About Bronstein Music/Our History

Bronstein Music was founded by Milton and Celia Bronstein on February 9, 1946. Growing up, Milton Bronstein was a talented trumpet player from Petaluma, California who would take the ferry to San Francisco (the Golden Gate bridge had not yet been built) to take trumpet lessons on the weekends. He eventually landed his “dream job” of playing on a cruise ship when World War II broke out and changed his life forever.

He joined the United States Army Band and was assigned to General Patton’s Unit, where he participated in the North Africa campaign, Anzio, and Monte Cassino. Mr. Bronstein led the 6th Army Band and saved his liquor and cigarette allotment for the future.

After World War II, Milton and Celia Bronstein were married, and Milton earned his teaching credential at Mills College. He tried teaching music for one year in Oroville, California, and then decided to go into the music retail business using the money he had saved during the war. At that time, mass production of musical instruments was practically non-existent, so the main products to sell were records and record players. One of the largest record publishers, Columbia Records, granted the Bronsteins the rights to South San Francisco sales, thus the location of their new store was established.

Their first customer was a small boy named Buddy Powers. Buddy walked into the store with a can of change, dumped it on the counter, and proclaimed his intention to buy a trumpet. Mr. Bronstein not only found Buddy a trumpet, but he also gave him his first lesson. Little Buddy Powers grew up to become a renowned commercial musician, working extensively with Woody Herman.

Over the years Bronstein Music has changed with the ever-evolving music industry, selling everything from accordion straps to zither picks.

In 1968 Don Edwards and Rich Welker, two high school students, were hired as part-time help. The Bronsteins maintained a policy of hiring high school and college students to work at the store. They encouraged the student help to take on as much responsibility as they could handle, and the part-time help did everything from sales, to delivery, cleaning, repair, and collections.

In 1981, the Bronsteins retired, selling the store to Rich and Don. At that time, the store no longer sold TV's, stereos, record players, or organs, but instead focused on selling band instruments, acoustic pianos, sheet music and combo gear such as drums and guitars. A large portion of the business was rental of PA systems and combo gear.

In 2018, Don and Rich closed the store on Grand Avenue and relocated Bronstein Music to a smaller location on nearby 3rd Lane. They decided to reconfigure the business to focus more on school band programs by converting to primarily a repair shop and school supplier.

On July 1st, 2019, Don and Rich sold Bronstein Music to Ron Graham, a long-time employee who started at Bronstein Music in 1990 as a private saxophone instructor and eventually became the repair shop manager.

Bronstein Crew - Chris, Ron, Jeff

Ron Graham

Bronstein Music Owner and Repair Technician

A native of San Francisco, Ron grew up in a family of musicians. His parents, both pianists, taught Ron to play piano when he was 8 years old, thereby planting the seed for a love and appreciation of music. Ron began playing clarinet in 4th grade and added alto saxophone in high school, which took him twice to Japan to perform as part of an All Star Band. He went on to major in music in college, earning his Bachelor of Music from San Francisco State University in 1994. Around the same time, his father opened Graham Piano Studio in Pleasanton and another seed was planted--Ron keeping music alive through his own music store.

Early in his college years, Ron started playing professional music engagements. For years, he wrote and arranged music for his own jazz quintet, “Corner Pocket”, and performed in numerous venues around the San Francisco Bay area. He was also in demand as a sideman for several bands across many musical genres. Performance credits include the Monterey Jazz Festival, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, as well as tours abroad with Don Carlos (Black Uhuru) and Merl Saunders (Grateful Dead).

Ron joined Bronstein Music in 1991 at the age of 18 and has been at the store ever since. He started out as a saxophone and clarinet instructor and taught private lessons for 15 years. In 2000, Ron began apprenticing to repair musical instruments, and by 2005 became a full-time repair technician. On July 1, 2019, Ron proudly and humbly took over Bronstein Music as owner, continuing the Bronstein legacy of providing quality musical instruments, supplies, and advice to musicians of all ages and abilities. He continues to repair woodwind and brass instruments, in addition to managing and running the business.

Chris Pun

Office Manager

Chris grew up in Hong Kong and began playing drums in middle school. He spent 9 years in the Hong Kong Vigor Marching Band, performing locally and competing internationally in Asia. That experience inspired him to major in music when he studied abroad.

In 2021, Chris received his Bachelor's degree in Music Education at San José State University, where he studied classical and contemporary percussion with Galen Lemmon. During his percussion studies, he won third place in the Electronic Accompaniment Division at the 2021 PAS California Chapter Competitive Festival. In 2020, Chris performed Re(new)al: Percussion Quartet Concerto by Viet Cuong with the SJSU Wind Ensemble at the California All-State Music Education Conference (CASMEC). In 2019, he also went on tour in South America with the San José Youth Symphony.

Besides working at Bronstein Music as an Office Manager, he also works as a freelance percussionist and percussion instructor in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a music educator, he currently teaches at Pre University Percussion Group in San José. When you give us a call now, Chris is the voice you will hear. He also manages the retail and online parts of the shop, manages the website, and much, much more!

Jeff Cotton

Guitar, Amp, Electronics, String Repair

Jeff got his musical start in the 4th grade – he learned how to play clarinet and continued with it for 8 years. In high school, he played the French horn and also learned how to play the guitar. Moving to California from his native New Hampshire, Jeff attended the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, where he honed his guitar skills. Today he plays acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and mandolin in a couple of local bands. He also works part-time as a sound technician at the Hotel Utah and other local venues.

Jeff has been repairing musical instruments for as long as he can remember, starting with his own guitars. He started working at Bronstein Music in 2005 and is now responsible for string repairs, electronics repairs, and keyboard repairs. To say that Jeff is versatile is understating the point. On any given day, you can find Jeff restringing a guitar or bass, fixing a violin, viola, cello or string bass, or reading a schematic for an electronic musical instrument – and that's all before lunch!