New Euphoniums

[Highams]

Just thought you might be interested in some thoughts on new euphoniums I helped play test for a friend the other day.

Besson (Buffet) Sovereign, York, Sterling & the guy insisted I brought my Willson 2900 along too.

Briefly, the Besson was very easy to play, quite effortless all over the range, but the sound was so light & bright, did not like that at all, had no warmth.

The Sterling (large bell) was the least impressive, both in sound (lacking definition) and build quality (bell to bottom bow seem uneven join, not good, already going green inside, long travel valves and the trigger mechanism had broken).

The York had a great sound, very mellow, needed a bit more air (constantly) and had a bigger bell than the Willson. If I had one I would dismantle the trigger system, very annoying, and tuning was good enough without it.

My friend liked my 4 year old Willson 2900 as well (large receiver remember in the UK, not like the brighter sounding euro shank models in the US) and I left him undecided between that and the York. The York is probably best suited to his environment (brass bands) as he does little solo/small group work etc.

I knew the York would be impressive, but I was amazed how close it was with the Willson 2900. If there was no Willson around, I would have one, I could quite easily adapt to it, but it did not make me want to rush out and get one at the moment.

Just some thoughts.

Chas