Instrument Makers in USA

Like Holton, the Martin company belongs to the G. Leblanc corporation (see box).

The Martin factory seems to me to have the most modern equipment of all the American brass instrument makers I visited.

In the sixties, when it was still located in Elkhart, Indiana, Martin was taken over by Leblanc. Production was moved to Arizona on cost grounds. This was short-lived: a serious fire burned the factory to the ground. So Martin started up again in Kenosha, Wisconsin, close to the Leblanc corporate headquarters.

Production methods are highly rationalised: a student trumpet requires only six man-hours' work! The individual production phase are carefully divided up. The assembly of a trumpet from finished components, for example, is divided among three people: the first cleans the inner slides and attaches the water keys; the second puts the valves in and screws the valve caps on; and the third puts the slides on and attaches the triggers where necessary. There is very little rotation among the various work processes except for when an employee is absent and someone stands in.