MUSSER is MOVING!

drumthumb

Junior Member
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but Musser is moving from its LaGrange facility to North Carolina! They are NOT taking any of their current bar or chime tuners with them, which means the quality is going to stink! If you are at all considering a purchase of a Musser instrument do it now before they move in a couple of months. April or June 2011 will be their LAST month of good production. After that, it is going to be awful! You cannot teach someone to tune a marimba bar the way Musser tunes it overnight. It takes 6-12 months to become good enough to squeeze and tune a set of chimes. This is going to be disastrous for Musser! Also – I’m pretty sure that the corporate heads at Conn-Selmer would not want this information to get out. Please be cautious! Call Conn-Selmer in IN or Musser in LaGrange, IL to confirm.
 
Why would a company that big move and not have tuners lined up. Doesn't mean that have to move from the old location, but they could exist elsewhere. I don't think leaving the old tuners behind is going to be disastrous for them, but if you are an ex tuner, or employee, I can see where it may be disastrous for you.
 
Is this an April Fool's prank??
 
As a native North Carolinian, I have seen quality everything there including those who work in this very type of business. In fact not only is the NC set up of top quality, I would assume the eventual NC apparartus will be superior to what is most likely an overly priced Illinois union shop... which is what I think we're really griping about here anyway.

Man, this isn't 1950. The leaking information from the disgruntled guy tactic doesn't work in 2011 when information is easily obtained and personal issues are quickly sorted out. If anything, wait a year before making your purchase when the superior and cheaper Carolina shop gets things cleaned up. I can imagine as many as a half dozen guys at the top of my head who would deliver world class results who live within 2 hours drive of the new place.
 
Personally, after having seen and played with the stuff coming from Yamaha, if I were to buy any kind of tuned percussion, Yamaha would be it for me. I've learned on Musser all through school and I'm sure it's great stuff, but for my money, I'd buy Yamaha. Sorry.
 
Just took delivery last night of a new Korogi(used to be named Kori in America) xylophone last night for my 15 year old. Great sounding instrument for the price. It is a student model. The Japanese builders are great with mallet instruments and I'm very pleased with this purchase. I agree with the original poster though you need knowledgeable people for the tuning process. You can't just train factory workers to do that. That's why expert tuners like Youhas, Serna, and Salazar have such great steady business and loyal customers. Also why the custom people have such a great reputation like Marimba one, Malletech, Demorrow and Coe.
 
As a native North Carolinian, I have seen quality everything there including those who work in this very type of business. In fact not only is the NC set up of top quality, I would assume the eventual NC apparartus will be superior to what is most likely an overly priced Illinois union shop... which is what I think we're really griping about here anyway.

A source of many problems...

Drumthumb, if posting a whiny message on a drum forum is your reaction to Messer moving to NC, I'm sure they're better off without you.
 
Personally, after having seen and played with the stuff coming from Yamaha, if I were to buy any kind of tuned percussion, Yamaha would be it for me. I've learned on Musser all through school and I'm sure it's great stuff, but for my money, I'd buy Yamaha. Sorry.

+1 here - in my senior year in school we purchased a bass marimba from Yamaha and it was one of the most beautiful instruments I've heard in my life.
 
+1 here - in my senior year in school we purchased a bass marimba from Yamaha and it was one of the most beautiful instruments I've heard in my life.

Agreed. Here at Disneyland we have a deal with Yamaha and they provide all the instruments we supply and audio gear, and I was astounded at their line of melodic percussion. We got a full set of tympani, chimes, mallets instruments, and it's all top-notch. In fact, they fixed alot of problems I hated with early Musser products when I was growing up.
 
Agreed. Here at Disneyland we have a deal with Yamaha and they provide all the instruments we supply and audio gear, and I was astounded at their line of melodic percussion. We got a full set of tympani, chimes, mallets instruments, and it's all top-notch. In fact, they fixed alot of problems I hated with early Musser products when I was growing up.

That's interesting. I didn't know that Disneyland and Walt Disney World had different deals in place. WDW is all Ludwig and Musser.

I also have to say that I've played a lot of Musser marimbas and I think the tone quality, in the low range especially, is significantly richer and more satisfying than any Yamaha instrument I've ever played. I can't fault their build quality, but I didn't care for the tone at all.
 
It makes sense, Ludwig is in NC, so why not have Musser there too....
At least they aren't going to china like Tama did!!!!

Oh, and get this, DW's Performance series that was made in Mexico has moved to Oxnard and are being made in the DW factory now. Looks like people are starting to re-think having everything made out of the country...
 
They just needed the warehouse space for storing drugs and weapons
 
Just took delivery last night of a new Korogi(used to be named Kori in America) xylophone last night for my 15 year old. Great sounding instrument for the price. It is a student model. The Japanese builders are great with mallet instruments and I'm very pleased with this purchase. I agree with the original poster though you need knowledgeable people for the tuning process. You can't just train factory workers to do that. That's why expert tuners like Youhas, Serna, and Salazar have such great steady business and loyal customers. Also why the custom people have such a great reputation like Marimba one, Malletech, Demorrow and Coe.

Is that the desktop model? How many octaves?

Jeff
 
Jeff,

No it's not the desktop model. 3.5 octave model. It's got folding legs and alluminum resonators. Bars are of karinwood which I was skeptical of but turned out very nice and in tune.
I was told they were overstocked and expecting another shipment.
 
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