Originally Posted by
Magikarp
This, and the fact the retailers are very conservative and with a brand that was almost unrivalled, didn’t need to take chances. I worked for one of the UK’s top Besson and Yamaha dealers and the owner would always try out other brands - certainly I remember playing a Meinl Euphonium, as well as Geneva and Sterling - but would always stick to the big two. IIRC Besson’s trade terms were, for the really big dealers, an additional 39% off cost price if you stocked the right number of instruments (from cornets to tubas, via Keilwerth saxes, and Buffet Clarinets) so the margin was enormous.
Example
Besson 967 euphonium
RRP £5500
Trade price £3019
Main dealer trade price £2172
55% put on cost plus VAT £2172 1.82125 =£3955 so £1500 off a euph and still make a ton of money - what’s not to like?!)
This was the time a Denis Wick 4AL cost £35 in silver and £55 in gold!
I was made redundant in 2012 and that was when Thomann had started making inroads into the UK, and Yamaha were walking a very fine line of price-fixing, which is illegal, but they were of the thought their products didn’t deserve to be discounted - the obvious solution was don’t sell to the discount stores, and don’t have credit terms with retrospective bonuses for hitting sales targets.
The cabal of brass band dealers liked Besson because selling them was like shelling peas. The lottery instruments, taken as whole, because I know some people had good ones, were the worst instruments ever to bear the Besson name, but even so, bands couldn’t get enough of them. It was in the early 1990s when Black Dyke “chose” Besson instruments although in truth they would have been using them anyway. This was great advertising, and they’re still at it - Dyke with Geneva and Cory with Besson, although they’d previously used York because of the Childs family connection and they could get a set dirt cheap.
I find it fascinating Packers, long with Rosehill, have taken Adams on board. It has to be good for business as long as the stocking commitments aren’t too heavy. Tom, who sold me my euphonium, said the margin is much smaller than on other brands.
Another thing to consider is brass bands are inherently competitive, for good or bad, and Besson / Boosey & Hawkes sponsored all major competitions so the reminder was always there. There were always a few renegades who played alternative brands - Robin Taylor of Grimethorpe used a Willson, Stephen Singleton played on a Yamaha Maestro, but in all other regards it was Besson all the way. Besson also came with Wick mouthpieces out the factory. People have long memories, but not long enough to remember the dreadful lottery filth peddled by Besson.
As an aside British brass band instruments in the 1990s would invariably have been;
Schilke soprano cornet
Besson cornets, tenor horns, baritones, euphoniums, tubas
Vincent Bach Strad flugelhorn
Conn 88H trombones
Hilton TR181 bass trombone
And woe betide anyone trying anything new!
Captive market only hints at the situation.
Luckily things are changing and the dominance of a single company, no matter how good their products, or how fabled their heritage, is at an end. It’s now down to the retailers, the few who are left at any rate, to be brave and proactive and offer the consumer a choice.