News

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Star Date June 15, 2026: The shop is ready and everything is ready to go. Dennis came by to give me his blessing. We had lunch together and it was quite nice. Here's to remaining busy and to good health!

We are inundated with trombones at the moment. It's a good problem to have.  A few rival shops guard the quadrants around us, but don't seem to generate much issue. Our objective is to acquire a map of Tarrant County so that we can begin moving on new territory. The hunt is grand. See you all soon! - Ben

The shop is coming together. We have solder capability, and we can do some dent work. I'm still waiting on a number of rods, and I need to get a new #12 bass trombone rod. It's odds and ends like this that are slowing things down.

I'm waiting on a plumber to help me get the sink up and running so that we can finally do ultrasonic cleanings. The lighting in the new place is atrocious, but these are some of the last and final issues for me to work through. Just being able to clean and do basic dent work is all I'm needing to do to get started.

Many accounts have been created. My Buy Board vendorship has been submitted and should be on its way to getting Hornsmith to becoming an Awarded Vendor. This should allow schools to submit bids to us so that we can pick up larger loads of school repair.

The new location has largely been secured. So, right now, Hornsmith is in the 432 N Main Street location temporarily while we obtain and build a new building over the coming months. It's a long process that requires a lot of back and forth, but it is coming along. I've mostly been focused on getting the shop up and running while doing a lot of this on the side.

Anyway, that's the May update. Hopefully I can give a new update when the shop actually opens at full capacity. I'm shooting for before the school year ends. Fingers crossed!  - Ben

Well, Hornsmith LLC is now a real business entity with lots of movement. We've secured a rental location while my wife and I purchase land and build our shop in the heart of Keller. Our initial projections were to be in the new building by September, but that's likely a tall order to fill. Assuming all goes according to plan, we should be operating in the new building by the time marching band is finished at the latest.

A lot of people have been asking 'How did we get here?' And this is a valid question. This question can't be answered without explaining what happened with HH, and anyone who knows my story knows what HH is. It was nothing to do with anyone or any problems with the company, but it was more to do with logistics, branding, and name usage.

It's not common knowledge, but HH (sales) and HCH or HHR (the repair shop) were two different businesses. My former business partner, CR and I were set to purchase HCH/HHR (apologies for the acronyms) from DH in 2026 as he had retired a year prior. Since the beginning of 2025, CR and I were running the repair shop by ourselves. The first issues began when HH split from HCH/HHR in their new building. Sales customers would show up at the repair shop and repair customers would show up at the sales building. This problem never went away. Even as we were moving out of the building, sales customers were showing up to the wrong place for sales appointments.

The other issue was branding. It's difficult for two separate business entities to coexist with the level of branding both intended to execute while offering completely different services. We weren't a sales shop, and yet our name on the building said we were. We could start selling refurbished instruments in the repair shop, but are we now in competition with ourselves? The more I explain this in detail, the more everyone can see the problems that were slowly going to arise. They weren't going to get better over time.

To be clear: the results of this year are not due to any bad actors or nefarious actions. It was a logistical conclusion that all parties came to that made the most amount of sense to everyone involved. HH is now in house doing all its work for its own business without being at the mercy of any other company, including one with its own name. CR is now running his own pro-shop closer to his home where he can do his methodical work at his leisure.

Me? Everyone knows I'm not going anywhere. The repair community wouldn't be the same without me. I owe my loyal customers from the years a chance to cook exclusively for them on my own, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.

We should be operational by the second week of May. Come by and see me. I'll give you the rundown if you still have questions.   - Ben