camel lips Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Kanstul Bugles are STILL cheaper than Yamaha trumpets. Thats because the use the student valve cases. Still the best bugle on the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idontwan2know Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Price is not the problem with Kanstul horns, it's the fact that they demand payment in full, upfront, whereas Dynasty and Yamaha(and I presume King is similar) offer three year financing and a resale program that offers you the opportunity to refresh your line frequently at very low prices. Dynasty also usually throws in the drums for free, cutting an additional $15-25k off a corps equipment budget. Kanstul puts out an extremely high quality product, but unless and until they get competitive with the financial packages they offer, they will be a very small player in the corps/band market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gold_Bond Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Pressure the corps you support to buy American....like Kanstul....like BUGLES. How many corps actually BUY their instruments tho'? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nespy Posted February 8, 2007 Author Share Posted February 8, 2007 Price is not the problem with Kanstul horns, it's the fact that they demand payment in full, upfront, whereas Dynasty and Yamaha(and I presume King is similar) offer three year financing and a resale program that offers you the opportunity to refresh your line frequently at very low prices. Dynasty also usually throws in the drums for free, cutting an additional $15-25k off a corps equipment budget.Kanstul puts out an extremely high quality product, but unless and until they get competitive with the financial packages they offer, they will be a very small player in the corps/band market. This is all true. However, how many senior folks out there aren't responsible enough to take care of an instrument? Yamaha and Dynasty throw in free drums to get the business. They offer financing on a product that most corps sell after a year....so they always owe something to the company. Whereas, if a corps figured out a way to mangage their finances and make a purchase of quality equipment and took care of it, they have no annual cost of horns.....they have to allocate funds for upkeep and maintenance, which is less money. It's funny that the Star of Indiana was able to survive their entire 10 years on the field off of one set of bugles. They realized the fiscal responsibility of buying one set and having them refurbished when needed, rather than buying new. It's a shame that it makes more sense to some corps to be perpetually in debt to the manufacturers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sburstall Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 Contact: Terry Lewis/Yamaha Corporation of America (714) 522-9011 (tlewis@yamaha.com) Release Date: February 7, 2007 YAMAHA TO CLOSE TWO U.S. MANUFACTURING FACILITIES BUENA PARK, Calif. — The facilities, Yamaha Music Manufacturing, Inc. (YMM) in Thomaston, Georgia, and Yamaha Musical Products, Inc. (YMP) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, will cease operations March 30 and April 27, 2007, respectively. These factories currently manufacture Yamaha’s renowned line of acoustic pianos, professional audio speakers and woodwind, brasswind and percussion musical instruments. -END- Another hit for Michigan. We already had Pfizer lay off 2400 in Ann Arbor, a few thousand in my previous company, Whirlpool is laying off, not to mention all the hacking and slashing that the big 3 autos are doing. Yep, it's good to live in the ONLY state that is doing poorly while 49 others do well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchromik Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 It's funny that the Star of Indiana was able to survive their entire 10 years on the field off of one set of bugles. They realized the fiscal responsibility of buying one set and having them refurbished when needed, rather than buying new. It's a shame that it makes more sense to some corps to be perpetually in debt to the manufacturers. To be fair it should be pointed out that Star probably spent a good deal of money refurbishing the horns. Which of course they had to spend. Plus they had a first class equipment manager, Eric Lund, who took impeccable care of the horns. This is two things that many corps do not have or cannot do. I know that for the most part the corps was very happy with the King horns and if and when something better was available, they would have acquired it. I would bet they would follow the current practice of turning over the Bb horns in the huge market for used concert pitch horns if they were still on the field. It is hard to say since they (Blast!) are loaded to the gills with Yamaha equipment of every type imaginable and seem to always have the latest models. I have never heard of them selling off old equipment but it is possible. When we put the Star Alumni Corps together in 04', they gave us access to just about anything we needed or wanted. There seems to me to be some financial merit in turning over the Bb horns before they need major overhaul, which would not be cheap. I do not know who owes what to whom, but since this is becoming an almost universal practice among the Div.I DCI units there must be some financial advantage. Or they are all financially insane, which may be the case. I hope not though. The Yamaha marching brass line has been going through some rapid evolution in recent years, with 3 different revs of the F mello alone in the past 7 years. This rapid turning over of brass also allows the corps the latest brass tech. Nice if they can afford it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spcbrass Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 This is all true. However, how many senior folks out there aren't responsible enough to take care of an instrument? Yamaha and Dynasty throw in free drums to get the business. They offer financing on a product that most corps sell after a year....so they always owe something to the company. Whereas, if a corps figured out a way to mangage their finances and make a purchase of quality equipment and took care of it, they have no annual cost of horns.....they have to allocate funds for upkeep and maintenance, which is less money.It's funny that the Star of Indiana was able to survive their entire 10 years on the field off of one set of bugles. They realized the fiscal responsibility of buying one set and having them refurbished when needed, rather than buying new. It's a shame that it makes more sense to some corps to be perpetually in debt to the manufacturers. Most DCA corps do not have the money to afford new instruments and by default have to make their brass last a lot longer. For instance our horns at Brigs are on year #11 and while they do have their dings, dents and scratches you don't see much of that unless you get up close and personal with the horn. I think ther eis extra emphasis placed on taking care of the horn considering many DCA corps allow you to take the horn home in between camps to practice while a Jr Corps makes you put the horn back on the truck before you leave. Yes DCA has a lot of Bb lines now, but how many years did those corps play on their G horns before making the switch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spandy Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 (edited) It's funny that the Star of Indiana was able to survive their entire 10 years on the field off of one set of bugles. It's also funny that Chops was using some of Star's old contras up until this year... Edited February 8, 2007 by Spandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiniSopGuy Posted February 8, 2007 Share Posted February 8, 2007 YAMAHA TO CLOSE TWO U.S. MANUFACTURING FACILITIES BUENA PARK, Calif. — Yamaha Corporation of America today announced it will close two facilities and consolidate its musical instrument manufacturing operations in Asia.........Yamaha will move its manufacturing operations to existing company-owned overseas facilities but remains committed to marketing and to continuing its traditional high level of service support to its products in the United States......... Yeah...ok...dont think I will be buying Yamaha horns anytime in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nespy Posted February 8, 2007 Author Share Posted February 8, 2007 To be fair it should be pointed out that Star probably spent a good deal of money refurbishing the horns. Which of course they had to spend. You're absolutely right. However, I am going to go WAY out on a limb and guess that perhaps they spent less than buying entire new horn lines. Maybe? Ya think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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