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Thread: The traditionally good brand?

  1. The traditionally good brand?

    many instruments historically have a brand that has been traditionally good from the big hits they produced in the past. king for trombones, selmer for clarinets, selmer for saxes. what is the traditionally good brand for euphs? i would guess it be better to split the group in to two considering american euphs and british euphs and the players of them have two different sounds. I would guess conn for american euphs and besson/boosey&hawkes for english


  2. The traditionally good brand?

    Buffet for clarinets, or LeBlanc, or to a lesser extent, Selmer
    King for Jazz trombones, Conn and Bach for classical.
    Besson has been the long time gold standard, but Willson and Sterling have all developed good reputations recently.

    Then there's Yamaha, which is a safe bet across the board.

  3. The traditionally good brand?

    hm i was really refering to the brands from when Low Pitch A=440 became standard to now. such as when i play in the american legion band theres a man who plays with a Buescher double belled euphonium, which before i didn't even know Buescher was a brand


  4. The traditionally good brand?

    Same answers, just remove Sterling and Willson as Boosey held the patent on the compensating system.
    Add Conn American Baritones though Conn had very little presence outside of USA.

  5. The traditionally good brand?

    FWIW, Most professional euphonium players(in the US) between 1960-1990 used a Besson horn or a Boosey. Around the early 90's, players like Brian Bowman(with the willson) and David Werden (with the sterling) started collaborated with different instrument makers in order to produce professional horns.

    Conn American baritones, were/are mostly directed to the school/amateur/community band players and not the pros...

  6. #6

    The traditionally good brand?

    Besson/B&H was certainly the pro standard in the U.K. For the USA Besson was not often seen except for a few players until the mid-1900's. Harold Brasch is credited with more-or-less introducing Besson as a reality in USA band playing around that time.

    Before then, several American brands had good reputations and produced some well-loved instruments. Certainly Conn, but also King, Olds, Buescher, Holton, Reynolds and others made very nice horns. If I had to choose leaders in the reputation realm, I would have Conn at the top followed closely by King. Those are the two most common used brands I see for eBay euphonium listings, which says at least that they were popular and help up well enough to be sold 50+ years after being made.

    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  7. The traditionally good brand?

    Dave, don't you have a Conn double bell that you used to perform on?

  8. #8

    The traditionally good brand?

    Originally posted by: prototypedenNIS Dave, don't you have a Conn double bell that you used to perform on?
    Nope - I have a Holton (and still use it when I have the chance). It's a 5-valve model that I purchased from the original owner, who bought it in 1935.

    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  9. #9

    The traditionally good brand?

    Not quite on the subject, and I don't know if this is usual or unusual, but at the high school I attended in the late fifties / early sixties most of us played Bessons. They were 3-valve non-comps with rotatable bells, and had the "New Standard" style knurled valve caps and truncated cone finger buttons (I remembered them when I got my New Standard a few years ago). I suspect they may have been purchased for their resistance to high school students, as they were built like tanks.

    --Frank
    Frank Manola

    Pan American Eb, Meinl Weston 20, Wessex "Solo" EEb, King 2341 tubas
    Besson New Standard, TE 1150 compensating euphs
    Park Street Brass
    Old South UMC Brass & Organ, Reading MA
    Wakefield Retired Men's Club Band
    Windjammers Unlimited

  10. #10

    The traditionally good brand?

    Originally posted by: fmanola ...most of us played Bessons. ... they were built like tanks. --Frank
    Indeed! They were sturdier than Conns, for example, because they had much heavier metal. The Kings of the era were pretty tough, but still not quite like old Bessons. There was a phrase about them: They sound as good at the bottom of the stairs as they did at the top. Meaning you could throw them down a flight of stairs and not break them.

    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

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