| I've never had the pleasure of playing a Kanstul Signature horn. About a year and a half ago I was in the market for a new horn. I had seen references to Kanstul instruments, but was unable to locate any locally (Houston area). I contacted Kanstul by e-mail and was told to ask the H&H Music people about them. H&H is an old Houston chain of music stores that was bought out by Brook Mays of Dallas a few years ago.
I contacted, as I remember, three different local H&H music stores. The salesmen had never heard of Kanstul, and told me that if the Kanstul horns were not listed in Brook Mays inventory, they could not even order me a horn from Kanstul. I finally located the Brook Mays trumpet pro shop in Dallas, and spoke to their trumpet sales rep. He knew about Kanstul, but the pro shop did not inventory Kanstul horns. I bought a Kanstul made Besson from him over the phone, partly because of price (they were on clearance), partly because of all the good things I had read about Kanstul, partly because of Zig's association with OLDS ( I have been playing the same OLDS Recording for 43 years), and largely on the recommendation of Clint McLaughlin, who advised me of the quality of the Kanstul made Besson.
All that said, I would still like to try out a Kanstul Signature one of these days. I have been playing the Besson now for about 18 months, and every time I play it, I like it more and more. It's a beautiful playing horn. If Kanstul brand trumpets are superior to this Najoom French Besson model, they must be very fine horns indeed. |