On any given day, 20,000 band and orchestra instruments are waiting to be rented or repaired at Menchey Music’s operations center in Hanover.
It’s a far cry from the business’ humble beginnings in 1936 when J. Robert Menchey bought a saxophone for $25, repaired it in his mother’s sewing room and sold it for $40.
Today, owner and CEO Joel Robert Menchey — bearing the same initials as his grandfather — described the company’s growth as “slow and sustained” over the past 88 years, to reach $20 million in annual revenue.
Menchey Music, in addition to Hanover’s home base of operations on Barnhart Drive, now operates eight shops including locations in York and Lancaster — plus three in Maryland, and it has developed relationships with band directors and music educators to supply school children with instruments in about 75 Pennsylvania and Maryland school districts.
The company’s impact, said Menchey, goes even deeper. The power of music reverberates into local communities and economies.
“The value of a music education – it’s documented and well-researched, that the students who participate in a quality music program are better prepared for the workforce,” said Menchey, 55, of York. “You can see it — the students who participate in concerts are the same students on the honor roll, who then receive better career opportunities. And we are very serious about every student having access.”
The first notes
In the beginning, J. Robert Menchey built up an inventory of sheet music, reeds and other musical supplies — sold out of his mother’s sewing room in the family’s Hanover home. The first dedicated Menchey Music stores were located next-door, at 18 York Street, then 20 York Street.
The young music business was deeply affected, like many businesses, by World War II.
“[My grandfather] used to share stories about how the instrument suppliers had to pivot and make things for the war — like helmets. There were real supply-chain issues back then,” said Menchey.
The business endured, and Menchey’s grandfather built a chain of customer relationships that Menchey called “pioneering.”
“He started with 50 relationships with schools — with band directors. They were his social circle, and it really helped the business find its niche,” Menchey said.
Relationships with music educators are still the key to Menchey Music’s success today.
But the company’s ownership nearly fell out of family hands by the early 1990s, with J. Robert eyeing retirement. The “musical gene,” as often does, skipped a generation, as did the entrepreneurial gene. J. Robert’s son became a doctor. Grandson Joel pursued a career in finance while playing guitar on the side.
“I was working as an analyst by day for Pfaltzgraff, but by night I was playing gigs four times a week,” said Menchey. “My grandfather never expected any of us to pursue this, but I heard the business was for sale, and it made a lot of sense for me.”
Without missing a beat
That financial background — combined with an appreciation for music — served Menchey well, as he transitioned to the family business.
“Financial metrics took on a new level of importance, and it magically clicked,” said Menchey.
Under his leadership the company opened additional shops, expanded its number of school service reps and — around 1996 or 97 — launched its first website. Menchey’s retired grandfather — who frequently stopped by — was fascinated.
“He was always curious about it,” Menchey recalled, of the company’s internet home. “What was different from his experience is — he was all about selling instruments to people. He was hands-on. During his time, the business was not about marketing and infrastructure.”
Today, in addition to its digital home, Menchey Music occupies about 40,000 square feet of its operations center — a hive of musical activity.
At a loading dock, school service rep Robbie Kerchner, 40, of Gettysburg, filled his Menchey Music van with repaired and rented instruments, ready to be delivered during end-of-the-school-year visits the following day. His workdays, aligned with early-morning school bells and music teachers’ schedules, gives him a sense of purpose.
“My family has been heavily involved in music education for many decades, and being able to be part of it is very fulfilling for me,” said Kerchner.
Rentals, repairs and sales of all types of instruments — those that comprise both school bands and orchestras — represent 70% of Menchey Music’s business, said Menchey.
Sounds within the building create a curious soundtrack all its own. Random musical notes — instruments being tested — echo and mix with the whoosh and whir of non-musical cleaning instruments.
Meantime, strains of Aerosmith fill what Menchey calls “the prep area,” lined with boxes of neatly organized folders, and shelves of black cases holding instruments — clarinets and violins in the smaller cases; trombones, drums and brass instruments in the large, bulkier cases, all of their silver buckles snapped shut.
“We’re gearing up for the summer repair program,” Menchey explained. Instruments loaned to school children return for cleanings and repairs. “Then we’ll be prepping instruments for fall. The month of September is crazy.”
That’s when the entire Menchey team forms an assembly-line to prepare instruments for beginning school students — typically 4th and 5th graders within all 75 school districts it services. It’s a Mid-Atlantic footprint that encompasses about 30 counties.
The company is instituting a new barcode system, each instrument bearing a unique scannable code. Similar to a VIN — vehicle identification number — used for cars and trucks, each Menchey instrument’s history will be tracked.
Retired instruments are given to teachers, who gift them to aspiring musical students in need, through Menchey’s Second Sounds program.
Working in harmony
About 15 employees are solely dedicated to instrument repairs, including Tim McCleary, 58, of York. The lead woodwind tech cleaned a clarinet, replacing the pads that open and close on the instrument’s holes, as keys are depressed, forming musical notes on the black instrument affectionately known as a licorice stick. It’s a process that normally takes about two hours per clarinet.
“All instruments have their little oddities, but piccolos may be the hardest [instruments to service], because they’re so small,” said McCleary, who’s been repairing Menchey instruments for 39 years. He launched his career right out of high school, learning the trade as a Menchey apprentice.
During the average day, McCleary repairs five or six instruments, but on a “really good day,” he can handle as many as eight.
Nearby, Sam Bolinger, 31, of Spring Grove worked in a space dubbed “the bathtub room.” As lead brass tech, he oversees a whole different protocol of cleaning and repair techniques on brass instruments.
“He’s using our ultrasonic cleaner, similar to jewelry cleaning,” Menchey explained.
“It breaks up the limescale that tends to accumulate inside” the brass pipes of a tuba, Bolinger added.
He’s been on the job for about eight years. The Spring Grove native grew up playing low brass instruments — primarily tuba — in high school band, even auditioning and playing with Baltimore's Marching Ravens affiliated with the NFL team during high school.
“I initially wanted to start down the course of music education, but I realized it wasn’t for me — I was more mechanical,” said Bolinger. Upon the recommendation of his band teacher, Bolinger enrolled in a 9-month instrument repair program at one of three accredited technical schools in the nation, Minnesota State College Southeast.
Bolinger said people are often surprised when he explains what he does for a living.
“A lot of people kind of forget this is an essential part of owning an instrument,” said Bolinger, who continues to play music of his own — focused on percussion these days — with local bands.
While Menchey Music employs about 60 people at its operations center, there are several layers of additional employees: 35 staff Menchey Music stores, where an additional 100 part-time music teachers provide in-store private lessons. In the past year, the company launched a rock performance program, offering students the opportunity to perform in local clubs. Menchey Music also provides about 25 music teachers to specific school districts, including Allentown; Philadelphia Catholic Schools; Camden, New Jersey; and Wilmington, Delaware.
“The secret to our success,” said Menchey, “is finding the right people for the right positions. We have really established an incredible team, and most of our employees have been here for many years.”
Time, like a metronome, ticks on. In 2024, the business — like the number of keys on a piano — is 88 years old. Although the location has changed a few times, there’s been a Menchey Music store serving Hanover continuously since 1936. Menchey’s grandfather lived to see the Timonium store’s grand opening in 2007, and Menchey will mark his 30th anniversary with the family business next March.
There’s another milestone Menchey said he’s proud to report: For all the talk about cuts in music education, “in all my years, we’ve never had a complete cut” in Menchey-serviced school districts. “The community always speaks out when program cuts have been considered.”
As for the future of the business, Menchey said he isn’t retiring anytime soon. Meantime, musical talent abounds throughout his family tree, including Menchey’s sons. As for Menchey himself, he still finds time to play guitar at least once a month professionally, as a soloist or with two local bands, strumming a catalog of music ranging from ’60s tunes to current songs.
Music, after all, makes the world go ‘round.
“I think a musical world,” said Menchey, “is a happier world.”
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Menchey Music strikes chord with York County PA customers for 88 Years
