Re: Tuba manufacturing techniques


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Posted by Bob Stephenson on July 27, 2000 at 13:20:05:

In Reply to: Tuba manufacturing techniques posted by D.J on July 27, 2000 at 09:21:06:

My opinions for what they are worth.
1). You must separate design from manufacturing. The best design won't survive poor manufacturing and the best manufacturing won't build a good horn from a poor design. I read a paper by Reynold Schilke a number of years ago about the issues and compromises involved in designing a brass instrument. Each player has his/her own favorites.
2). The fall of the Iron Curtain put the eastern European manufacturers in a different situation. They had to compete on capatalistic terms, i.e. make a profit. Also, they lost the advantage of building in a country with a weak currency and selling in a currency with a strong one, i.e. good exchange rates. This change affected all manufacturers since they have to compete with the ones from eastern Europe.
3). Since the '80s the emphasis in business has been shareholder equity rather than long-term product goals, market development, etc. Equity can be enhanced by doing things that impact the product quality. Since most instrument companies are small businesses, they are ripe targets for takeovers etc. Look at Conn/King/UMI/Steinway/Selmer.....
4). Large-scale stores like the Brasswind have made price a bigger issue. I remember buying a horn in the late '70s from Custom Music. As I remember, I didn't have too many choices of places to buy. I went to the local music store, asked them about tubas, and they gave me a very strange look. Custom could keep prices fairly high and demand quality horns from their sources.
5). There will always be experiments in new techniques of design/manufacturing. The Holton Harvey Phillips horn is a good example. Their press says computers were used in the design process.
6). In any manufacturing process, quality is dependent on how careful the manufacturing process is done, how well the quality control is done, and how much rework is tolerated to make the product meet the quality control standards. All of these increase the price. I have read that a hand-built horn requires about 400 person-hours of labor. At $25/hour, that is $10,000.
4).


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