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Anyone have any experience or opinions on Sterling euphoniums? How do they compare to Besson, Yamaha, Willson, etc.?
Thanks in advance.

I like my Sterling... a lot! It has a very rich, vibrant sound and since I suspended the leadpipe, I get great feed back from the horn. You must know that the second valve tuning slide is too long, so some notes are low ("A" in particular). But the sound - so sweet. The horn was basically a Besson that David Werden tweaked to get a freer blowing, better singing euphonium. I chose mine in a double blind playing test with Willsons, Besson, Yamahas, and Meinl Westons.

You will most probably hear others only make negative comments about Sterlings, so do take that into consideration.

Play one and see what you think.

I played a Sterling at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago this past December. It is a nice playing horn. The only real way to tell is to play it for yourself. I use a Besson Prestige. Is the Sterling a nice sounding instrument? Well, it depends on who is at the helm... Is it as good of a quality (manufacturing quality, that is)? I don't know... Play one - you might like it. They sure are a lot cheaper than the other imports.

I like the Sterlings a lot and have played them for about 15 years. I was first attracted to the horn when it was in the early stages of development. It had a nice tone (always my primary interest) and decent intonation. It also had a superior response to my Sovereign 967. We have made a lot of changes over the years and the horn keeps getting better.

I have posted more complete thoughts on the Sterling compared to competing brands on my website's relatively new blog. Here is a link to the particular entry:
http://www.tubaeuph.com/blog3/direct_li ... DC6ACD16DA

Dave Werden

Dave:

Welcome to TubeNet. It's always great to hear from one of our distinguished euphonium artists.

Is the S/P "Symphony" model the most current version? How does it differ from previous versions? What is the difference between the "Virtuoso" and the "not Virtuoso" (for want of a better term) varieties?

Thanks

Alex F.

PS: Hate to get all gushy here - but - your are the inspiration for my deciding to take up euphonium at my advanced age. I met you some years ago when you were still with the USCG band and CDR Buckley was kind enough to later send me some tapes and the CG Bicentenial CD with you playing "Bride of the Waves" This is a beautiful instrument that should be heard much more often.

Alex F:

Thanks for the kind words. The Sterling company (factory) is owned by a man who used to be manufacturing manager for Boosey and is himself a musician. Because of this, he has well-formed ideas about how to configure models.

In addition, Custom Music Company is the sole importer for Sterling. They have their own ideas about some particulars of the configurations, mostly driven by customer comments and their professional consultants.

With this "dual identity" it can be a little confusing. However, the "guts" of the Sterlings are all the same. Custom carries the most popular configuration as their standard line and they can order horns with whatever options you like. An "off-the-shelf" model from Custom would be a good bet if you live in the U.S. (if you special order you will need to wait quite a while for the production run and the shipping).

Dave Werden