firm . for the french firm see henri selmer paris . conn selmer type private subsidiary of paulson & co. industry musical instruments headquarters elkhart indiana united states number of locations around 5 facilities 2011 area served worldwide key people john stoner jr. president since 2002 products brasswinds percussion strings parent steinway musical instruments inc. divisions c.g. conn glaesel king leblanc ludwig scherl & roth selmer vincent bach vito wm. lewis & son yanagisawa website www.conn selmer.com conn selmer inc. is an american manufacturer of musical instruments for concert bands marching bands and orchestras . it is a wholly owned subsidiary of steinway musical instruments and was formed after steinway bought musical instrument manufacturers the selmer company and c.g. conn. contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1.2 the h & a selmer usa company 1.3 recent history 2 products 2.1 current products 2.2 discontinued products 3 references 4 external links history edit origins edit in the late nineteenth century brothers alexandre and henri selmer graduated from the paris conservatory as clarinetists . they were the great grandchildren of french military drum major johannes jacobus zelmer grandchildren of jean jacques selmer the army chief of music and two of 16 children in this musical family . 1 at the time musical instruments and accessories were primarily hand made and professional musicians found it necessary to acquire skills allowing them to make their own accessories and repair and modify their own instruments . establishing henri selmer & cie. in 1885 henri began making clarinet reeds and expanded into mouthpieces . 1 and clarinets by 1898 . by 1900 henri had gained a reputation for his reeds and mouthpieces and he opened a store and repair shop in paris . 1 in 1904 selmer clarinets were presented at the saint louis usa world s fair winning a gold medal and henri selmer s brother alexandre was first clarinetist with the cincinnati symphony orchestra . alexandre selmer established himself in new york the following year opening a shop that sold selmer clarinets and mouthpieces . the h & a selmer usa company grew out of that retail operation . the h & a selmer usa company edit in 1910 alexandre returned to france and the h & a selmer store was managed by george bundy . the company expanded its product line selling selmer branded wind instruments and mouthpieces from manufacturers in the usa in addition to selmer paris clarinets . in 1923 the h & a selmer company was incorporated to expand into a retail chain and a 49 % share sold to c. g. conn ltd. in 1927 bundy gained full ownership establishing independence of selmer usa from selmer paris . it remained the sole importer of selmer paris products including saxophones and brass instruments once exports of such instruments to the usa commenced . selmer usa also went on to establish itself as a leading distributor of student grade instruments under its bundy brand . in 1963 it acquired ownership of its main supplier of student saxophones the buescher band instrument company . selmer continued distributing instruments under both the bundy and buescher brands until it discontinued the buescher brand around 1983 . recent history edit selmer acquired the ludwig drum company in 1981 . 2 selmer industries acquired the steinway musical properties company the parent company of piano manufacturer steinway & sons in 1995 and changed its name to steinway musical instruments . in 2003 steinway merged the selmer company with newly acquired united musical instruments makers of artley armstrong benge c.g. conn king to form conn selmer . 3 in 2004 conn selmer acquired the leblanc company gaining their exclusive distribution rights for yanagisawa saxophones in the usa and canada . conn selmer kept leblanc in production of clarinets but ended their brasswind production in 2007 moving their holton brand under the umbrella of the vincent bach corporation . conn selmer is the largest manufacturer of band and orchestral instruments in the united states . it manufactures instruments in approximately five facilities since 2002 . it has been heavily involved in outsourcing manufacturing of brands formerly associated with american manufacturers including ludwig drums glaesel scherl & roth and wm. lewis and sons stringed instruments to china and selmer usa wind instruments to various asian sources . the employees at the vincent bach facility in elkhart indiana represented by united auto workers local 364 struck on april 1 2006 and as of july 30 2009 the union was decertified . out of 230 workers that went out on strike approximately 70 returned with the remaining workers having been subject to recall until july 30 2010 . 4 the employees represented by uaw local 2359 at the eastlake ohio conn selmer manufacturing plant called a strike on july 26 2011 after working without a contract since february 2011 5 and settled with the company on october 21 2011 . 6 in 2013 the paulson & co. . investment firm acquired steinway musical instruments . 7 cleveland ohio eastlake ohio elkhart indiana kenosha wisconsin closed la grange illinois closed monroe north carolina products edit current products edit c.g. conn french horn flugelhorns cornets trombones trumpets tubas sousaphones saxophones armstrong flutes piccolos glaesel violins violas cellos double basses made in china king marching brass trombones baritones cornets flugelhorns french horns trumpets tubas sousaphones saxophones leblanc clarinets vito student clarinets ludwig percussion timpani drum sets sub brands made in china scherl & roth violins violas cellos double basses made in china selmer usa saxophones clarinets flutes oboes bassoons trumpets trombones baritones tubas etc. outsourced system blue vincent bach trumpets cornets flugelhorns trombones wm. lewis & son violins violas cellos double basses made in china discontinued products edit avanti flutes artley clarinets flutes benge trumpets piccolo trumpets trombones cleveland brass instruments emerson flutes piccolos galway spirit flutes flutes hermann beyer otto bruckner martin trumpets and trombones noblet clarinets umi mouthpieces and accessories references edit a b c priestly brian bacon tony anmd trynka paul selmer paris the sax and brass book backbeat books 1998 p. 100 113 ludwig . our brands . conn selmer inc. retrieved 2015 12 21 . steinway & sons . steinwaymusical.com . retrieved 2014 04 09 . elkhart truth . etruth.com . 2014 01 24 . retrieved 2014 04 09 . steinway & sons pdf . steinwaymusical.com . retrieved 2014 04 09 . steinway & sons pdf . steinwaymusical.com . retrieved 2014 04 09 . paulson & co. announces completion of acquisition of steinway musical instruments . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to conn selmer . official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title conn selmer & oldid 736222130 categories brass instrument manufacturing companiesclarinet manufacturing companiescompanies based in elkhart county indianamusical instrument manufacturing companiespercussion instrument manufacturing companieshidden categories commons category with page title same as on wikidata 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 pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages deutsch occitan edit links this page was last modified on 26 august 2016 at 01 17 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you 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