HornRoller.com had the pleasure of talking with Scott Bacon who is in charge of sales at Dürk Horns, one of the most exciting recent entrants into the the French Horn manufacturing market.
I understand that you are a hornist from the States who moved to Germany to help promote Dürk horns?
This is correct. My background is a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and Horn Performance from the Crane School of Music, a division of the State University of New York, Potsdam, NY (my teacher was Roy Schaberg). Directly following this I moved to Boston to work on my Master of Music degree from Boston University under the tutelage of Eric Ruske. After graduating, I was active in the "gigging" scene picking up whatever and wherever I got the call. The Boston scene was tough, but I managed to play quite often in many regional orchestras and was an active sub with the New Hampshire Symphony. This was great experience, while the other members of the horn section were regulars with the Boston Pops orchestra. So I had a pretty active gigging lifestyle.
I was also the horn teacher at the Brookline Music School, which was a great middle-sized school. My studio was starting to grow and the kids were becoming active in their own performance circles. During this time I was also head of the French Horn Department at Rayburn Music. Rayburn was situated on Huntington Ave right between Symphony Hall and New England Conservatory. Through this job I became more known to horn players across the country. I improved sales in 1 ½ years there from 25 horns a year to approaching 200. At this point I was looking for special high-end horns to stock to draw the pro players more often into the store. I was lucky to have met a good friend at the Kendal Betts Horn camp who studied with Christian Lampert in Frankfurt. I came to visit him in the fall of 2001. We took a side trip to Bingen because I wanted to see and play test a Dürk Horn. I then started to import the horns to the U.S. and begged Dietmar [Dürk] to make a (K) or (Geyer) model. About a year later I invited him to come to the states to work with pro players from NY City. Players from the Met Opera, Philharmonic, and many studio and Broadway players came. The horns were received very well, and then we flew directly to the Western Horn Symposium in Las Vegas, Nevada. The week went so well working with Dietmar that by the end he (jokingly over a couple of beers) said if I ever wanted to come to Germany and work with him, it would be an open invitation. So there it was!
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What made you decide to move?
Opportunities present themselves at very interesting times. The key is awareness, and mobility. If you plant yourself for too long, you may not be aware of opportunities when they come and go. My situation in Boston was going very well to say the least. I was customizing Conn 11D horns and selling them to very high level players. As a matter of fact 2 players in the Boston Pops were playing on my customized Conn 11D (known at the time as SB1). The problem I had was that I was working only as a horn player dreaming about how to make a horn play better, with no real handwork training. This is where I felt I reached my limit and had to work with a horn maker. I had standing offers from Conn, as I was a clinician for them, and Holton (I have a good relationship with Larry Ramirez and Ethel Merker). But I felt that if I was going to learn anything about horn making, I should go to the source of the quality and tradition that the horns from Germany represent.
Who is Dietmar Dürk? Is Dürk Horns a one man show?
Dietmar Dürk was an apprentice in the Alexander workshop and worked his way to the top of the chain within the workshop. Over this 10 year period, Dietmar Dürk learned everything he needed to know about building high quality brass instruments. He also learned that if he were boss he would do some things differently. Hence, after receiving his Master Craftsmanship, and a national award for achievement, which was basically a check from the country to help him start his own business, he broke off and started a quaint, yet very effective music business in Bingen-Dromersheim. In early 2000, Dietmar started to build the first model D3 horn with colleague and my friend Marc Schmidhäuser. The horn instantly received a lot of interest and thus began the horn making part of the business. From the beginning it was more of a 2 man show with Dietmar at the helm. Now, in 2005, we have a mix of 7 people on payroll and are looking for all possible ways to grow.
Your horns look a lot like Alexander 103s from the pictures, what are the differences?
I'm assuming you are speaking only of our D3 model. From first glance, an untrained eye will see many features that are similar to a 103. Look more closely and you will see that our bell is a hand hammered single seam bell including the bell branch bent in one piece without the normal cut. Also, our valve set uses Zirnbauer valves, which are made to such close tolerances that we wouldn’t want to use any other valves. Our materials are the best that money can buy. The result - well you just have to try them and "Discover Your Voice".
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How many Dürk horns are there, and how many do you typically produce in a year?
We currently have 2 D-Klass models. The D3 and the D4. I personally play the D4, as I love the openness, the full sound - very American. It is hard to really say how many horns we can make in a year, but by our best calculations, without hiring more people, I would have to say around 125.
Where are your most popular model(s) at the moment?
The D3 is the most popular model in the moment. We are gaining traction with this model in many different market places around the world. The D4 is younger, and although an excellent horn, is more a horn for export.
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Where are your horns most popular at the moment?
Draw a circle around Germany. Everywhere outside the circle is popular, and everywhere inside the circle is, to say the least, extremely conservative. To cite specifics, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, Holland, Danemark, Sweden, Italy, and Spain are places that accept our horns with open arms, congratulating us on our work, and praising us for building them the Ferrari of horns. Also, Korea, and Japan continue to be strong for us.
What innovations or breakthroughs have you made in the horn manufacturing process?
Some things we can talk about freely, and others we can not. Some breakthroughs you can physically see... those are the obvious. When you are trying to make real breakthroughs, however, it isn’t the obvious that you need to change. It is what is hidden away. We regulate specific points of change, always in an attempt to balance the stability of sound-flow with its chaos.
How long does it take to get a horn once you've ordered it?
Some models are currently available and require about 2 weeks from the final order to finish the horn. Polishing, lackering, and the finish work takes about this long. If we have to make a horn from scratch, usually about 6 weeks or less and the horn is finished.
How much can you do to customize a horn to a particular player?
- Cut bell or fixed.
- Adjustable hand rest, pinky hook and thumb pad.
- Nickel Silver, Brass, Gold Brass.
- Lacquer, type of lacquer, color.
- Gold plating or silver.
- Hand hammered bell flares, pressed bell flares with or without a Kranz.
These are some ideas. But most important is that we ask, "Is there anything we haven’t covered that you need?, How can we help?" One of the most important customisations of our horns is the correct shaft receiver. Many horn players in Germany, for example, play on a Bach mouthpiece with their 103 horn. The mouthpiece doesn’t fit the horn and they have to adjust playing to play better in tune and such. I am constantly aware of the mouthpiece and we cut the receiver of the leadpipes to fit the mouthpiece that you play.
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Is the exchange rate with the Dollar/Euro making it hard to find a market in America?
With a low dollar value, export for many companies like ourselves have been hit hard. In order to maintain a market, we have had to cut out our dealer in the U.S. and sell direct. This makes for very difficult sales, but the price is just too high otherwise. By selling direct, the exchange rate is cushioned and the end customer is in the interim better served.
What’s new at DürkHorns?
We are currently working on a triple horn, and we hope to have the first prototype in about 15 months time. Shortly after that, our descant horn will be finished.
Anything else?
Yes. Last month Steven Lewis came by our shop and spent the week with us. I have attached the press release for the work that we have started together.
Thanks Scott!
