16 S T U F F • 2 0 1 8 • StuffMadeinMA.com
Making it in the
music business
Massachusetts is home to some
of the oldest and most renown
instrument makers in the country
BY JACQUELINE HOUTON
Y
ou'll find musicians at work in clubs, con-
cert halls and conservatories. But in
Massachusetts – home to noted makers of
musical instruments – you can also find
them on the factory floor.
Just ask Paul D. Chadbourne II, a craftsman at S.E.
Shires Co., the Holliston manufacturer that's pro-
duced trumpets and trombones since 1995.
"One of the things I love about working here is
probably about 90 percent of the shop is a musician,"
Chadbourne says. "You know the care that needs to
be there is going into the instrument."
That kind of care for his own instrument is pre-
cisely what led Chadbourne to start tinkering while
studying tuba performance at Rhode Island College.
The only technician he trusted lived in New Jersey –
a long way to haul his horn – so he set out to learn
some repair skills himself, apprenticing at Rick's
Musical Instruments in Cumberland, R.I.
"One of the things
I love about
working here is probably
about 90 percent of the shop
is a musician. You know the
care that needs to be there is
going into the instrument."
- Paul D. Chadbourne II
Paul D.
Chadbourne II, 27
Craftsman
S.E. Shires Co., Holliston
Products: Trombones and trumpets
Level of education: Bachelor of music in
tuba performance
Favorite band: "The Soul Rebels Brass Band,
out of N'awlins."
Average salary for his position*: $39,040
*Based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data
P H O T O / N A T H A N F I S K E
