High Notes From Hopedale's Trombone, Trumpet Maker
I take notice of little things whenever I tour a manufacturing facility. I notice which companies make me wear safety glasses and which do not, which places employ guys who look like they’ve done time, or should, and what type of music or radio is on in the shop.
At S.E. Shires in Hopedale, the characters were certainly not rough looking despite working in what is, for all intents and purposes, an old-school machining and pipe fitting shop.
Shires makes custom trombones and trumpets and many of its employees are classical musicians. When I was there recently, it wasn’t sports radio or heavy metal of the 1980s blaring through the shop, but classical music. It made for a lovely atmosphere and was in sharp contrast to the fire, acid and shaping of raw sheet brass all around.
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Steve Shires, a classically trained trombonist and Iowa City native, started the company in his basement in 1995. And although the building the company occupies at one end of the Hopedale Airport Industrial Park is far larger than his basement, Shires maintains that basement workshop feel. You can tell something is being carefully and unhurriedly handcrafted at Shires and the beauty and renown of the end result proves it.
Shires himself still spins nearly every bell for every trombone and trumpet the company produces. That process turns what appears to be a crude brass funnel into a shining thing of beauty. But don’t be fooled. By the time that bell gets to Shires’ spinning station, it’s already the product of three hours of painstaking work. Very, very few brass instrument makers make their instruments from scratch the way Shires does. Rolls of brass are kept in one area of the shop, sections of brass tubing in another. Each instrument begins with simple, raw materials.
S.E. Shires is the result of Shires himself being a self-described “equipment geek.” “There are 15 or 20 brass players that work here and we’re always thinking of how to make it better, not only mechanically, but in a musical and sound-producing way as well.”
Shires studied trombone performance at the University of Iowa and with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He established a successful career as a trombone player. All the while, he worked in repair and custom shops in the Midwest and the Boston area.
He moved from the Midwest to Massachusetts a couple of times and when he and his wife finally settled here, his basement became S.E. Shires’ first manufacturing facility.
“I made the decision that I wanted to do it on my own,” he said. In 1995, Shires produced four trombones. One of the company’s first customers promptly placed an order for 10 trombones a month, far more than he could produce in his basement with four employees. (Three of those employees still work for the company today).
So, the company moved into half the building it occupies today. He picked up another few employees and his trombones quickly gathered the great reputation they have today.
“It didn’t take long for us to be considered, if not the best, then one of the two or three best trombone makers in the country,” he said.
But as the economy has suffered, Shires has noticed that the dealers that sell his trombones are not only selling fewer of them, but are keeping fewer of them on hand.
So, a year ago, the company began making trumpets, which have more than made up for the decline in trombone sales. At the same time, Shires has begun retailing its instruments on its own.
Got news for our Industrial Strength column? E-mail WBJ Managing Editor Matthew L. Brown at mbrown@wbjournal.com.
Watch as Steve Shires spins and polishes the bell of a trumpet:
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