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here is a snip:

Durham's Tuba Exchange shares one family's story in valves and tubes
Twisted metal

12 AUG 2009 • by Brian Howe
Ring the bell at 1825 Chapel Hill Road in Durham, and Vince Simonetti will meet you at the door. His professional dress and a small brown splotch of a cranial birthmark suggest Mikhail Gorbachev if he were from New Jersey. Inside, glinting metallic shapes resolve behind him.

Simonetti's complex of bright lemon buildings with white trim and burgundy shutters stands out amid a landscape of crumbling brick, old wood and dingy prefabricated storefronts. Its five buildings are arrayed on two sides of a lane that's barely wide enough for the massive trucks that deliver tubas and their cases—Simonetti's passion—to pass. The building where Simonetti greets visitors houses used instruments for sale alongside a private collection of historic ones, with office space in the back. There's also a service department, a warehouse, a shipment-receiving building and Simonetti's home.

lots more at this site.

i purchased my Rudolf Meinl from him in 1994. i paid a good price and he sold two horns for me. he always treated good.