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Saw that Tuba Exchange moved to Raleigh, NC --------Is Vinces' Tuba Museum staying in Durham ?? What is Museum's future??

What!? That's news to me. Can't find anything about this online.

Do you have a link?

Vince sold the business in 2010 or 2011, but did not sell the premises or the collection. The new owner, Luc Kerkhof, is moving to a site in Raleigh which is better suited for a warehousing, mail order business. Have not heard what, if anything, will happen to the collection, but since Vince lives in the house next door to the old TE office housing the collection, probably nothing.

Thanks JTJ for that info.

I was up there for about an hour talking to the owner (about trombones!) on Wednesday. They haven't moved yet, but there's a big banner on the main building (which is the one housing the tuba museum/collection) that they're moving to Raleigh. They need the room (among other things -- that area of Durham has always been a little dicey and is getting more so as time goes on). That location is pretty inconvenient and peculiar even for locals to get to , and it's got to be a pain to get any size truck in and out of there. Hard to run a business with any volume out of there.

Their Facebook page says the museum will remain where it is. I think this is somewhat unfortunate since I'm not sure how many people will make the trek to that point in Durham in order to visit it -- and wherever they end up in Raleigh it will likely be about a 45 min. drive to the old location in Durham for any visitors wanting to hit both locations.

How about their tuba repair/service?

The company is moving. Why would you suppose they'd leave their entire preparatory and repair capabilities somewhere else?

ghmerrill wrote:The company is moving. Why would you suppose they'd leave their entire preparatory and repair capabilities somewhere else?

The company is moving. Why do you automatically assume that that means that they will be retaining their entire current staff, or that Mike wants to move with them?

pgym wrote:

ghmerrill wrote:The company is moving. Why would you suppose they'd leave their entire preparatory and repair capabilities somewhere else?

The company is moving. Why do you automatically assume that that means that they will be retaining their entire current staff, or that Mike wants to move with them?

Just talked to Mike today about cleaning my F tuba. I was definitely under the impression that repairs are moving, too. Don't think they will be done with the move until September some time. They're moving near the intersection of Atlantic and Millbrook in NE Raleigh.

pgym wrote: The company is moving. Why do you automatically assume that that means that they will be retaining their entire current staff, or that Mike wants to move with them?

It was less an assumption than an inference based on history and fact.
Any other assumption would be pretty goofy -- given a lot of history, the way the business is run, and the distances involved. As it turns out, that "assumption" appears to be correct. I suppose I could have made the foundations for my belief a bit more clear, but in my old age I'm trying to be less pedantic. I'm not succeeding very well.

I spoke with Betty (Luc's wife) yesterday. I asked if the whole staff was moving too. She said they all agreed to move to the new location. She also said that due to traffic concerns that some may shift their hours to something like 10 to 6 to avoid the rush hour. I-540 can really get congested. She said they should be up and running at their new address in mid September.