Podcast Episode 3: 

Miles O'Malley and Yuexin Chen

September 15, 2026

Miles O'Malley and Yuexin Chen

O'Malley Instruments Website: https://www.omalleymusicalinstruments.com/ 

Yuexin's Website: https://www.chenlytools.com/ 

Thoughts and Reflections:

I had long admired both O'Malley Horns and Chenly tools, and had no idea that they work together! I had chatted with Yuexin before, so she was an obvious choice to have on the podcast, and her suggesting Miles was an obvious choice! It was very fun the similarities and differences between them. Of course, both of them on instrument makers, and both work with machines to make brass instruments. However, while Miles is the undisputed expert on this topic and has been obsessed with this since the age of 14, Yuexin has had quite a highly varied path: Literature, translation, programming, playing/making banjos, making violins, aerospace engineering, brass machining, and a whole lot more. And also that their unresolved dream is to make their dream instrument (French Horn for Miles and banjo for Yuexin). 

We really hit our groove while talking about the closing of Conn-Selmer (one of the biggest instrument makers in the USA of wind/brass instruments) who closed down a factory a few months ago to move overseas. And what that means for the state of instrument making in the USA. We really got to talking about why keeping instruments made in America is a good thing. This is not to say that American-built products are not inherently better because they're "American". The point is that playing musical instruments is culturally very important in America, and we (Americans) should be proud to make instruments to support the musical arts. Though with the continued increase of globalization and competition, and fewer resources to go around, it's harder to sustain the industry.