Repair technicians get instruments ready for the upcoming school year at Ward-Brodt Music in Fitchburg.
Jim Huwe tests out a marching baritone as he cleans and checks over student rental instruments. Student repairs are special because the instrument “is part of their soul,” said Huwe, who has worked at Ward-Brodt for 39 years.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Every summer, Ward-Brodt Music in Fitchburg faces a summer rush of thousands of student instruments needing repairs before the first day of school.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Ward-Brodt Music handles thousands of instruments from Wisconsin school districts including Portage, Columbus, Mount Horeb and Middleton.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Repair technicians, from left, Thomas Schmidt and Nicholas Abler work on instrument repairs at Ward-Brodt Music in Fitchburg, Wis. Thursday, July 2, 2026. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Steven Conradt, Ward-Brodt repair technician, works on a trombone. Most student repairs are pretty simple, he said, but he’s seen some “where you can tell, like, yeah, they kind of meant to do that.”
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Janice Stone, repair technician, returns a trumpet back to its case after finishing repairs at Ward-Brodt Music in Fitchburg, Wis. Thursday, July 2, 2026. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD
School instruments are checked in for repair, including a euphonium, at Ward-Brodt Music in Fitchburg, Wis. Thursday, July 2, 2026. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
AMBER ARNOLD
Connie Fish, owner of Ward-Brodt Music, shows the conference room that is being used to store rental orchestra instruments that need to be checked over.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Repair technician Sydney Stankowski cleans a rental cello at Ward-Brodt Music, which handles thousands of student instrument repairs each summer.
AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
A display board shows when Ward-Brodt needs to check over and deliver instruments to area schools. The shop works with dozens of Wisconsin and northern Illinois school districts.
