Brandon Chambers
Brandon played clarinet, alto sax and tenor sax in high school jazz band but marched self-taught trumpet. He is a University of Tulsa graduate with a BA in Music Education. Brandon has performed with Starlight Jazz Orchestra and Signature Symphony Big Band and has toured with Guy Lombardo’s Royal Canadians featuring Al Pierson. Brandon started working part-time in the shop while serving as an assistant band director at Eufaula. However, the lure of the shop was stronger than that of the classroom. Brandon recalls his first major repair job as a HS student. His grandpa found a sax in a dumpster and Brandon decided to repair it to use as a marching horn in college. This ambitious beginning has contributed to Brandon’s reputation of exacting standards and painstaking expertise, highly sought after by area professional musicians. Brandon says, “We hold ourselves to the highest standard possible on every instrument we repair, whether beginner or professional. We are never satisfied with ‘good enough.’ We work to make each instrument play the very best that it can possibly play.” Brandon’s reassuring confidence comes through, whether testing a finely-tuned pro-line sax or gently demonstrating a mouthpiece adjustment to a student.

Ed Marlar, Shop Manager
Ed is an accomplished French horn player from Van Buren, Arkansas. He graduated from Arkansas Tech with a BA in Music Education then was awarded his Masters of Music in Performance at Northwestern where he studied with Frank Brouk, principal horn player with the Chicago Symphony. Ed taught in public school in Arkansas before his ten-year tenure on the music faculty at John Brown University. He moved to Tulsa and taught band in Skiatook and Owasso schools and as an adjunct at Oral Roberts University. Ed’s active professional work includes the Oklahoma Sinfonia, the Signature Symphony and the Bartlesville Symphony. Ed began at Saied Music in 1983, apprenticing with long-time Saied Music Shop Technician Don Pugh, before taking over as Repair Shop Manager in 2002. While fluent in all Brass and Woodwind instrument repair, Ed has been referred to as a “wood whisperer” because of his deft hand with stringed instrument repair. He is a true tinkerer. His original tools, designed and hand-made to accomplish particular repair tasks, and his “creative instrument modifications” are legendary! Stop by the shop sometime and ask to see some of his creations! Deeply respected by both educators and professionals alike, Ed describes the importance of high quality repair to a students success by saying, “If a student’s instrument doesn’t play well, then how can the student know if he can play well or not?”

Andrew Davis
Andrew attended Memorial High School where he played cello in the orchestra, drums in the marching band, and bassoon in the wind ensemble. Andrew graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, then earned an MBA all while playing bassoon in the OSU Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and chamber music groups. Andrew currently holds the position of Second Bassoon and Personnel Manager with the Tulsa Signature Symphony, and is a successful free-lancer throughout both Oklahoma and Arkansas, where he is known as a coveted contra-bassoonist. He frequently performs with the Bartlesville and Ft. Smith Symphonies in addition to various chamber groups in the region. Andrew was drawn to instrument repair one holiday season, when he was in the Midtown store purchasing a guitar book for his nephew. After chatting with his musician colleagues in the repair shop, Andrew decided to make the leap. His talent with woodwinds and experience as a professional bassoonist quickly made him the go-to technician for double reeds. Andrew speaks proudly of the collective experience and demand for excellence in the Saied Music Repair Shop and the respect they each have for the results of their work.

Tom Shannon
Tom Shannon was born in Norman and raised in Tulsa, beginning his colorful career on trombone as an elementary student. By the time Tom had graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State with his Bachelors and Masters in Music Ed, he had picked up saxophone and the upright and electric bass. Tom’s teaching path took him to Maud, OK as a band director for two years, but his playing path has had many twists and turns. He has played professionally all over the southern U.S. spending time in Atlanta and Austin, and studying at the legendary University of North Texas, while mastering the woodwind instrument family. Tom took his place in the Saied Music Repair Shop in 1994 and has continued to play professionally with such groups as the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, Signature Symphony, and other Jazz and Big Bands in NE Oklahoma. Tom’s expertise is particularly noted on flutes, piccolos, saxophones and the woodwind family. Tom notes that the level of personal care by repair staff is unmatched. “An average student instrument can be fixed for an average beginner and he’ll think it’s fine, but it still might not be perfect. We really care, on every instrument, to make it perfect.”

“I’ve been really pleased with the repair shop service I have received this past year. Go check them out, they’ll get you back to making music which is what it’s all about!”

Christy Andrews, MM
Oral Roberts University & Signature Symphony

“As a professional bassoonist, I have been “saved” by the Saied repairmen in more situations than one can imagine! I highly recommend my students and others to [their repair shop].”

Susie Brown
Tulsa Symphony Orchestra