Posted by Jason Griffith on December 17, 1999 at 18:50:09:
In Reply to: Re: 1998 Yamaha 642S For Sale posted by Doug on December 17, 1999 at 15:26:09:
Doug:
I'm selling the horn for a myriad of reasons:
1. The Willson 2900 Euphonium that I ordered came in three days ago(and it plays beautifully as well).
2. For political reasons and future doctoral work, being a graduate student, the Willson is still seen as "the" euph to own, even though I feel that the Yamaha 642 is much easier to play "in tune"(if that's completely possible?) and dollar for dollar, a better horn. A very good argument can be made about the poor qualities of many monel pistons, lack of hand craftmenship, small oriental-size valves, weight, lead pipe tapering, bell flare, "Yamaha levels of tolerence," and blah, blah, blah. Without a doubt the Willson's craftsmenship can not currently be surpassed. However, ask any Willson person about the tuning idiosyncracies of their euphonium. In the 20-25 Willson euphs that I have have tried, tested, borrowed, or compared, every one had tuning difficulties(usually the 2nd valve A-top line)...TRUE STORY......I bought my current horn from the Washington Music Center in August. I was told that the horn would ship in 2-3 months. Middle of October arrives, and low and belhold so does the Willson. Upon opening the albatross of a case(as a side note I'd buy the horn just for the case, anyway) I opened the case and I thought to myself, "wow they weren't kidding, the Willson is much bigger than the Yamaha." Again, I had to see if the second valve was flat as was the case in previous encounters with the top-line A. This note on this horn was wretchedly flat(with the 4th-line F in tune, the top-line A was 21 cents flat. I felt like I was playing my old Besson Sovereign Euphonium. My curious, and perhaps jealsous, wife looks at me and asks, "What is the Willson 2950S? The tag on the handle says 2950S. Didn't you order the 2900S?" So, I called Ed Stevens and he said, and I quote, "I'm sorry. There must have been a mix up." So, two months later, I've got the 2900S(and yes, the top-line A is slightly flat, but fixable without vibrato). Doug, the rest of the Western world tends to turn their nose up at Yamaha/Japanese instruments, much in the same way that Americans turned a deaf ear on Japanese electronics in the 50's and 60's ("Cheap little resistors aren't gonna hurt the American economy, nobody wants mass-produced junk.") but look at whose consistent approach has yielded more dividends. In time, Yamaha euphoniums will get their just deserves.
3. In terms of contests and competitions, the Yamaha is seen as a gorgeous but "bright American-sounding instrument" when compared to the Willson, or even the Besson. This puts me on a even playing field, at least from an equipment standpoint, with everyone else.
4. My wife and I are expecting our second child on the 12th of January. Did I mention that I am on a non-paid leave of absence from my High School teaching responsibilties so that I can obtain my Master's degree in Euphonium Performance?
Doug, I hope this answers your question. Jason Griffith