Kanstul Model 281 Marching Mellophone Poster

Description: Did you march in drum corps? Marching band? Did you play mellophone? This exciting and dynamic poster celebrates Kanstul's immensely popular Model 281 F Marching Mellophone! In the early 1960s, while heading R&D for F.E. Olds & Son, Zig Kanstul began working on what was to become the first full line of modern marching brass instruments—optimized for outdoor projection, playability and musicality. Of course, this included the middle voice horns. Drum corps and marching bands were challenged in getting the French horn sound to work on the field; French horn bugles were in need of improvement, and concert horns were tough to play in outdoor conditions. And mellophoniums of the day, while delivering the punch, were notoriously lacking in pitch center. So in 1967, Zig applied his unmatched understanding of the acoustics involved and created a prototype of the first modern marching mellophone—with both a middle-voice presence and a solid center to the pitch. Many people credit the great arrangements done for Stan Kenton as the inspiration for the mellophone in the marching arts world, and Zig Kanstul is almost singlehandedly responsible for the mellophone as it is built today. From his time at Olds, to improved models when he was at King, and finally to the days of manufacturing horns under his own name, Zig's mellophone design dominated the market. At one time, five of the top six of the DCI's Top Twelve drum corps played Kanstul mellophones, and the Blue Devils won more than nine high brass titles with Kanstul! Included in the photos above is a nice shot of a two valve G mellophone that Zig designed for the US Marines Drum & Bugle Corps. In fact, we made about three sets of custom horns for the Marines over the years! Despite the already enormous popularity of his mellophone design, Zig Kanstul continued to update and improve it, eventually adding the "tune-any-note" feature and improved intonation. The result was the new and improved Model 281, and to celebrate we had promotional posters printed and distributed to band rooms and corps halls around the country. As sales manager, it was my task to produce a poster for this new model. Zig generally hated posters and advertising but he was surprised at how popular the poster ended up being. We blew through quite a few and at the end of the factory's days, we only had this one poster left, safely rolled up in its tube. It is available now for the serious collector as a memento of better days when Kanstul brass ruled the marching field. Definitely suitable for framing. Dimensions are 18 inches by 24 inches, and this poster is smooth with no scratches. It will arrive safely in a cardboard tube and will look terrific on the wall of your studio, den, garage, band room, practice room or corps hall. Heck if you're the Bluecoats guy in the poster, this should go in your man cave!! There are additional photos in this ad, including a small version of a full page ad designed for publication in Drum Corps World magazine. We did a series of these, of which these two were a part. There's also a beauty photo of the Model 281 that we shot in about 2002 or 2003. Please FAVORITE this seller and check back frequently as we are listing new items and memorabilia all the time.

Price: 10 USD

Location: Whittier, California

End Time: 2025-01-17T23:10:42.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD