The Changing Instrument Manufacturer Scene
Insights from Marshall Music’s general manager, Bruce Woodhull.

The past ten years have seen some dramatic changes in the instrument manufacturing industry. The increasing competition from traditional off-shore manufacturers including Japan and Taiwan has been magnified by the addition of instrument manufacturers from Eastern Europe and China. Ten years ago parents bought their child’s instrument from the local school music dealer or found one in the classifieds and a few looked to catalogue distributors. Today instruments are being sold in big box department stores and the internet.

Until ten years ago music instrument manufacturers across the country had operated pretty much as they had throughout the past century. The emergence of school music programs in this country attracted instrument builders from across Europe who set up shop in the U.S. Companies such as Conn, Selmer, Noblet, Leblanc, Holton, Gemeinhardt, Bach, Glaesel and others provided instruments for these school programs.

In the last half of the 20^th century operating costs escalated to a point that made small companies less profitable creating a new dynamic. The Conn-Selmer conglomerate now includes: Conn, King, Armstrong, Artley, Selmer woodwinds, Bach brasses, Emerson, LeBlanc, Vito, Holton brasses, Ludwig and Musser. William and Lewis, Scherl and Roth and Glaesel are also under the Conn-Selmer logo. And, of course, there is Yamaha a world wide corporation making band instruments as well as pianos, combo equipment and stereo equipment. Divisions of this same Yamaha ­corporation make smowmobiles, motorcycles, outboards and more. As one can see, overwhelming, instrument manufacturing lies in the hands of two major companies with only a handful of small manufacturers left in the U.S.

As the share holders and boards of directors of these companies demand better fiscal performance and they loose market share to big box and internet instruments made in China they have been forced to find manufacturing opportunities as well as consolidate for their ­survival. Competition is generally considered a good thing but in some cases it can work against us. How can we expect the traditional ­companies’ quality instruments to compete with the big box/internet “disposable/commodity” instruments of inferior quality? Is it ­possible to continue to offer a high quality product and survive?

I have watched this progression over the years just as school ­music dealers across the country have. We wonder if consolidation will ­diminish competition, affecting price and quality, or if the company we look to for instruments to meet the school music programs’ needs will be around next year and, if it is, will it be the same quality or just have a respected name plate stamped on an inferior off-shore instrument? We have had to learn a new way of seeing the ­industry beyond the traditional manufacturing cities of
Elkhardt, Cleveland and the like.

This has been an exciting time for me. After thirty-seven years of relative little change in the industry I am invigorated by the possibilities for substantive quality change. As general manager for Marshall Music I have had to anticipate these radical changes and continue to find opportunities that will insure we provide instruments of exceptional quality and value. The result has been the addition of the Selmer Soloist line of instruments, Eastman Strings-who offer several models from China and Europe-and Accent band instruments manufactured in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

I can only speculate what the instrument manufacturing scene will be in the next five years but I can assure you
Marshall Music will continue to seek opportunities to provide the best possible quality instruments and service for your students as well as value for their parents.