Horns touted as "TRUE BACH"

connedbyselmer · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 7:25 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the advice tom, I always respect your opinion.
It is ironic many years back our local union president fell asleep in his deer stand and fell also. Today he is still a paraplegic .
As Far as Steinway goes I am done working for that company forever ,and believe it or not i am really not all that bothered by them.I really enjoy bashing them for their imorall behavior and will continue to do it. Maybe we can run them out of the country like YAHAMA is doing to all their manufacturing facilities. Dirty little Dana and his buddy chairman of the board KYLE (COYOTE) KIRKLAND need to be exposed and drove offshore with all their chinese horns. And since us old workers have nothing better to do we would like to force them to sell Bach AND LET IT GO private again or just run them out of the country
By the way for, old illiterate factory workers we seem to be doing a pretty good job. Messina keeps making one ignorant management decision after another. His last one with the gutiar center, WWBW MAY COST THE LITTLE MAN $2,000,000 + in a lawsuit by WWBW, FOR RENEGING on the deal to buy them.We will be around to rub his nose in it if he looses. Went to court in SOUTH BEND last week at the bankruptcy hearing but the little parasite was not there. To bad cause I HEARD HE WAS IN TOWN.

tom turner · Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2007 8:47 pm Post subject:

Hi,

I agree with you, it would be wonderful if Steinway/Selmer/whatever would sell off the Bach part of their business to some of the top horn makers in the plant, OR to some other people in the states 100% devoted to making Bach trumpets as good as they can be made . . . one at a time like in the custom-made days 50+ years ago.

Sure, Selmer made a great production line Bach for longer than Vincent Bach made custom Bachs and owned the company . . . but the handwriting is on the wall . . . the lucrative, high volume, student-focused horn business (both for basic and pro-type horns to be marketed to school kids will be swallowed by the Chinese communist government and all their slave laborers.

This will only leave the premium/custom horn market, which is incredibly small in relation to the student market, for top-notch horns to be appreciated and bought. Bach will HAVE to return to it's roots . . . the professional player market.

I really don't think the brand and it's reputation can survive being made in China, so there's really no reason for those guys to even carry the name forth over in the orient.

What is happening is a tragedy . . . and it will be compounded if they don't sell the Bach company off to serious American craftsmen.

Stay well!

T.

_dcstep · Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 7:00 am Post subject:

These Chinese manufacturers do not use "slave labor." The Chinese middle class is larger than the entire population of the USA. The big problem is the Yuan/Dollar valuation is 10-to-1 when it should be about 8-to-10. The Chinese a slowly bringing currency parity, but it'll take five to ten years to get it done, one small step at a time. (Lest the entire world get thrown into a recession).

This is not to say that there's not a giant urban/rural disparity in China, where coastal cities are much, much richer than the internal "heartland". The jobs are mostly coastal, but spreading inland. The good ole USA had some of this same problem many years ago, but not so acutely because world economies did not move so quickly 200-years ago.

Interesting idea about the workers buying the US assembly plant. Heritage Guitars actually did this from Gibson in the 1980s when the owner moved production from Kalamazoo to Tennessee. Heritage now sells all the guitars they can make, with almost no advertising. The Heritage name still lacks the cache' of "Gibson", but they make wonderful guitars. I doubt that the "Bach" name could be purchased. If Steinway kept the Bach name and moved all production to China, then a new company still might could spring up in the old area.

Dave
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Benge Loyalist · Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 6:51 am Post subject:

I usually post as UsedBits. But this thread is discussing EXACTLY what happened to the much beloved Benge trumpet. After all the purchasing/merging/takeover dust has settled, Benge has been demoted to that of a simple brand name. It no longer represents cutting-edge design, sound, and playability.

Today's "Benge" trumpet is now just another student-line trumpet with brand recognition. That appears to be the direction Bach has now taken. Ultimately, trumpets sold under the Bach brand name will have little, if any resemblence to its namesake.

This appears to be the normal course of action these days. It is understandable.

What is not acceptable is the raiding of funds designated for employee benefits and retirement. While apparantly legal to raid these funds in a takeover situation, it is utterly immoral. It breaks a trust between employer and worker.

I agree with ConnedBySelmer's angst, anguish, and anger. But I would prefer to see these replaced with his previously demonstrated aptitude, ambition, and (positive) attitude.

ConnedBySelmer, if you want to break the company, do it from within. Tom's advice is sound - kill 'em with kindness. Get on the agenda for the next stockholder's meeting. Petetion the company with motions to counter ill-thought-out management decisions. Sell the idea that the current direction, while seeminsly a reduced-risk path, will cost the company money in the long term. Convince the stakeholders that any short-term gains enjoyed from the proposed changes will be far outweighed by the long-term adverse consequences of these proposals.

Have the union study the declining fortunes of the veneral Benge trumpet line. The outline goes something like this:
1. It made a name for itself with consistant quality
2. It survived for many years as a small business
3. It made money (briefly) after the series of take-overs began
4. It quickly lost its reputation with poor quality and worse customer care
5. It is no longer a profitable 'line' (but retains brand recognition)

Regards,
Steve
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