Klarinet Archive - Posting 000446.txt from 2003/11

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Music Museum
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 22:49:30 -0500

At 05:42 PM 11/27/2003 -0500, Don Hatfield
wrote:
>A good point, considering that all the big-name US instrument makers settled
>long ago in the midwest, making Elkhart, IN especially a well-known name.
>The HN White Co. I mentioned in my previous email wandered around Ohio
>before migrating to Indiana, along with Conn, Selmer/Bundy/Ludwig, Buescher,
>Martin, etc., etc. Much like (perhaps for different reasons) the French
>clarinet makers focused in a like area at some point in time?

In the interest of historical accuracy, Conn DID begin in Elkhart,
manufacturing rubber-cushioned brass mouthpieces, in about 1874. Gus
Buescher (former Conn foreman) started HIS company in Elkhart in
1888. George Bundy, who took over Selmer USA when Alexandre Selmer
returned to Paris in 1918, started selling imported instruments under the
Bundy name in 1930, eventually making his own in Elkhart. Martin was
founded in 1890 in Chicago, but, after the Great Chicago fire in 1906,
Henry Martin's sons (Conn employees) reorganized the company in
Elkhart. The H. N. White company, however, was founded in Cleveland, OH in
1893, making trombones in collaboration with a local trombonist, Thomas
King. Production continued in Cleveland until 1966 when the factory moved
to Eastlake, OH. In 1983 the company became part of UMI, headquartered in
Elkhart, but production continued in Eastlake. Now, of course, UMI is part
of the new Conn-Selmer Company, part of the Steinway Musical Instruments
group, but still headquartered in Elkhart.

All that being said, it is still accepted as true that Elkhart is the
musical instrument capitol of the US, if not the world. One of the main
reasons is that, as in France, the trained personnel are there! Conn found
that out to their chagrin when they attempted to shift production to
Abilene, TX and down into Mexico. Quality plummeted and destroyed the
company's reputation. The other significant instrument production location
these days is, coincidentally, Elkhorn (and Kenosha), WI (both virtual
suburbs just north of Chicago).

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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