Klarinet Archive - Posting 000210.txt from 2003/03

From: "Vern Zimmerman <VZ2@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] More corporate shenanigans in the instrument manufacturing world
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 11:45:17 -0500

Few points to clarify/amplify on the above posts:

* Selmer USA bought Steinway, not the other way around. They went with
the Steinway name because it has more name recognition, etc. in the
music world.

* Selmer/USA is only the North American distributor for Selmer/Paris products.
Selmer/Paris is still owned & controlled by members of the Selmer family,
direct descendants of Henri & Alexander.

* Even though it might appear that Selmer/USA is the big dog compared to
Selmer/Paris, it turns out that Selmer/Paris is in a better position overall.
I say that because of what's been going on in the Euro import biz via ebay
and Euro websites. They've kept a lid on some Selmer/USA pricing, and in the
case of the Selmer 'Reference' model tenor saxes, actually forced Selmer/USA
to cut retail pricing noticeably.

There is sufficient demand for everything that Selmer/Paris makes to insure
that they will sell everything they make, but that does NOT mean those
U.S. sales will all go through Selmer/USA. Interesting situation...and,
from the lack of response on the part of Selmer/Paris, it appears to me that
they are not going to get in the middle of who retails their products.

* On a sax BB that i monitor, there's been a bit of very good press lately
about some new 'Conn' tenor horns, which is interesting, in view of Conn
now being part of the Steinway/Selmer USA comglomerate.

* Anyone remember the Selmer by Magnavox situation in the 1970s? For a while,
Selmer/USA was owned by Magnavox...had zero impact on Selmer/Paris
products/availability/$$ here in the US.

* As far as competitive forces go, in the sax world, things have never been so
competetive, and products have never been better, from design/quality/$$
angles. I see no reason why this can't take place in the clarinet world as
well. Just because you can't buy a 'new' Buffet that plays exactly like the
1958 model your old teacher had doesn't mean there's not some good stuff out
there(I had a teacher with a set of 1958 Buffets, and they didn't play as
well as stuff from the 1970s-1980s, either).

In my case, I switched from Buffet to Selmer several years ago, and have
never regretted it. Different, yes, worse than Buffet? No way. I still
use a Buffet Bass Clarinet(best thing out there), and have a Buffet Eb
(haven't tried Selmer Eb stuff lately), but for Bb/A, there's quite a bit
of decent competition to Buffet.

* I think the real competetition out there is from some of the Asian makers,
as once you wade through the schlock stuff, there's some nice horns there,
and they are VERY open to trying new things, which eventually is going to
pay off. For those who aren't up on clarinet history, be aware that there
was a time(not all that long ago) when Buffet was NOT the big dawg, and
there could easily be a time in the future when Buffet returns to that
NON-dawg status...

---------------------------------------------------------------------