Admittedly the new form of management does have its advantages for the musician: more has been invested in research programmes, more numerous prototypes have been made, resulting in the almost perfect model; the choice of instruments has been increased and a constantly high quality could be guaranteed. However, a way must be found in order to satisfy the justified demands on both sides: some want to sell, others want good service.
However considerable difficulties arise when dealing with spare parts, if you consider for example what the director of a leading French firm once communicated: when compiling a catalogue one became aware of the fact that the elder craftsmen of both his factories used different terms for the individual parts. In addition, the question is raised how the parts should be offered for sale: an assembled slide, or its individual components? How much should an instrument be taken apart? A decision must be taken on all these questions, whereby individual requirements cannot be taken into consideration.
The chain of middlemen also has to participate, who have a stock of parts and know them, in order to guarantee a speedy and correct dispatch. In the repair workshop the problem appears different: normally the craftsman works here on all brass and keyed instruments, of all makes. He has in stock standard parts, as far as they correspond to the peculiarities of the various makes, just as with some spare parts which his customers habitually demand.
It is impossible for him to keep all the spare parts for all makes in stock; it is therefore important for him to be able to procure the necessary spare parts rapidly from the wholesaler or the manufacturer. Certain wholesale dealers only deliver spare parts for instruments which are on their sale list. Another problem for the repair workshop results from this: parts cannot be acquired, i.e. be repaired, if the instrument comes to him a long way round.
This point of view is understandable as far as the wholesaler is concerned, but is quite untenable for the manufacturer, for then a part of his clientele is deprived of service. A musician who bought his instrument in a certain country, and then moves to another runs therefore the risk of not being able to obtain spare parts for his instrument. Because the spare parts business is badly organised, the black market takes over. The responsibility for this development is mainly that of the manufacturer.
In the above-mentioned case, or when the manufacturer and wholesaler neglect customer service, then the craftsman in the workshop has to make the part himself, which costs at least three times that of the normal part.
If the part in question is a conical tube, then it is impossible to copy it exactly, for the acoustical form belongs to the trade secret, which makes up the reputation of a firm. They know the importance of this form for the sound, the accuracy and homogeneity of playing...
Pressure should be put on them, by refusing those makes which do not put the efficiency of their service to the proof and cannot guarantee it. That should be easy for the musicians: news spreads very quickly in their world. International contacts are furthered by the associations of musicians. Apart from that, pupils ask for the opinion of their teachers and pass it on to friends and lovers of music. These pupils form an important group of potential buyers.
It is not a question here of destroying all of them for fun, nor of stimulating the spirit of subversion, but rather of attaining a balance of power, and that customer service, which can be expected in the case of an article of quality, even if not promised is nevertheless carried out. The brass instrument industry should take an example from the car industry rather than from the supermarkets.