Expert: Kenton Scott - 5/26/2007

Question
I think you might have answered this in another question, but here goes.  There is a cornet on eBay right now that is listed as a Holton, but on the horn is Beaufort American. I have asked the seller about the manufacturer and he says his research shows it to be made by Holton.  I'm thinking that the "case" says Holton because he says it looks like the original case.  It looks like a decent cornet.  I just think he might be confused about the maker. Thanks in advance.


Answer
Actually, the seller is pretty close.  Holton did sell the Beaufort American instruments.  However, they did not make them.  It was an early attempt to break into the student market (before the Collegiate line), that didn't prove too successful.

Despite the lack of marketing success, I suspect that it is a decent horn.  There was a strong marketing strategy by US makers to infer that foreign made instruments were inferior.  The strategy seemed to work as far as smudging the reputation of foreign made instruments, but it wasn't necessarily an accurate representation of the instruments.