Bob1062 wrote:I think Kantsul makes a comper in the "accepted" 3+1 format. I'd be happy with 4 front valve non-comp with a usable 4th slide.
The Air Force Band is now using the Kanstul euph.
Will Jones (section leader) told me they're pretty good... but having to deal with some intonation issues.
The Kanstul bore is only .571 rather than the usual .580 or .590 for compensators.
Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ/RF mpc YEP-641S(recently sold), DE mpc (102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank) Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches: "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
Perhaps there's just not enough profit in large brass, given the shrinking domestic market. There are plenty of trumpet makers in the USA (Yes Joe, even in California). There are a few good horn makers also.
TubaTinker wrote:It used to really irritate me to see all of the foreign goods on the American market.
Besides the reasons you gave, it doesn't bother me so much anymore because I think it's the true nature of a capitalist society to buy the best products at the best prices regardless of their origin. If an American company wants to start making cameras to compete with Nikon and Canon, they're welcome to do so.
I drive a Honda Civic, a Japanese car built in England; I also ride a Cannondale bike that uses a frame built in Pennsylvania.
I'd even say that "imported goods" were invented when humans first traveled.
Leland wrote:Besides the reasons you gave, it doesn't bother me so much anymore because I think it's the true nature of a capitalist society to buy the best products at the best prices regardless of their origin. If an American company wants to start making cameras to compete with Nikon and Canon, they're welcome to do so.
The way the American financial markets have been structured in the last decade or two simply doesn't make it attractive to set up a manufacturing operation whose ROI is going to be many years in coming. Nowadays the big money-makers are the derivative speculators, not actually starting an operation, but merely passing things around, or betting on the way the market will go, without actually having to produce so much as a safety pin.
I think that's why the current domestic brass instrument makers are either boutique operations (<100 employees on the factory floor) or dinosaurs looking to offshore what's left of their current production.
Chuck "Just bought a jacket made in Canada today"(G)
I don't mean to deplore the global economy. I believe that individuals have every right in the world to buy any commodity from any point of origin. And we certainly want our military equiped with the best of anything our tax dollars can provide. Unfortunately that doesn't always happen. (My stepson will go into combat again in several months wearing less than the best body armor available).
I ask hypothetically: "What would have happened if the military bands had gone to the American instrument makers about 25 years ago and asked them to produce instruments to their specifications?" Maybe seeing the potential for orders of a few hundred 6/4 tubas and compensating euphs would have gotten their attention.......maybe not.
Doesn't Kanstul make a 6/4 tuba also?
Sam Gnagey wrote:I ask hypothetically: "What would have happened if the military bands had gone to the American instrument makers about 25 years ago and asked them to produce instruments to their specifications?"
Interesting hypothesis, and in fact, that's what we did just two years ago with Kanstul -- although our requirements are very limited by comparison (five voices of 2-valve nonchromatic brasses, plus two different versions of straight bugles, in the traditional military key of G) and won't be useful almost anywhere else.
We also used Ludwig percussion specifically because it was a USA brand (Mr. Ludwig is often seen at summer shows wearing a straw hat equipped with an electric fan ), but have since changed to first Yamaha, then Pearl off-the-shelf marching percussion for most performances. We also have custom-built traditional rope tension drums that are made by a US company.
Off topic, but pertinent: There is a factory in District 3 of Ho Chi Minh City that does nothing but make tags that say, "Made in Thailand." If you buy a sweater or a pair of jeans that have a similar tag, they might have been made here.
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You only have one chance to make a first impression. Don't blow it.
ai698 wrote:Here's the Army's policy on purchasing instruments, from FM 12-50 U.S. ARMY BANDS
Chapter 6
Band Supply
To perform their musical mission, bands will be furnished professional quality
musical instruments, equipment, supplies, repair parts, and current musical
arrangements. These are non-standard supply items. They are procured from
commercial vendors through procurement channels and procedures utilizing Federal
Supply System Schedules/Contracts as a basis. The band commander must ensure
quality control by including sufficient technical specifications. The band commander
will approve substitutions before procurement contracts are established and inspect to
certify that all new musical equipment meets professional standards before
acceptance by the command. The band commander is solely responsible for
determining the professional quality of the band’s musical instruments. The band
commander will establish on-hand levels of expendable supplies and repair parts
large enough to ensure that the band can function for at least 90 days without
resupply. The band commander will also authorize ordering new sheet music
regularly to keep the band current with the changing musical tastes of soldiers and
other audiences.
Having been both a eupher and a supply sergeant (298th Army Band in Berlin) during the early Eighties, I can tell you with 100% certainty that while this quote out of FM 12-50 is accurate, it doesn't mean that that's how it's done all the time.
I used to get authorization to purchase MANY instruments "on the economy." That means doing an end-around the usual Army requisition system based on National Stock Number (NSN) and going out and buying what you want.
Trust me - you don't want the euph that the Army says you should have. I simply can't believe that the DC bands' supply system doesn't permit them to go outside the Army/federal system to procure musical instruments of all types, regardless of country of origin/manufacture.
U.S. Army, Retired
Adams E2 Euph (on the way)
Boosey & Co. Imperial Euph, built 1941
Bach Strad 42O tenor trombone
Edwards B454 bass trombone
Kanstul 33T tuba in BBb
), but have since changed to first Yamaha, then Pearl off-the-shelf marching percussion for most performances. We also have custom-built traditional rope tension drums that are made by a US company.
