musical instruments founded 1918 ; 98 years ago 1918 founder vincent schrotenbach a.k.a. vincent bach headquarters elkhart indiana number of locations 1 area served united states and worldwide key people scott m. gervais general manager products trumpets cornets flugelhorns trombones and mouthpieces services build to order owner conn selmer a division of steinway musical instruments number of employees 175 parent steinway musical instruments website bachbrass.com the vincent bach corporation is an american manufacturer of brass musical instruments that began early in the twentieth century and still exists as a subsidiary of conn selmer a division of steinway musical instruments . the company was founded in 1918 by austrian born trumpeter vincent schrotenbach vincent bach . this particular company has been voted by consumers for the best brass tone the best brass durability best price and best overall beating other companies such as getzen king musical instruments etc. contents 1 vincent bach 2 vincent bach corporation 2.1 new york period 2.2 mount vernon period 2.3 elkhart period 3 strike 4 references 5 external links vincent bach edit main article vincent bach vincent schrotenbach was born near vienna in 1890 . as a child he received training on violin trumpet and bugle . by age 12 he had concentrated on the trumpet . 1 after he graduated from maschinenbauschule mechanical engineering school ansbach with an engineering degree 2 he entered into compulsory military service in the imperial navy worked as an elevator operator and then was re conscripted during which time he served as a military musician in the austrian marine band . when he left the military the second time vincent decided to defy his family s wishes and pursued a career as a solo cornetist touring europe . 3 at the outbreak of world war i he was in england and was forced to change his name and flee to the united states in order to escape detention as an enemy alien . 1 he resumed his career as a performer interrupted by another term of compulsory military service this time in the us military as a musician . 2 4 while bach was on tour in pittsburgh in 1918 a repairman destroyed his mouthpiece and bach began experimenting with mouthpiece repair and fabrication . 1 vincent bach corporation edit new york period edit first new york period time frame 1918 1922 products mouthpieces brand names vincent bach location 11 east 14th street selmer music new york new york set up shop at 204 east 85th street new york new york 5 serial numbers n a the vincent bach corporation began when vincent purchased a 300 foot operated lathe and began producing mouthpieces in the back of the selmer music store in new york . he established his shop across the street from the musicians union . he ran an advertisement that read how to become a wizard on cornet without practicing and accumulated 500 in orders in a short time and began his career as a manufacturer . 1 second new york period time frame 1922 1928 products mouthpieces cornets trumpets brand names stradivarius apollo mercury 5 location 237 e. 41st street new york new york 5 serial numbers 1 1000 approximate by 1922 the company incorporated 5 had 10 employees 1 and moved into a small factory at 237 e. 41st street in new york . 5 in 1924 bach began producing cornets and trumpets under the stradivarius by vincent bach corporation name . 1 6 in 1928 tenor and bass trombones were added to the product line as the company expanded and relocated . 1 vincent bach trumpet mouthpiece third new york period time frame 1928 1953 products mouthpieces cornets trumpets flugelhorns trombones brand names stradivarius apollo mercury 6 mercedes 5 location 621 east 216th street bronx new york 6 serial numbers 1000 12 599 in october 1928 the company opened a factory in the bronx to produce cornets trumpets and trombones both tenor and bass . 1 shortly after this move bach removed the faciebat anno marking from his bell engraving that had been in use since before the 100th horn and began stamping the bells with model followed by numbers for the bell mandrel and bore size . some horns have new york 67 as the location on the bell and are sometimes mistaken for a 67 bell model however 67 was the pre zipcode postal code for the bronx . this practice continued through most of this period . the bell mandrel number had previously appeared in bach s script vincent bach corporation that has been an enduring marking on bach horns . 6 the company experienced stresses but survived the depression and expanded again afterward . during the second world war bach coped with a shortage of workers and materials and while not converted to produce war materials as many competitors were the company cut back on production . throughout the early years bach resorted to mixing parts and modifying earlier horns returned to their ownership during this period to provide requested instruments to customers . some horns built from extra parts or reconfigured bear an x on the serial number on the second valve casing others had a digit added to the original serial number . in some cases the same serial number exists on another horn . 7 mount vernon period edit vincent bach mount vernon manufactured trumpet 26xxx in an elkhart case circa late 60s time frame 1953 1964 products mouthpieces brass instruments brand names stradivarius mercury minerva mercedes 1 location 50 south macquesten parkway mount vernon new york 5 serial numbers 12 600 29 999 over the years the company produced several ranges of trumpets cornets flugelhorns and trombones using the brand names apollo minerva mercury mercedes and stradivarius . the vincent bach corporation moved in 1953 from new york city to mount vernon new york . mt. vernon bach horns are prized for being hand assembled instruments . 2 3 mt. vernon horns can be identified by the bach manufacturing stamp listing mount vernon ny on the second valve casing along with the bore letter code and serial number . 3 elkhart period edit bach logo on a 30 000 series mellophonium . time frame 1965 present products mouthpieces brass instruments brand names stradivarius bundy selmer name no longer used bach location 600 industrial parkway elkhart indiana 5 serial numbers 30 000 in 1961 vincent bach was 71 and the company was acquired that year by the selmer company with bach staying on as a consultant 8 and continuing to work until at least 1974 . 9 bach accepted the bid from selmer even though some others of the 13 which he received were higher . 1 it is believed that vincent bach continued customizing a small number of horns at the old mt. vernon facility for special customers . 10 the bulk of tooling along with many parts and assembled horns were relocated to a former conn factory belonging to the selmer company . 1 3 the bach line of brass instruments continues to be made in elkhart indiana using the same blueprints and the same techniques as the originals . they are sold as a premium brand under the name bach stradivarius as well as the student line bach horns . 11 strike edit on 1 april 2006 workers at the bach plant in elkhart began a strike that lasted three years . 12 production was interrupted until the company hired replacement workers and roughly a third of the strikers returned to work . 13 14 the strike ended when workers voted to dissolve the relationship between the company and the united auto workers union . as a result retired employees lost their pensions . 12 the 70 strikers who returned to work constituted 30 % of the pre strike workforce but they constituted 57 % of the workforce after the strike which shrank by 46 % to 124 . in the post strike period amidst severe economic crisis sales were down from pre strike levels by 31 % but gross profit rose from 20 % to 22 % of sales revenues . re work and quality complaints dropped sharply in the post strike period . reductions in employee compensation were credited with returning production of student line horns the tr 300 from asia to elkhart . 15 references edit a b c d e f g h i j k priestley brian dave gelly tony bacon the sax & brass book miller freeman books san francisco ca 1998 p. 1970 a b c history of bach stradivarius a b c d hempley roy & lehrer doug play it again mr. bach 2002 bachology essay at http www.bachbrass.com bachology article.php uid 4 retrieved 5 31 2011 note bach served in the same field artillery regiment credited with bringing the cassion song to john philip sousa in 1917 . the result the caisson song would become the official u.s. army march the army goes rolling along . see http skyways.lib.ks.us orgs mcb library m0126.htm a b c d e f g h bachloyalist.com timeline of the vincent bach corporation and serial number list at http www.bachloyalist.com serials serial trumpet.htm retrieved 6 2 2011 a b c d hempley roy and lehrer doug new york bach stradivarius trumpet and cornet bell markings 2004 bachology essay at http www.bachbrass.com bachology article.php uid 1 retrieved 5 31 2011 hempley roy and lehrer doug bach s x horns 2001 bachology essay at http www.bachbrass.com bachology article.php uid 2 retrieved 5 31 2011 dundas richard 20th century brass musical instruments in the united states p. 5 pavlakis christopher the american music handbook the free press calhun publishing 1974 p. 655 hempley roy and lehrer doug bach s bugles 2004 bachology essay at http www.bachbrass.com bachology article.php uid 7 retrieved 5 31 2011 vincent bach website http www.bachbrass.com retrieved 5 31 2011 a b conroy tommy 5 august 2009 . conn selmer strike ends . south bend tribune indiana . retrieved 23 july 2010 . marilyn odendahl 05 august 2009 . three years later the vincent bach strike and the union ends quietly . the elkhart truth stuckey mike 12 april 2010 . little sympathy but much at stake for strikers . etruth . retrieved 25 may 2011 . odendahl marilyn conn selmer leader s focused on the future the e truth 5 23 2010 at http www.etruth.com know news story.aspx id 513794 retrieved 6 7 2011 external links edit vincent bach official website conn selmer bachloyalist.com vincent bach timeline an historic look at the bach trumpet wikimedia commons has media related to vincent bach corporation . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title vincent bach corporation & oldid 636196667 categories manufacturing companies based in indianabrass instrument manufacturing companiesmusical instrument manufacturing companiescompanies based in elkhart county indiana navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as 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