TromboneChat

EASTLAKE, Ohio (WOIO) UAW International Representative Mike Kalman confirmed Conn Selmer told its 150 employees on Wednesday morning it will shut down its Eastlake manufacturing plant by June 30. Sad.

https://www.cleveland19.com/2026/01/07/ ... ummer-uaw/

Yeah...I've got a few friends who are going to lose their jobs.

Wow, it is an end of an era for Conn-Selmer Eastlake horns

Wonder if they are killing the brand or consolidating manufacturing at another plant...or, god forbid, moving it off shore...

That's a shame...back when I lived in Cleveland, Chuck Ward could still go over the the plant and find whever he might need to repair Kings.

Chazzer69 wrote: Wed Jan 07, 2026 1:23 pm Wonder if they are killing the brand or consolidating manufacturing at another plant...or, god forbid, moving it off shore...

From what I've heard, some of the Conn Selmer student horns are already made overseas. Bach too, I hope I'm wrong.

bassclef wrote: Wed Jan 07, 2026 12:16 pm https://www.cleveland19.com/2026/01/07/ ... ummer-uaw/

Yeah...I've got a few friends who are going to lose their jobs.

Sounds like you have inside info. Keep us informed, if you would. What horns were they making in Eastlake in 2025? Are they going to be selling off any horns?

I am from Cleveland and picked up my 4B-F from George McCracken in his studio back around 1972-73,

The announcement was made one the first day of contract negotiations between the UAW and Conn Selmer, Kalman stated.

From the linked article in the second post. Kalman is the union rep. It makes me wonder if Conn-Selmer is announcing this as a strategy to force the union into more favorable dollar terms talks for the new contract? It is possible. But then again maybe they see this as aligning to their competition like S.E. Shires Q series which is made overseas. But that is just speculation


BEGIN DISREGARD I think I remember reading the most Conn, King, and Holton brass instruments are made in Eastlake along will all the Conn-Selmer student models and marching brass. So I think this means the 88H and 88HO are made there but not the Bach Strads. END DISREGARD But I don’t know any of this for sure.

edit: turns out I was wrong and was misinformed

Kingfan wrote: Wed Jan 07, 2026 4:29 pm

bassclef wrote: Wed Jan 07, 2026 12:16 pm https://www.cleveland19.com/2026/01/07/ ... ummer-uaw/

Yeah...I've got a few friends who are going to lose their jobs.

Sounds like you have inside info. Keep us informed, if you would. What horns were they making in Eastlake in 2025? Are they going to be selling off any horns?

I am from Cleveland and picked up my 4B-F from George McCracken in his studio back around 1972-73,

They moved King Trombone production to Elkhart a while ago. At least a few years, maybe several, I can't recall. All of the "pro" trombones have been manufactured in Indiana for some time now.

The only pro horns they still make there are the Conn french horns. I think they were making tubas also but most of what they were doing was assembling student horns using A LOT of parts that were produced in China instead of the Eastlake plant. Moving some of the parts production overseas with final assembly happening in Eastlake was a change that happened years ago as well.

Email from Conn/Selmer:

To Our Valued Dealers,

As we start the new year, I wanted to reach out with best wishes from everyone at Conn Selmer. I hope the holidays gave you and your loved ones a chance to rest and recharge. Thank you for your continued partnership and support in 2025. We ended the year strong and your support of our student products has been outstanding.

There should be no uncertainty about our direction at Conn Selmer. I am confident that by staying focused on what matters most, delivering high-quality products when you and your customers need them, we will have a successful 2026. We have already made meaningful improvements to quality and reduced wait times across many product lines, and we remain committed to continuing these improvements. Our promise to you, our dealers, is to keep building on this momentum in ways that improve your experience and strengthen your trust in Conn Selmer.

Today, we announced a tentative decision to close our Eastlake, Ohio manufacturing plant on or about June 30, 2026. This proposed action is subject to negotiation with the union representing hourly employees at the Eastlake manufacturing plant. If this tentative decision is finalized, we will provide a detailed transition plan that outlines the impact on current models and orders, including the transfer of professional French horn production to our Elkhart, Indiana brass factory, and the transition of tuba, sousaphone, and student/intermediate French horn production to China.

This tentative decision, if finalized, will streamline our U.S. operations by concentrating production in one professional brass factory and one percussion factory. At the same time that we are aiming to simplify our domestic manufacturing operations, we are continuing to construct a manufacturing center of excellence in Qidong, China. If you have questions about these developments, I invite you to contact your District Sales Manager (DSM) for more information.

We would also like to announce the sale of our string division, including the brands Scherl & Roth, Glaesel, and WM Lewis & Son, to Connolly Music. This decision enables us to focus on what we do best, making outstanding band instruments, while ensuring these respected orchestral brands are supported by a company dedicated exclusively to string instruments.

When I became President and CEO, I committed to focusing and simplifying our business. I remain fully committed to that strategy and to ensuring Conn Selmer is the greatest band instrument company in the world.

Thank you for your trust and continued partnership. We look forward to working with you in 2026.

Sincerely,

John Fulton
President and CEO
Conn Selmer

What a bunch corporate b*llsh!t double-speak to rationalize cutting workers and salaries to increase salaries and pay-outs for the top officers.

The use of the word "tentative" in decribing the plans suggests that UMI is using the threat of offshoring to extract consessions from the unions.

They must be having money problems if the sold their string divisions.

JTeagarden wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 9:39 am The use of the word "tentative" in decribing the plans suggests that UMI is using the threat of offshoring to extract consessions from the unions.

UMI is long,long, gone. Conn-Selmer is owned by Steinway Musical Instruments.

Thrawn22 wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 4:05 pm They must be having money problems if the sold their string divisions.

I think Mr Fulton's explanation of the divestment of Conn-Selmer's string division is business-reasonable in today's climate.

If you were in charge (and responsible for profit-and-loss on an ongoing basis), what would you do?

chromebone wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 7:50 pm

JTeagarden wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 9:39 am The use of the word "tentative" in decribing the plans suggests that UMI is using the threat of offshoring to extract consessions from the unions.

UMI is long,long, gone. Conn-Selmer is owned by Steinway Musical Instruments.

Yeah, but you realize that they bought Steinway, not the other way around. Conn Selmer is the boss, not some nefarious piano company.

Tentative is always going to be required with unions that have a labor contract; pretty typical to have to announce moves in advance in this matter and often the language is required in the contract as well.

Cheers,
Andy

elmsandr wrote: Sat Jan 10, 2026 8:25 am

chromebone wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 7:50 pm

UMI is long,long, gone. Conn-Selmer is owned by Steinway Musical Instruments.

Yeah, but you realize that they bought Steinway, not the other way around. Conn Selmer is the boss, not some nefarious piano company.

Tentative is always going to be required with unions that have a labor contract; pretty typical to have to announce moves in advance in this matter and often the language is required in the contract as well.

Cheers,
Andy

Did I say anything about Steinway pianos being some nefarious boss? I merely said Conn-Selmer was owned by a company named Steinway Musical Instruments and UMI was long gone.

A little convoluted, but from Wikipedia I learned that:

• In 1972, after a lengthy strike, a long-running financial struggle, high legal expenses, and a lack of business interest among some of the Steinway family members, the Steinway & Sons piano firm was sold to CBS.

• In 1985, CBS sold Steinway (combined with some other assets) to a group of investors and renamed the conglomerate Steinway Musical Properties.

• In 1995, Steinway Musical Properties was acquired by Selmer Industries to form a new musical conglomerate named Steinway Musical Instruments.

• In 2000, Steinway Musical Instruments acquired United Musical Instruments (owners of Artley, Armstrong, Benge, C.G. Conn, King, Scherl & Roth), then merged it with The Selmer Company's instrument manufacturing operations to form Conn-Selmer in 2003.

• In 2013, hedge fund Paulson & Co. Inc. acquired Steinway Musical Instruments and took it private.
  Paulson & Co. remains the ultimate parent of Steinway & Sons (which includes the subsidiary Conn Selmer).

Posaunus wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 10:23 pm

Thrawn22 wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 4:05 pm They must be having money problems if the sold their string divisions.

I think Mr Fulton's explanation of the divestment of Conn-Selmer's string division is business-reasonable in today's climate.

If you were in charge (and responsible for profit-and-loss on an ongoing basis), what would you do?

That's a tough question and I don't think I have a good answer for what he should do (or what I would do) in this exact moment.

In hindsight, I think companies like Yamaha which have extreme diversification got it right; all of the mergers C-S has gone through seem to indicate they tried that however. I think what Yamaha actually does better than American firms is turn more money back inward to QC, product improvement, and research and development. I think American firms are more focused on providing return on investment for their investors, short-term.

I think American firms in general over the past 50 years have been hurt by the pursuit of quarterly dividends to the exclusion of pretty much anything else.

TromboneMonkey wrote: Sun Jan 11, 2026 7:59 am
I think American firms in general over the past 50 years have been hurt by the pursuit of quarterly dividends to the exclusion of pretty much anything else.

That's hitting the nail on the head.
Absolutely.

Corporations don't look past the end of the nose on their faces. No long term vision. Just quarter to quarter.

Companies like Yamaha just 'keep on keeping on'. (...and, the employees get treated pretty well as I understand it)

The biggest lie is when politicians say "Look at the Chinese/Japanese/Mexicans stealing our American jobs!"

Utter B.S.

They won't say what's really going on, which is American corporations not wanting to pay decent salaries, pay the health care costs (...blame the Gov't for that, actually...and the private health corporations who fund the politicians...), and they don't want to pay for the building costs unless they're given tax breaks from the local communities in which they want to operate out of.

The 'Corporation of the USA'... for the sole benefit of Corporations. (...which are actually classified as having the same rights as human beings in the US)

I mean, Yamaha used to have American manufacturing, and they don’t anymore. They have the same problem here, they just prioritized keeping their Japanese high cost going instead of the US.

Cheers,
Andy

When Walt Kelly had Pogo say, "We have met the enemy and he is us", the panel had trash dumped all over the Okefenokee swamp.

The phrase applies to the "bean counters."

Harvard Business Review has a surprisingly short article on it:
https://hbr.org/1991/03/reckoning-with- ... revolution

Peter Drucker ALSO "hit the nail on the head"... and also back in the 1970's!

Businesses have to respond to the mutual fund/pension fund managers who manage OUR retirement savings for us. This is a far cry from when C.G. Conn or H.N. White scrambled up some capital and his own and others talent and began making instruments.

We want the biggest return on our retirement savings AND the lowest prices on the things our savings are fundding.

Somethings gotta give.

Cmillar wrote: Sun Jan 11, 2026 8:04 pm

TromboneMonkey wrote: Sun Jan 11, 2026 7:59 am
I think American firms in general over the past 50 years have been hurt by the pursuit of quarterly dividends to the exclusion of pretty much anything else.

That's hitting the nail on the head.
Absolutely.

Corporations don't look past the end of the nose on their faces. No long term vision. Just quarter to quarter.

Companies like Yamaha just 'keep on keeping on'. (...and, the employees get treated pretty well as I understand it)

The biggest lie is when politicians say "Look at the Chinese/Japanese/Mexicans stealing our American jobs!"

Utter B.S.

They won't say what's really going on, which is American corporations not wanting to pay decent salaries, pay the health care costs (...blame the Gov't for that, actually...and the private health corporations who fund the politicians...), and they don't want to pay for the building costs unless they're given tax breaks from the local communities in which they want to operate out of.

The 'Corporation of the USA'... for the sole benefit of Corporations. (...which are actually classified as having the same rights as human beings in the US)

You just said everything I've been saying for the last decade, and articulated why I left dot-com.

Read this news blurb today:

Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson plans to offshore the East Lake, Ohio, plant of Conn Selmer, the largest U.S. manufacturer of brass and orchestra instruments. “We can’t have American producers closing American factories and offshoring. We need to protect American jobs and protect American manufacturing,” Paulson said just last year. He’s pushed pro–domestic worker rhetoric while leaving those same workers out to dry.

Paulson is a big Trump donor, so talking out of both sides of his mouth should be no surprise.

Cue the sad trombones!
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/finance ... 04669.html