Posted by Tom B. on January 12, 2002 at 12:32:53:
In Reply to: Re: Getzen/Canadian Brass CB-50/G50 Tubas posted by Klaus on January 12, 2002 at 00:43:25:
I have not seen that picture. It it somthing that I could find on their website or that you could post?
What I can tell you about the DEG/Getzen connection is interesting, but still does not clear up the problem of who actually made the instruments. However, after you read this, I believe that you will be with me in thinking that Getzen made the insruments for DEG at least until 1993, when Getzen says they discontinued doing so. Anyway, here is the story:
The Getzen company began as a repair and rebuilding company in about 1939, founded by Thomas Getzen. Thomas Getzen had two sons, Donald and Robert that eventually got into the business with him. After World War II, Getzen started getting into making smaller brass instruments, such as trumpets and bugles. Then we skip over to about 1960, when Getzen built a factory in Elkhorn, WI. When the new factory was completed, it was decided that the repair side of the business should become seperate, so Getzen moved it to Lake Geneva, WI and re-named it Allied Music. Then, still in the early 1960s, the instrument manufacturing portion of Getzen's business was purchased by a man named Harold Knowlton. When this happend, Robert became the president of Allied. In 1964, one of the sons, Donald E. Getzen, founded DEG. This is where we run into the who-made-what problems. The next date that I have information on is 1991, leaving a 27 year gap that nobody has really been able to account for. In 1991, Robert Getzen re-purchased Getzen's instrument manufacturing business from Mr. Knowlton, at which time it was combined with the Allied Corporation, as it is today. However, Allied and Getzen still are somewhat seperated. Allied is next door to the Getzen factory and does not build instruments. They tend to function very independently of Getzen.
DEG is actually what we are lacking information on. We have Getzen pretty much covered. From what I have been able to find, DEG has never built their own instruments. The have been in the import/export business with instruments. Different things were made by different people for DEG. Getzen made many different models for them, as did Willson. The DEG "Caravelle" line is example of a series of instruments made by Willson for DEG. from what I understand now, there is no business relationship between Getzen and DEG, which I find kind of interesting. The business relationship, according to Getzen came to an end in 1993.
Your reasoning on the 1995-1998 time gap seems logical. However, it seems as if serious customers didn't walk away from the horn when CB went back to Yamaha and the big $$$, and that when it became the G-50, there was as much interest in the horn as there had been when it was sold as the CB-50. Most people also realized that when the horn went from being a CB-50 to a G-50, nothing was changed except the name on the bell; people that wanted the horn as the CB-50 were still going to buy one even if it said G-50 on the bell. The difference between the CB-50 and G-50 is much like the difference between Amati, Cerveny, and Sanders (the newer ones, not the 'historic' Sander(s))...it is simply the name on the bell. It is also interesting to note that the instrument was manufactured and marketed in the period of time from 1995-1998, which is not how you go about getting people to loose interest in your product and the fact that one of the only groups that endorsed them was dropping them to go with another company.
I give lots of credit to Brian Frederiksen of Wind Song Press for giving me a lot of background information on the tubas, and the people that posted in the "Getzen, Getzen- Who's Got the Getzen" thread on tubaeuph, especially Michael Solms, that provided a lot of information about the history of Getzen and their connection with DEG.