun was still in Belmont in 1988 (when I had a slide repair done) - but my memory is fuzzy.
May have already been in Arlington by then.

Posaunus wrote: Tue Sep 30, 2025 3:57 pm

AtomicClock wrote: Tue Sep 30, 2025 12:03 pm

I came to town in 1995, and they were in Arlington. Belmont was before that.

I believe that Osmun was still in Belmont in 1988 (when I had a slide repair done) - but my memory is fuzzy.
May have already been in Arlington by then.

I was also there in ‘88 in Belmont. So you’re not that fuzzy.

I remember going to Belmont for repairs between fall '92 and spring '94 while I was in school. I'm sure AtomicClock is right that by 1995 they were in Arlington. Probably sometime in '94 that they moved.

Man... end of an era, eh? They were the best place to reliably have steel threading and also had a killer repair department that did a few of my crazy projects that turned out great.

Benn Hansson (Octavposaune) has done some excellent projects, as has Eric Edwards (Bonearzt). Jim Engele in Nashua NH was one of Osmun's great techs.

Great techs don't live forever and new ones come up as the old ones move out.

Bob Osmun had a great run and a lot of folks around here got some great repair work from him. I wish him a happy retirement.

Sad to hear that Osmun’s has closed. Unfortunately, shops like that come and go because their successes are built on the passions of business owners and the skills of their employees. When certain individuals retire, the business fades.

I would like to know where Osmun’s inventory ended up. They always had dozens of trombone bells in stock and they were quite unique. Some of them were the old “Osmun Bells” that Steve Shires made back in the 1980s. Other bells were made by other shops that were contracted by Osmun’s.

The last time I stopped by the Arlington store was about 2009, I bought a bell described as: Bach 42 taper, two-piece construction, gold brass, unsoldered bead. It was half price because it was defective (one small place in the brazed seam was not smooth. The thing that blew me away was that they had about 6 of that same bell in their “defective collection” and another 6 or 7 with the specs in perfect condition.

When they showed me a list of all the bells they had, it was comprehensive and they had at least 3 or 4 of each bell model available. I doubt that all of those bells have been sold. They never advertised them and I only knew about them because of a friend who told me about the collection.

Crazy4Tbone86 wrote: Sun Oct 05, 2025 7:51 am I would like to know where Osmun’s inventory ended up.

I know that Steve Johnson at Virtuosity bought at least some of it. Maybe all...I know for sure that he has the double-slide F bass that Steve Shires built when he was at Osmun.

https://www.virtuosityboston.com/
https://www.virtuosityboston.com/osmun- ... mbone.html

Hats off to Bob Osmun and his employees for running a great business for so long.
Obviously, I'm one of many who have fond memories of Bob and the gang.
Thanks!

Don't write Osmun's epitaph just yet. I had this email exchange with him just last week:

Jim Engele told me Bob originally tried to sell the business. But he wanted way over 1 million for it and nobody could swing it. Jim bought some of the repair division, Bob ended up keeping the mouthpiece business. The retail portion was real small by then and nobody took it up.