Hi All,
I’d like to re-ideate and further explain some of my earlier post on the subject of Kanstul Musical Instruments and Zig Kanstul himself.
Again , I’d like to say , I don’t play or own and Kanstul instrument , not that I don’t want to, but my practice room closet is full at the moment , but I’ve been to the Kanstul facility in Anaheim on occasion and have meet Zig Kanstul, Mark Kanstul and Jim New. They have been all very gracious and let me roam the plant freely to take a look.
Zig Kanstul plays no favorites in producing a very high quality product for either himself or his other trumpet manufacturer clients. A Kanstul trumpet bell, ( I think there are 32 different bell variations ) Callet Bell, Scodwell bell , Zeus bell , Lawler bell, Bell Canto bell, Wild Thing bell all get the same treatment as far as production, bending , buffing, plating , etc.. ( I’ve not mentioned trombone , Cornet , Marching Brass , Euphonium , Tuba , etc bells )
The same crews that make a bell for the most expensive trumpet make the bells for the least expensive trumpets. Yes, it’s true, so stop shaking your head .The crew that assembles trumpets, assembles ALL the trumpets, regardless of final, retail price. The same buffing crew buffs every bell, and every bell is cleaned and plated in the same tanks.
The assumptions that are made by some members of the forum as to “production Methods “of the different models produced at Kanstul’s are completely erroneous. Kanstul sales have not slumped; in fact they have risen thru this down economy. Zig Kanstul makes trumpets for himself and others and if there are a lot of orders in, well this is how it work, YOU HAVE TO WAIT LONGER TO GET IT !
You can not just go out and hire workers that know this business. The techniques used are really only learned on the job and it takes years to get to an expert level. You just don’t go to a “temp “agency and request 6 bell makers, 2 trumpet mounters and a finisher, right.
Enough said, I think you get my drift. It’s the same as If you’re in a crowded doctor’s office waiting to see the doctor, he doesn’t hire more staff to make sure in and out faster does he, no, and you just have to wait for your visit so get the help of an expert.
The other tremendous positive that allows Kanstul to be the “ go too “ brass instruments parts manufactures is his investment the latest technological, computer driven machining equipment. While most other brass instrument manufacturers are scaling back spending, Zig Kanstul is investing in “ high end “ computer drive tool and die machines that can take either a computer scan or dimensions in increments of .001 of an inch and cut a mandrel so anyone’s bell can be manufactured .
Remember, who brought us all " The Mouthpiece Comparater " that let us overlay mouthpieces to see how they compare. Now that using technology.
Mouthpiece makers that have been in business for 50 years havn't achieved anything like this. We have ot thank Jim New at Kanstul for this one, a business started in the 80's and just recently got in the mouthpoiece end of it.
Again, Kanstul using cutting edge technology.
You want to see pictures of the Kanstul facility, then take a minute and check this URL out. It’s from some else’s website but is actually pictures of the Kanstul Facility in Anaheim. In fact, Mark Kanstul one of Zig’s other sons is in one of the shots. Please, this is not any type of put-down of any one’s website or product, just to help my discussion.
I wanted to just capture the picture of the bell mandrels and computer driven lathes , but the url won’t let me ( or I don’t know how to do it ).
http://www.zacharymusic.com/Zachary_...900Factory.htm
The entire factory pictures, the showroom pictures and mouthpieces are actually Kanstul’s Musical Products.
Back to my point. You need the very expensive technology and expensive technicians to be able to cut a piece of spinning hardened steel ( about 3200 rpm’s ), 6 inches in diameter ( large bell flare ) and about 3 fat long , at a different increment every .001 of an inch ,descending increments of cut, ascending increments in mandrel thickness until it reaches it largest point.( bell flair ) Kanstul can do this, in house because of the huge Zig’s attempts to keep up on the times as far a tooling and machinery goes.
They are one of the few brass instrument shops that can all the hardware for the instrument (Mandrels, dies, castings, etc) and they produce the product. Some of other manufactures ( not he big guys , I assume ) have to get the raw data , give it to a tool and die company that not only makes bells mandrills and tuning slide dies , but dies for muffler shop and water pump outfits , pay for it, get the hardware , back make the bells ( parts, etc. ) and hope it accurate
Every different bell, tuning slide, crook, bend, has to have a die or mandrel made (this includes trumpet cornets, trombones, tubas, etc. check out Kanstul’s site www. Kanstul.com and see all the different products they produce. ) . Because Kanstul can take specifications either on paper of on a disk and end up with a finished product that we all agree is a very high quality product, they are the “ State of the Art “ company when you need this kind of service. That’s why other manufactures have Kanstul produce for them and you’re well aware that some of these trumpets break the $ 2500.00 mark.
A very well known mid-west trumpet manufacturer that been around from the 60’s actually do not make their own bells but buy them from a supplier (not Kanstul). They originally made their own bells, but because of cost have decided to buy them from an outsource. They have a very fine line of trumpets and I maline them not.
There are a lot of speculations and assumptions thrown around on the forums (both here and others). Opinions don’t have to be facts, but statements should.
Larry