Our Team
Michelle and Dan Oldroyd
CO-OWNERS
Dan and Michelle have been married for 35 years and are the parents of 6 children.
Michelle has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business-Human Resources with a minor in Business Management from Brigham Young University. She is an active volunteer in the community and her church. She has been with Better Than New Band Repair since 2004.
Dan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Management and an MBA from Brigham Young University. He is currently the Director of Product Management for client deployment services at Dell Technologies. He is an active volunteer in the community and his church.
Travis Goldberg
SHOP MANAGER & REPAIR TECHNICIAN
Travis has played the tuba and bass guitar since high school. After becoming a certified repair technician at Western Iowa Tech he started repairing instruments at Texas Band and Orchestra and B&H Music. Travis has been a repair technician at Better Than New Band Repair since 2012. He can play and fix every woodwind and brass instrument!
When Travis is not at the shop he is enjoying time with his beautiful wife and daughters or playing disk golf.
”I want to get every instrument and musician playing at their fullest potential.”
Karen Holrath
REPAIR TECHNICIAN
Karen played the clarinet in high school and the clarinet and alto saxophone at Three Rivers Community College, Poplar Bluff, Missouri. She attended Western Iowa Tech where she became a certified repair technician. Karen then came to Texas where she worked for Strait Music as a repair technician for 20 years. In 2004 Karen and Twylia became co-owners of the shop. They sold the shop to Michelle and Dan in 2019. She enjoys continuing to repair instruments here.
Karen loves to travel especially to Disney. She enjoys Nascar and gambling in Las Vegas as well. Rumor has it she is a beast BBQ Pit-master.
”I like to work with my hands and I like to make the kids smile when they walk out the door. Preventative maintenance goes a long way.”
Twylia Baker
REPAIR TECHNICIAN
Twylia played the saxophone through high school. She has four children, six grandchildren and one great grand daughter.
She became a repair technician apprentice with Karen as her teacher in 2000 at Strait Music. She has been with Better Than New Band Repair since 2004 when she and Karen became co-owners. She is a professional welder and can easily fix any brass joint in the shop.
Twylia loves to travel, especially to Disney. She is a marvelous cook and baker. Her pecan pie is out of this world!
“I like the detective work involved in repairing instruments. It’s a lot of fun, but a lot of hair pulling. The smile on the kids’ faces is the best thing ever!”
Sean Allen
REPAIR TECHNICIAN & ROAD REP
Sean joined us in May 2022 as a technician and Road Representative specializing in brass repairs and creating and maintaining our important relationships with school band directors. Sean has been playing the euphonium since fifth grade going on to study euphonium and trombone with Jan Kagarice at Interlochen Arts Academy for high school. He then got his undergraduate degree from the Boston New England Conservatory in trombone performance. Sean has taught lessons, repaired brass and free-lanced as a performing artist all over, from Waco to Monterrey, Mexico. Sean likes basketball and the San Antonio Spurs.
"My teaching and repairing philosophy is 'Before I can do better, I must first do no harm.' I got into music mostly because I just like working around the people. I like playing music because it helps me think."