About Us

At the age of 19, after winning an audition, Chris moved to California to join the world champion Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps.  It was while living in CA as a corps member, that he was first exposed to the world of brass technology. On occasion, Chris would visit the repair shop of Best Music in Oakland, CA, headed by Dick Akright, to get the Blue Devils' horns repaired.  During that period Akright was also manufacturing trumpets under the Bel Canto name for Doc Severinsen.  Marveling at the variety of equipment being used & hearing the depth of knowledge from those in the shop stuck with him.  

Even as a kid, Chris always had an interest in how things worked & had a natural aptitude for engineering & fabrication.  In 1997, while teaching high school marching band as a brass tech, Chris recognized some inherent issues with the mellophones the band was using.  Out of curiosity he called the manufacturer & after learning some unsettling facts, he made some crude modifications to remedy the problems on his own.  

From there Chris took a personal interest in brass design and started studying brasswind physics & researched the work of great craftsmen such as Renold Schilke & Zig Kanstul, among others.  Chris befriended, and later apprenticed with, local instrument repair tech Marc Gullo (a Red Wing graduate) and started experimenting with used horns he found online to try various ideas he had.  He discovered a small storage space in the basement of the music building [at UD] and got permission to use it as a lab of sorts to work on projects in between classes.  In exchange for use of the space he performed free repairs for the university owned instruments.  Eventually other students & even some faculty started bringing in their own instruments for repair.

"As I continued to learn more & more, players would ask me technical questions & seemed to value my opinion… I started to really enjoy what I was doing & loved seeing the impact it had on music performance." After about 2 years of working in the basement shop it became clear this is what Chris wanted to do with his life so he decided to forgo a teaching career & instead focus his time & financial resources on his new growing business.

Almost 2 decades and thousands of trumpets later this is now Chris's full-time profession.  With customers as far away as Italy & Australia, brass players from every facet of music trust Chris with everything from a basic repair that needs just the right touch, to complete rebuilds & equipment consultation.  From the Los Angeles studio scene to the Philadelphia Orchestra he is earning his name as one of the most trusted brass technicians in the industry.   

Vince Tampio first began working with A minor Tune Up in 2014 at conferences and on-site clinics. In 2019, he became more serious about brass repair and began apprenticing under Chris Cromer. Now Vince is a Brass Technician and Online Sales Manager with A minor Tune Up.

Beyond the bench, Vince Tampio is a professional musician, arranger, composer, producer, engineer, and educator based in Philadelphia, PA. He is an active member of York Street Hustle and You Do You; both of which he plays trumpet and handles all the horn arranging. Aside from releasing his own solo albums, Vince has contributed to 75+ music and film productions. He is currently a Teaching Artist and Instrument Inventory Assistant with Play On, Philly! and recently published Chromatic Cell Permutations for Trumpet, a technical studies book that explores permutations of chromatic cells as performed on trumpet.

Vince earned the Master of Music degree in Jazz Performance from the University of the Arts; and earned the Bachelor of Science in Music degree concentrating in Jazz Studies and Theory & Composition from the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz having studied trumpet under John Swana, Rebecca Coupe Franks, and John Maguda, and studied composition under Don Glanden, Evan Solot, John B Hedges, and Vinnie Martucci.

Eliza Goldman grew up in the musical community of Wilmington, Delaware attending community band rehearsals with her dad before she could even play an instrument. She studied clarinet with Vince Marinelli and always knew she would do something in music. After completing a Bachelor of Music degree in Instrumental Music Education at the University of Delaware, studying clarinet under Marianne Gythfeldt and Christopher Nichols, Eliza decided she wanted to use her degree in a nontraditional way. She moved to Wisconsin to attend Badger State Repair School and graduated with a certificate in Band Instrument Repair in April 2016.

Eliza moved to Gaithersburg, Maryland after repair school and started her career as a woodwind repair technician at L&L Music - Wind Shop, where she continued to learn from her coworkers and mentors and develop her own repair style. She also developed a passion for ergonomics and injury prevention in clarinet playing. Eliza moved back to Wilmington in May 2022, and in doing so has expanded A minor Tune Up into the woodwind world. In addition to repairing full time, Eliza continues to broaden her skills by studying advanced clarinet repair with Master craftsman Mark Jacobi.

Steve Schwartz officially began his career in instrument repair in 2022, but it really started four years earlier. Needing repairs on his French horn, Steve was dissatisfied with the options near his home base of Temple University, and he made the (inadvisable) decision to repair his horn on his own. Having not destroyed his instrument in the process, Steve found immense satisfaction in getting his horn’s rotors to move freely again.

Fast-forward to 2020, when Steve graduated with a degree in Media Studies and Production. Not finding the satisfaction he desired in the field, he decided to take a leap and immerse himself in the field of instrument repair. He has worked at A minor Tune Up since June of 2022 in an apprentice role, and also handles creative and some administrative tasks. In fact, the new crow logo that appears on our branding was designed by him.

Steve has been involved with music nearly his entire life. He plays both trumpet and French horn, having started these instruments in 4th and 9th grade, respectively. He was in concert band and marching band throughout his school years. While in college, Steve was a proud member of the Temple University Diamond Marching Band, where he served as a section leader in his senior year. He is also a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. 

One of the core tenets of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is the Advancement of Music in America. By working in the field of instrument repair, Steve strives to live up to that object every day.

Our Philosophy 

We look at brass technology from a more subjective perspective, rather than one-size fits all solutions for every player.  Careful consideration is given with each player we work with as problems are examined & options are considered to optimize the relationship between each player & their equipment.  We don't pretend to know all the answers but work hard to help each player find solutions to correct & adjust equipment both to suit their preferences, as well as keep it in peak performance condition.  There is no magic unicorn with equipment.  There are a lot of great ideas out there… and there are also a lot of promises out there too.  Helping you understand the difference & find what works for YOU is our goal.