TromboneChat

Was looking at the Conn-Selmer website for information on an 88H. To my surprise the only Bb / F tenors were three Bach models. Several models of Conn's only showed up when searching for bass trombones. Did UMI discontinue the Conns in favor of Bachs?

https://www.conn-selmer.com/en-us/instr ... .G.%20Conn

https://www.conn-selmer.com/en-us/instr ... mbones/88h

Nope

The filter function on the site just doesn't work right. If you filter by just tenor instead of Bb/F tenor, they are there or don't select any filter and just scroll through everything until you get to them.

Are Bach, Conn, Selmer, King, and all those other brands all owned by the same outfit? Are they still separate horns with separate identities designed and built by different people in separate and distinct factories or are they like GM was back in the day with Chevys, Pontiacs, Olds, and Buicks all rolling out the same factory door, different but same, same but different?

What is UMI?

UMI used to own Conn and King back in the day. Currently, Conn-Selmer (who bought out UMI) owns King, Conn and Bach, amongst other things. All Bach and Conn's are mostly produced in Elkhart IN, while King and a few Conn products are made in Eastlake OH. While they're under the same parent company they are not at all similar products in any way shape or form, although I'll say they all have roughly the same build quality now (which is quite good).

PaulT, yep, Bach, Conn, Selmer, and King are all owned by the same company. Once Benge was also one of their brands but they killed it off. They once went by the name of United Musical Instruments (UMI) but now apparently the overarching name is Conn-Selmer.

SirJohn, thanks for identifying the problem with their filter function. You'd think a corporation would spend a little time on their websites checking for functionality.

Went and looked at an 88H today. I'm not partial to their narrow slides but they are pretty.

There is some interesting detail and insight on The Horn Guys' site. For example: http://w.hornguys.com/lgtbn88h.php

Thanks for the extra info ghmerrill!