Tom wrote:Intonation on the MW euphoniums is indeed suspect.
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It's too bad they can't build a euph as good as a lot of their tubas are out of the box.
One cannot really expect that any maker is equally good at making any type of instrument.
Actually this is an almost verbatim quotation of the then production manager of Besson/B&H, as I heard it from his mouth some 25 years ago.
The "house spirit" within any company will have its stronger and weaker aspects.
These names of houses attempting to be serious all-round brass makers come to my mind:
Cerveny
Besson/B&H
King
Conn
Holton
Miraphone
Yamaha
Cerveny used to be up front inventors in the early history of valved brasses. They for many years kept a reputation in low rotary brasses.
The Brits had their strong sides. Trumpets not necessarily being among them. And where are they now, businesswise?
King were strong in trumpets, trombones, and tubas, but their horns were not considered top notch. Unfairly to some degree, as their Eroica was fine for strong players.
Conn and Holton were pretty much complete, but they still have had to undergo business restructurings.
Miraphone after all are most known for their tubas now.
That leaves us with just one original, current, and serious maker, which I tend to consider a complete brass producer:
Yamaha!
They had initial problems rusting screws making the nickel-plating flake off the pistons and with corroding leadpipes. But for a then youngish brass teacher like myself it was pure heaven to get student level instruments allowing to be played pretty well in tune.
However my endorsement of Yamaha has its limits, which I ascribe to their alloys. I don’t like their trumpets and trombones. I find their alloy concept much more relevant for mellow brasses. It is no coincidence, that the only Yamahas out of my 70+ pieces brass stable are a flugelhorn and a euphonium. If I were into F and CC tubas, I probably had acquired a couple more of the Japs.
And then MW after the acquisition of the Markneukirchen production facilities according to themselves have one thing in common with Yamaha: these two companies are the only serious brass makers worldwide, which produce every stump down to the tiniest screw "in-house".
Klaus