Rich Ita's Brass Instrument Workshop NOT RECOMMENDED!

 NOT RECOMMENDED! My experience with RICH ITA was not good! It appears RICH ITA is just running on fumes left by Gene Pilczuk and that is where the good reputation starts and stops! I got suckered too by the misinformation and propaganda of the Pilczuk trumpet leadpipe legacy because after all, PILCZUK was good so Rich Ita's Brass Instrument Workshop must be just as good, right? WRONG! In 2019, I had a problem with a piccolo trumpet I was developing. The leadpipe kept giving intonation problems. After seeing the reviews of Rich Ita, I thought, well, this guy can definitely take care of my issue and what is the worst scenario? He improves things only 20-30%? I can live with that. Unfortunately for me, RICH ITA did nothing, but wasted my time and cost me money...plenty of money. How did that happen you might wonder? Due to Rich Ita's Trumpet Repair incompetence, my shipping costs back and forth EXCEEDED $200! Ummmm that just happens to be what a PILCZUK leadpipe costs, right? Incompetence? Because Rich Ita had never seen my piccolo trumpet, He requested I send it to him to custom make the leadpipes. I did. I was shocked when after all the back and forth that the leadpipes I received WERE WORSE than the original CHINESE TRUMPET LEADPIPES! Rich sent me at least 5 custom trumpet leadpipes, but they did not look custom at all. They did not even look new at all. Several months later, Several hundreds of dollars later, I pulled the plug on Rich Ita and thought, hmmm, well, maybe this was just a bit too complicated for Rich, but things like that happen, right? Regardless of what you think of Rich Ita's repair skills, his horrible bedside manner cannot be debated. DEADPAN! GLUM, MONOTONE, EXPRESSIONLESS, HUMDRUM, LESS INTELLIGENT can all accurately describe Rich Ita's customer skills demeaner and let's face it: WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE TALENT AND THE SKILLS TO BE A GREAT MUSICIAN ON YOUR INSTRUMENT, YOU MUST MAKE UP THE DIFFERENCE IN PERSONALITY AND DEMEANOR! Anyone ever heard Rich Ita play? Of course you HAVE NOT! Let's put it this way: A young 15 year old Kurt Thompson could play circles around Rich Ita's best playing days. You can't play? You become a repairman? If you CAN play, spending time repairing instruments will do what? KEEP YOU FROM PRACTICING AND PERFORMING YOUR INSTRUMENT and thus THE BEST PLAYERS DO NOT BECOME TRUMPET REPAIR TECHNICIANS! What happens when you are a mediocre trumpet or brass player AND a mediocre brass repairman? YOU CALL YOURSELF RICH ITA!