How was the Frankfurt Musikmesse?

[bisontuba]

For those who attended, how was the Frankfurt Musikmesse?
Mark

[hubert]

The wind instrument section was small, not to say poor, this time. I could not spent much time there, because of other obligations in Frankfurt. On my rather quick walk through the hall I wondered, how many renowned companies were NOT there, e.g. Melton/Meinl Weston/B&S, as wel as the rest of the stable under the flag of Buffet Crampon (for instance Besson), Rudi Meinl, Willso, Kanstul. I was told that hiring a booth there has become extraordinary expensive.
A few interesting tubas: the new ones of Miraphone (I played a few notes on the Hagen: as expected great quality, makes curious about further tests and reviews), the Wessex Excelsior and even more their new 6/4 F, a copy of the Cerveny Piggy by Jinbao, and "top of the bill" for me, the Wiseman 900.

Hubert

[Ulli]

a copy of the Cerveny Piggy by Jinbao,
Hubert

Hoi Hubert,

I played the Jinbao CC 410. Which type number does the Piggy Copy have?
I havn't seen this tuba.

All in all: the same, what Hubert says. And very very noisy. Terrible.

met groeten
Ulli

[hubert]

Sorry, do not remember, have not taken notes. I hope I am not mistaken, but I had the impression I have played a few notes on a " Piggy copy" in Bb.
Hubert

[UDELBR]

many renowned companies were NOT there, e.g. Melton/Meinl Weston/B&S, as wel as the rest of the stable under the flag of Buffet Crampon (for instance Besson), Rudi Meinl, Willso, Kanstul.

Melton didn't even bother?

[Ulli]

I had the impression I have played a few notes on a " Piggy copy" in Bb.
Hubert

Oh, I think, the Cerveny Piggy is a CC Tuba?
Ulli, who has not looked for Bb tubas

[Ulli]

Melton didn't even bother?

That's true...

[Wyvern]

Wessex Tubas had a busy time at Frankfurt with steady stream of visitors to our booth, with much good feedback, including from German, Austrian, Spanish, Italian, Czech and Russian professionals which had not previously heard of Wessex.

As usual, the Mighty Midget BBb tornister tuba received a lot of interest including from German schools as tuba for children. The F cimbasso, new BBb XL 5/4, Excelsior compensated BBb, Eb Bombino, Eb sousaphone and Dolce Cantabile euphonium all received much praise. But the real star of the show at Wessex was our new Berg rotary F tuba. We had player after player raving about how good and top professional saying he would buy, except for contractual obligation to another company. The one on booth went away with happy buyer from Austria.

Also for the first time we had on display Bb, C and Eb alto (quinticlave) ophicleide - with much interest. One was sold for Jazz playing - an interesting new use for historic instrument.

For those of you that double on trombone, we had out an Wessex exclusive all new line up of PE523 large bore alto, PB4501 tenor (based on the legendary Urbie trombone complete with lightweight slide) and new bass PBF185 based on the much sort after Holton TR185 with removable 2nd valve.

Then for the first time we had prototype of new tuba and euphonium mouthpieces designed in collaboration with Dr. Frederick Young. These are all new designs and are quite incredible. We gave one player after another to try against their existing mouthpiece and the response was overwhelmingly positive. The tuba mouthpiece seems to work in tubas of all sizes from F tuba and Mighty Midget to large BBb, really opening the low register, but with still secure high register and more pure tone than most other mouthpieces (no fluff). The euphonium mouthpiece equally works on large bore tenor and bass trombone. These will be out in the summer and I will announce when available.

Below are some pictures of the Wessex booth for your interest, together with very interesting tuba/alphorn for Nartiss. I was mostly too busy to look closely at other booths, but that very much drew my attention.

The Wessex Booth


Bb, C and alto ophicleide - Excelsior, Berg and XL


Couple of Czech pros try the Berg and XL


Dutch Military players check out the Eb Sousaphone


Good friend, Lee Lammin tries Excelsior


Impress the ladies with an ophicleide


Spanish pro tries the cimbasso


Having some fun with Midget playing William Tell


German Pro testing Berg


Nice young lady with Bombino (Wessex Young mouthpiece)


Playing Jazz on cimbasso


New Wessex Young - tuba and euphonium mouthpieces


The tuba/alphorn from Nartiss

[cozzagiorgi]

Heard buying horns at the messe was forbidden. Is that true?

[Wyvern]

Heard buying horns at the messe was forbidden. Is that true?

Officially forbidden, but does happen a lot, particularly last day. I prefer to meet buyers in the foyer of the Movenpick hotel across the road to carry out such business

[Three Valves]

That "XL" is one "B.A.T.!!"

[bort]

Another round of Dr. Young mouthpieces? What's the Chinese word for "resurrection"?

[bort]

Melton didn't even bother?

That's true...

Meh, those things sell themselves.

[Keyser Soze]

I also took some pictures at the Musikmesse, you can see them on http://www.musiktreff.info/news/neues-k ... nsumenten/" target="_blank" if you scroll down to the bottom of the page.
The bad news for next year is that the Musikmesse will be completely different. In 2016, the halls wont be sorted by instruments but by music genres ("Rock/Pop", "Electro" etc) and the whole Musikmesse will be targeted a lot more to music-consumers, not active musicians. That means: more live-events, autograph sessions etc, but less business and most probably even less wind music exhibitors than this year.

[Wyvern]

The bad news for next year is that the Musikmesse will be completely different. In 2016, the halls wont be sorted by instruments but by music genres ("Rock/Pop", "Electro" etc) and the whole Musikmesse will be targeted a lot more to music-consumers, not active musicians.

Mind you if that means the drum kits are in a different hall (rock/pop?) from the brass (classical?), that will be a good thing. This year, particularly on the Saturday the noise level became intolerable from kids bashing away on drums.

I will reserve judgement if the changes are good, or bad

[cjk]

Sounds like it was a messe.

[Keyser Soze]

Mind you if that means the drum kits are in a different hall (rock/pop?) from the brass (classical?), that will be a good thing. This year, particularly on the Saturday the noise level became intolerable from kids bashing away on drums.

As far as I understood the official press release, there will be live-concerts all the time in the middle of each of the 3 remaining halls which means that the noise-level won't be much less than this year. We'll see...

[Ferguson]

How disappointing it is to see highlights of the Musikmesse showing only Chinese tubas. Such is the way of the world I suppose. How terrible. I was very fortunate for many years to represent Kanstul at the Musikmesse and other shows. Traveling to Germany on an employer's dime is good living indeed. I made many friends among the European instrument makers. The one year Kanstul did not attend, early in the recent recession, I went on my own just to say hello to friends I missed. (And I picked up a cimbasso, so the trip was at least a bit useful.) In this technological era, trade shows may be a dinosaur. I can look at digital catalogs and email in my orders. So why travel?

Well, maybe when I travel I learn something about the products that's not in the catalog. Maybe I learn something about the world. Maybe I feel the enthusiasm of the designers and internalize some of that into my salesman duties. Maybe I meet some of the greats and learn that the greatness isn't just about instruments, but it's about people. I had the best time meeting infectiously funny Miel Adams, crazy Franz Monschau (Musik Haag) who is a sax player and fan of the Yellow Jackets, jolly Gerhardt Meinl and his salesman Martin Matthies, the various (feuding) Voigt family members, Rana Singh of Amati, Peter Hirsbrunner, Dietrich Klienehorst of Gronitz, Rudolph Meinl, and Heribert Glassl. I sigh as I type his name. I miss the late Mr. Glassl. I got to scheme with Denis Wick for a few hours at a trombone show. That man, in his '80's, is the consummate British gentleman. ("Valve oil and polishing cloths. That's where we're expanding." Heheheh.) And of course Zigmant Kanstul. You know he goes back to about Vincent Bach's days. Sometime you all have to hear the story about Kanstul traveling with the circus band as a teenager. (He's a percussionist.) I feel privileged to be friends with Markus Theinert (Superman) of Miraphone. Engelbert Schmid, Dietmar Duerk, Steve Lewis, all double horn makers extraordinaire, the great, great trumpeter Ian Muirhead (when he plays I stop in my tracks). I met Glenn Cronkhite the artisan case maker at NAMM. There are so many more I'm forgetting at the moment. I'm very lucky to know them, and we are all lucky as tubists and brassists to reap the rewards of their research and toil. These are people who can say, "I made this and it's beautiful." It's worth knowing them and understanding their inspiration.

The Chinese makers will do well. They have good engineers, fair pricing, constantly improving products and an enthusiasm to do better that is also infectious. But I feel like I owe it to the greats in the tuba and brass business to support what they are doing. These are people I personally like, and I like doing business with them. They are the real deal and their wares inspire me when I play music.

It's the people. I admit to feeling mortal at the moment. A dear friend, a contemporary of mine, is gravely ill about 40 years before she should be. It puts things in perspective. The human experience is so unbelievable and so short. Money doesn't matter. People matter. It's the connection that's fulfilling and inspires us and improves us. We're all in it together, and that's what we have that makes everything good: togetherness. I don't care what tuba you have. If you're fun to meet and you make my day, more power to you. I'm better off for it. Thank you.

Some of you who know me also know that I've come to hate music trade shows due to the noise. (Try running a table on your own at the French horn show for 6 days. You'll see.) So little music is heard amongst the cacophony. I've been to so many shows and met so many of the greats, I'm inspired and blessed with such good fortune. Whether as a salesman or a musician or as a person, if I can inspire others to greatness, then I'm doing the right thing. If trade shows are becoming a thing of the past, I think it is a huge loss for all of us.

F

[hubert]

Thank you, Ferguson, you nailed it!!
Hubert