Brannen founded a separate company to produce the Osten-Brannen flute for $3,000. Deveau says the cheaper flute accounts for fully 50 percent of his sales. Haynes began production of the $2,500 Regular French Model, to supplement its $4,100 Handmade French Model, and Mr. The Japanese companies sell through distributors and dealers, very far removed.''Īll three concerns recognized the need for less expensive products to meet the Japanese competition head-on. ''You can do that with a custom-made instrument. ''People like to be able to identify an instrument with the person who made it,'' said Bickford Brannen. Every custom-made flute is tracked after it leaves the shop. By contrast, Powell, Brannen and Haynes stress in their advertising that each of their instruments is worked on as a unique entity by a concerned craftsman. They scored an initial coup by carefully definining the term, ''handmade:'' According to the American makers, the Japanese assemble the various components of their flutes separately and bring them together only in a final stage. Instead, the American companies fought back on the marketing front.
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- With waiting lists of up to seven years, business was good for everyone. At their peak, the trio turned out about 1,000 instruments a year - far below customer demand. Until 1980 or so, this triumvirate dominated a cozy world, sharing customer lists and trade secrets. A third concern, Brannen Brothers-Flutemakers, Inc., joined these exclusive ranks after Bickford and Robert Brannen left Powell in 1977. Powell Flutes Inc., spun off from Haynes in 1927.
Since the 1920's, the world's premier flutists have come to Boston for the handmade gold, silver and platinum flutes produced to special order by Haynes and a second company, Verne Q. Deveau, like his competitors, has had to scramble for every advantage. Rampal's name has excellent promotional value -and in recent years Mr. Haynes Company, flute makers since 1888, loves to tell this story, and show the accompanying snapshots. Deveau, 62, the affable president of the William S. Why Boston? To see his old friend and flute maker of 30 years, Lewis Deveau.
LAST July 4, world renowned flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal flew to Boston from Montreal for a Glorious Fourth clambake near the ocean.