Description
B.A.C. moved forward on an opportunity to develop instruments for young musicians to assist them along their musical journey. The Apprentice Series line of instruments was an exciting project, and has continued achieving energetic endorsement from musicians and music educators around the U.S. since its inception in 2012. Mike Corrigan and his staff were inspired during their involvement with the recovery effort in New Orleans, Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. B.A.C. donated time and labor to service over a thousand “storm horns.” As we serviced these horns, we encountered many hundreds of NEW inexpensive instruments that were being donated to schools and individuals. While we had great respect for the intentions of the contributors, the questionable quality of instruments we were seeing became a genuine concern. B.A.C. stepped in by designing a line of durable instruments without compromising a limited budget. While produced to our specifications overseas, to ensure quality each instrument receives inspection, adjustments and play-testing at our facility in Kansas City by our staff of skilled craftsmen. With our roots as a well-respected repair business, we also understand the importance of having OEM replacement parts readily available. We are proud of and stand by the quality of our Apprentice Series wind instruments.
History
The history of B.A.C. starts right here with the eBay account presenting to you this item. The founder, Mike Corrigan, had attended the most reputable musical instrument repair school in the world in Red Wing, Minnesota, before pursuing instrument manufacturing with a small boutique trombone manufacturer in the Boston, MA area in 2000. Following the September, 11 attacks in 2001, his hours were cut back, and several employees were laid off, forcing Corrigan to turn his childhood passion for collecting antique and vintage instruments as a child into a business. This very eBay account was established in the days after his hours were cut back, and that was essentially the beginning of what has become one of the most respected companies in the business among professional musicians around the world. After relocating from New England to to Kansas City in 2004, B.A.C. Horn Doctor continued to grow the business of serving the eBay community with fine vintage and antique musical gear, as well as providing the highest quality repair and custom service for musicians around the world. In 2007, Corrigan began manufacturing his own custom brass instruments, and over the years the line has expanded today into a full line of Custom Brass instruments that are being created in Kansas City’s Historic Jazz District. The company officially split off into two separate entities, B.A.C. Horn Doctor now doing business as B.A.C. Music Center serves as Kansas City’s premier Professional Repair and service shop, and provides new and used musical instruments, rentals, etc, and B.A.C. Musical Instruments serves some of the industry’s most prominent musicians. Instruments made by B.A.C. can be heard and seen on stages backing musicians such as Wynton Marsalis’ Jazz at Lincoln Center, Bruno Mars, Beyonce’, Sir Paul McCartney, John Legend, Kool and the Gang, Steely Gang, Vulfpeck, Lucky Chops, and so many more. Following Hurricane Katrina, Corrigan brought a mobile repair trailer to New Orleans to provide free musical instrument repair to the musicians in the iconic French Quarter, and schools in the region that desperately needed assistance. Predating the advantages of social media, and not knowing anyone from the city, or having ever visited the city before, the young Corrigan had connected with a Non-Profit called ‘Renew our Music Foundation’ which later merged with ‘Sweet Home New Orleans’. This experience would ultimately lead to many friendships, and subsequent return mission trips to New Orleans where Corrigan befriended, among others, Naitive trombonist Troy Andrews, who challenged him to develop a lower cost professional instrument which would essentially inspire the instrument you are looking at here today. A variation of that instrument was developed, and through a collaboration between Corrigan, (The Horn Doctor) and funded by Troy (Trombone Shorty) and with the Mayor, (Mitch Landrieu) the three visited schools in New Orleans and donated these instruments to schools throughout the city. To this day, Corrigan has suggested that this moment was a defining moment not only for himself, but for the way B.A.C. realized it could fundamentally make a difference in the lives of musicians. Corrigan has now been making Custom Musical Instruments for over 20 years. The B.A.C. Musical Instruments Custom Shop team today, is led by shop foreman John Duda, who is a second generation American Master Musical Instrument Craftsman. His father Lou Duda worked for the great Elden Benge. Lou worked for H.N. White and F.E. Olds before that. John himself was a master bell maker for Benge, and trained bell makers for UMI after the Benge acquisition. John is the owner of Calicchio Custom Trumpet company and agreed to take the B.A.C. foreman position in part to help pass the torch of the American legacy of manufacturing to the next generation. Over the years, B.A.C. Custom’s production has been quite limited. When located in Olathe, Kansas, the production was sometimes as limited as less than a dozen instruments a year. Oftentimes during research and development of new ideas the shop would take a vintage instrument and explore ideas by ‘Custom Modifying’ using some of their own components and parts. Last year B.A.C. Musical Instruments acquired the now defunct Kanstul Musical Instruments Factory facility and relocated it to their Kansas City factory facility in Kansas City’s Historic Jazz District. B.A.C. also acquired the iconic Benge Musical Instrument brand.
A Special letter from our President and Founder:
Thank you so much for taking the time to visit our auctions! The story of my company starts right here with this eBay account, nearly 20 years ago. On September 11th, 2001 the United States was attacked, and the world changed seemingly overnight. At the time, I was a young craftsman who had just a year earlier graduated from the most reputable musical instrument repair program in the world, Minnesota State College, in Red Wing, MN. I had taken a position as an Apprentice with a premiere Custom Trombone manufacture in the Boston, MA area. While I was fortunate enough to keep my job after a series of layoffs that came after the attacks, my hours were drastically cut back to 15 hours a week. Driven by the necessity to put food on the table I engaged the passion I had for vintage musical instruments, and the skills I had learned into my own business. If you’ll notice the date when this eBay account was started, (Sept. 28, 2001) is a snapshot in time, when my life changed, and I started to realize an amazing opportunity in life that has become something truly remarkable. I have always enjoyed finding quality instruments, properly servicing and conditioning them, and making them available here to the eBay community.
As we prepare to serve the eBay community with our 20th year of service, we want to say thank you for allowing us to serve you! Thank you for your trust. Thank you for allowing us to do what we love! We are blessed to have grown into the company we are today. I am so proud to be surrounded by a team of such exceptional and dedicated people that make this company run. We are all passionate about what we do. It is important for you to know that each and every customer we deal with is very important to us. Please understand that we are here to help and offer our expertise to make your experience the best we possibly can. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to ask us! We take great pride in our positive feedback on eBay and strive to continue the experiences we've shared with past customers with you! If you know anyone interested in purchasing musical equipment, or are in need of repair service, we hope you might consider helping to spread the word about what we do. Thank you so much!
Sincerely, Michael T. Corrigan Founder/President B.A.C. Horn Doctor LLC
Terms
We appreciate you taking the time to read all of our terms prior to bidding. We WILL accept international bidding. Shipping Cost is factored into the eBay system and automatically calculated. YES, we do ship internationally. Please refer to the internal eBay system. We use the Global Shipping System. If you have any additional questions, or concerns involving shipping, you must contact us before the close of the auction. We have 20 years of experience shipping high-value musical instruments internationally, so bid with confidence. RETURN POLICY: All instruments are sold as-is and we will only issue returns if the instrument was damaged during shipping or if the instrument was grossly misrepresented in its descriptions and pictures. If the instrument is damaged in shipping, you will need to file a claim with our preferred shipping company, and it is imperative that you process the insurance requirements properly. (i.e. keeping all of the original packagings for inspection, etc.) Failure to do so will jeopardize any insurance claim for us and will void our ability to issue a refund. We will also only accept returns if it is within 7 days of receipt of the instrument and if authorized by a B.A.C. Representative. If you have any questions about our policy please feel free to contact us. CUSTOMS POLICY: Please do not ask us to commit Customs Fraud -- we WILL NOT alter any of our shipping paperwork or monetary receipts for the purpose of evading or minimizing international import taxes. We encourage you to build any customs and taxes into your high bid. (for example, if your budget is $200 and it will cost $45 to import that item, please bid $155 knowing that the rest of your budget will go toward the import of the item.) Again, we have an excellent feedback rating. We have one of the best ratings in the eBay community for accurate descriptions -- we go the extra mile taking many high-resolution photos to win your confidence in our description. If there are any questions at all, please do not hesitate to use the "Question and Answer" feature attached to this listing prior to bidding. We pride ourselves on the ability to accurately respond to these questions promptly. B.A.C. Horn Doctor LLC. is a qualified professional service center in Overland Park, KS, and employs knowledgeable musicians and experts in vintage instruments. Good luck and happy bidding!!