News
Summer 2026
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
