Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.C.

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Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.C.

Post by sugawi »

All Kanstul tooling and parts will be moved to Kansas City, Missouri.
All parts should be available for purchase in the couple of weeks and eventually tubas will be available for custom order though to set up manufacturing could take up to a year.
I have confirmed this information with B.A.C.
Kanstul brand was not sold and if it remains as is Kanstul models will be built under different name.
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https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 35658&_rdr

https://www.coolisbac.com/
Last edited by sugawi on Sat May 18, 2019 10:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by Will Jones »

This is great news!!!

I hope they continue developing the designs. I love the euphonium, and that's what I play, but it was like Zig stopped at 95% when he realized the market was small. Fingers crossed!
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by SousaWarrior9 »

BAC is a fantastic company. The kanstul equipment is in good hands. This is great news.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by groth »

Unless they can compete with the Red Wave financially it will end up another black hole money pit. The silver lining is however, someone is still making American tubas.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by bort »

Kanstul would not build a rotary tuba.

I wonder if BAC is willing to give it a shot?
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by SousaWarrior9 »

bort wrote:Kanstul would not build a rotary tuba.

I wonder if BAC is willing to give it a shot?
Judging by their custom projects this far, it seems they're willing to build just about anything so long as one is willing to pay for it. So I'd reckon it seems hopeful that there will be one eventually but it might take a while.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by toobagrowl »

First time I've ever heard of "B.A.C". Looking at their page, it looks like they specialize in trombones and trumpets. I would be surprised if they ever make custom-order tubas, even with the Kanstul equipment they will aquire. Guess time will tell......
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by Billy M. »

bort wrote:Kanstul would not build a rotary tuba.

I wonder if BAC is willing to give it a shot?
Bort is already making plans to sell his PT-6... that wasn't long. :lol:
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by Tubainsauga »

I'm excited to see what BAC will do with the tooling. Their trombones are absolutely gorgeous and apparently they play pretty well too. Considering how many horns Kanstul made based on vintage designs, it seems like it'll be a good match and I hope they eventually start up a tuba line. I'll start saving for a flying tuba now.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by bort »

Billy M. wrote:
bort wrote:Kanstul would not build a rotary tuba.

I wonder if BAC is willing to give it a shot?
Bort is already making plans to sell his PT-6... that wasn't long. :lol:
I'll even sell it to try and buy something that may or may not exist at some point in the future! :P
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by greenbean »

BAC has always been great at hype and promises. At some point, they will have to deliver the goods. Time will tell...
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by SousaWarrior9 »

greenbean wrote:BAC has always been great at hype and promises. At some point, they will have to deliver the goods. Time will tell...
Having played a number of their trombones and trumpets, I don't think they have any problems 'delivering the goods'. Their horns are the real deal, and at least in my opinion, most definitely live up to the hype and promises. I've always been bummed they haven't made a tuba as of yet, and I'm excited about the potential of such a horn, especially if their tubas are the same quality as their trombones and trumpets. And with Kevin on staff, I'm confident that, if they do get into the tuba market, they'll be solid horns to say the least.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by Davidus1 »

SousaWarrior9 wrote:
greenbean wrote:BAC has always been great at hype and promises. At some point, they will have to deliver the goods. Time will tell...
Having played a number of their trombones and trumpets, I don't think they have any problems 'delivering the goods'. Their horns are the real deal, and at least in my opinion, most definitely live up to the hype and promises. I've always been bummed they haven't made a tuba as of yet, and I'm excited about the potential of such a horn, especially if their tubas are the same quality as their trombones and trumpets. And with Kevin on staff, I'm confident that, if they do get into the tuba market, they'll be solid horns to say the least.
That would be awesome. It would really be nice to maintain an American manufacturer of tubas. A highly endangered species! I know nothing of manufacturing but I'm sure its hard to maintain quality and produce enough to make it profitable. Hope it works for them. I've known others with the BAC trombones that rave about them.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by toobagrowl »

Some ppl here seem to think Kanstul was the only American maker of tubas; forgetting about Conn-Selmer. I mean, I'm not interested in the modern Conn-Selmer tubas (Conn and King) as they are just not made like they used to be made. And there are only a few models available that have been around a long time, mostly aimed at the school market. But at least they are still around.

As for B.A.C., does anyone there have experience or interest in actually building tubas and/or sousas? Seems to me building tubas from scratch would be MUCH more difficult, and take more skill and time to build than trombones and trumpets, which are probably the easiest of brass instruments to fabricate :idea:
Or maybe they will do custom jobs or refurbishing on existing tubas?
I will "believe it when I see it" regarding B.A.C. actually building tubas.... :wink:
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by SousaWarrior9 »

toobagrowl wrote: As for B.A.C., does anyone there have experience or interest in actually building tubas and/or sousas? Seems to me building tubas from scratch would be MUCH more difficult, and take more skill and time to build than trombones and trumpets, which are probably the easiest of brass instruments to fabricate :idea:
Or maybe they will do custom jobs or refurbishing on existing tubas?
I will "believe it when I see it" regarding B.A.C. actually building tubas.... :wink:
Kevin has frankentuba building experience, I know, and I could see them getting into the tuba game as they expand. Probably won't be for a few years, but I can see it happening potentially.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by Davidus1 »

toobagrowl wrote:Some ppl here seem to think Kanstul was the only American maker of tubas; forgetting about Conn-Selmer. I mean, I'm not interested in the modern Conn-Selmer tubas (Conn and King) as they are just not made like they used to be made. And there are only a few models available that have been around a long time, mostly aimed at the school market. But at least they are still around.

As for B.A.C., does anyone there have experience or interest in actually building tubas and/or sousas? Seems to me building tubas from scratch would be MUCH more difficult, and take more skill and time to build than trombones and trumpets, which are probably the easiest of brass instruments to fabricate :idea:
Or maybe they will do custom jobs or refurbishing on existing tubas?
I will "believe it when I see it" regarding B.A.C. actually building tubas.... :wink:
I don't think people are forgetting that but in the last 75 years we've gone from many to few as far as instrument makers.......nice to see one stay around!
Last edited by Davidus1 on Tue May 28, 2019 3:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by greenbean »

SousaWarrior9 wrote: Having played a number of their trombones and trumpets, I don't think they have any problems 'delivering the goods'. Their horns are the real deal, and at least in my opinion, most definitely live up to the hype and promises. I've always been bummed they haven't made a tuba as of yet, and I'm excited about the potential of such a horn, especially if their tubas are the same quality as their trombones and trumpets. And with Kevin on staff, I'm confident that, if they do get into the tuba market, they'll be solid horns to say the least.
I didn't mean to sound too much like a downer. I have not played a single BAC trumpet. I was thinking of their custom work. A lot of guys have gotten a lot of runaround from BAC. My experience with their custom work was that I had to have a good tech replace everything they had done. On two trombones. "Fool me twice," etc... But... I am still glad for every instrument maker in existence. And hope they do good things with the Kanstul tools or rights or whatever they now own.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by Tom »

toobagrowl wrote:First time I've ever heard of "B.A.C". Looking at their page, it looks like they specialize in trombones and trumpets. I would be surprised if they ever make custom-order tubas, even with the Kanstul equipment they will aquire. Guess time will tell......
Same here.

Good luck to them. I will be watching with curiosity from the sidelines and wish them every success.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by Liberty Mo »

I’ve had nothing but wonderful experience with BAC. I’ve had several horns in for custom work and the results have been outstanding. I just dropped off my Yamaha bass for an overhaul and played a few of their custom horns. They had a custom King 3b with a carbon fiber slide that was amazing. The independent bass that Reggie Chapman has was also an amazing horn.

I doubt custom tubas would be on their agenda any time soon, but custom parts, overhauls and potentially bells are very possible in the future. I’m excited to see anything being done to preserve history and being made in America.
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Re: Kansas City here I come - Kanstul tooling bought by B.A.

Post by bbocaner »

I have no doubt he can make nice stuff, some of the instruments I've tried at shows have been really good. But the repair work I sent him was the most ugly awful job I've ever seen. A huge mess of solder all over the silver-plated instrument and a big glob holding together parts that didn't come close to fitting. And I was charged top dollar for it. And the custom instrument he promised he'd work with me to develop was *three years* late and cost over double what he told me it would. It didn't turn out to be usable, I sent it back to be re-worked and he never got around to it. He also pressured me into accepting a low-ball price on an instrument I sent to him on consignment by telling me the custom work was nearly done (it wasn't even close) and I later found out he sold it to his employee for a sweetheart deal.

He's super enthusiastic and really loves his work and the history and culture around brass instrument making, that shows. But he's also an operator who loves to promote himself with fancy videos and by hanging out with famous guys while letting the paid work he has sitting in his shop pile up. I was warned by several of his former coworkers and employers to stay away, I didn't listen, and I regret it. This was many years ago when he first got his shop started and I truly hope he's gotten things in order since then, but I've heard more recent stories and I also know that compulsive liars just can't change.

Don't let me stop you if you think he can make something special for you with the new parts and tooling he's acquired, but you should be more careful than I was. Don't send any money up front.
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