In a message dated 10/3/03 10:01:28 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Mark writes:
> MacMillan\Conn purchased the Abilene facility in the late
> 60's. <snip>I am always amazed that Reynolds managed to keep good
> quality control despite fluctuating management and ownership while Conn
> could not.
>
I imagine that most of the Conn quality decline came about because
MacMillan seemed to be concerned more with cost reduction than anything else. When
they finally realized that instrument production was just never going to be as
profitable as a real industry, they sold out (thanks a lot guys). There's an
interesting resource (I forget the name) that's available at my local
library,and I think on-line, that lists American companies and shows, among other
things, the amount of revenue produced per employee. The instrument companies,
of course, are far down the list.
Our regional Conn sales rep, who just recently retired, told me that when
they started making 8Ds in the Abilene plant, they had a machine that would
spin the bells (left over from Reynolds production?) instead of the hand
spinning that was done in the Elkhart plant. When they used the blanks they had
used in Elkhart though, the machine just tore them up. They had to use a much
thicker metal than before to withstand the process. That's why those Texas
bells were so heavy.
As far as measurements, I've got an Abilene FE-01 Reynolds bell that
won't fit my Cleveland Contempora or Chambers models, the measurements and the
bend are radically different. In fact, I haven't found anything else at all that
it would fit on.
Interestingly, Selmer purchased the tooling when Olds/Reynolds went
belly-up. Their low brass instruments were identical to Olds and parts are
interchangeable. Lloyd Fillio, their head designer until recently, told me that the
Bach Stradivarius horn was made using the old Chambers model Reynolds tooling.
Recently however, they stopped making everything except trumpets and
trombones so the horns and low brass are now supplied by Yamaha. I'll bet when that
contract runs out, they'll be supplied by Conn now that both companies are
under the same umbrella.
-Steve Mumford
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