[Ian on the Trent]

A friend of mine who happens to own a new music store, mentioned this fine deal he's been offered: Eldon - Bb Tenor reg. $1499.95 on sale for $699.99. Brand new. ($CAN)

A quick search of the web suggests this is a brand of Antigua Winds.

Has anyone heard of/played such a horn (any Antigua Winds model for that matter). The company website suggests a Texas origin although I didn't find any definitive reference to where they are made. China perhaps?

Cheers.

 

[JMac]

Ian-

The Antigua Winds website is not the best to navigate. The 'Antigua Welcomes New...' option leads to a press release which states :
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" “We are pleased to announce the introduction of Eldon® to the USA market.” Joe Ramotowski, Antigua President said. “This line of instruments is made in China and is designed to meet the competitive needs of band instrument retailers.”

Eldon® was created to provide music retailers with a product that competes with instruments consumers are finding in many mass retailers today. Antigua is celebrating its 15th year of working with the finest factories in Taiwan. This has enabled them to locate the best quality and values in band instruments from China.

Eldon examples:
ELF 220 Flute - $339 list.
ETP 100 Trumpet - $399 list

Also available are the ECL 475 Clarinet; ETP 130 Trumpet; ETP 135 Trumpet; ETB 100 Trombone; EAS410LN Alto Sax; and ETS420LN Tenor Sax.

“We plan to offer retailers the ability to buy good quality instruments at low prices”, Ramotowski said.

Eldon® instruments will carry a 1 year limited warranty and repair parts will be available from Antigua USA.

For more information regarding Eldon® instruments ask your Antigua sales representative or call, Antigua USA at 1 800-661-6505."
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That press release was dated June 1st, so it is doubtful many here have played that horn.

Also- please check the forum section under makes and models (Other A-M). There is an entire section devoted to Antigua Winds (I'll ask a moderator to move this thread there).

The sopranos have received very high praise, particularly in their cost/value relationship. I own an alto (Selmer SA-80 II clone) that is built like a tank and plays wonderfully.

The issue would be with maintaining quality control considering the Mainland China source.

Best of luck to your friend. If he picks one up, please share the results with us!

 

[Carl H.]

a product that competes with instruments consumers are finding in many mass retailers today.

I think this may be the key phrase. K-mart Target and Walmart all have CHEAP lines of instruments. I think this is what they are aiming this line at, not the in house music store brands.

This is all speculation on my part, I haven't even seen one of these horns.

 

[Canadiain]

A friend of mine who happens to own a new music store, mentioned this fine deal he's been offered: Eldon - Bb Tenor reg. $1499.95 on sale for $699.99. Brand new. ($CAN)

A quick search of the web suggests this is a brand of Antigua Winds.

Has anyone heard of/played such a horn (any Antigua Winds model for that matter). The company website suggests a Texas origin although I didn't find any definitive reference to where they are made. China perhaps?

Cheers.

Hi Ian,

Eldon is the student level brand of Antigua,

I own an Antigua 520 alto, and an older antigua tenor. For the money they are good horns. If you want to check them out Im not far from you, basically good selmer clones though.

The Eldons are china sourced, as most of the cheap horns are, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. I just sold on my spare chinese tenor (to Carl as it happens, who will maybe offer a more informed assesment when it arrives?), but it was OK, nothing special but it does the job of a cheap tenor sax pretty well, for school band / budget beginner use etc, rather than serious gigging.

Antigua seem to have a good handle on quality control, so the Eldon is probably OK for its price bracket and not as variable as some of the chinese horns have been. They are definitly not made in Texas, the antigua branded horns are made in Taiwan (like 50% of the name brand horns now) and managed / distributed through Texas, and the Eldons are Chinese sourced. Given Antiguas track record for great horns at great proces, from a buisiness point of view around here they might be worth checking out, although lets face it, around here any sort of decent horn at a decent price would have novelty value. (or reeds, or mouthpieces, or ligs or...well, you know )

 

[Ian on the Trent]

Thanks all.