laTeST - Music & Sound Retailer

which meant “round sound.” He
thought that was better than Rotop.
He thought about that name
about the time he invented the
swing bass Round Wound. I can
remember my dad working on
the logo in the kitchen. I remember
him saying the term round
sound. Swing bass was a breakthrough
as Jason said because
everything was developed from
there. Black Nylon was another
big breakthrough.
Jason How: These products
came out at a time when, in
England, there weren’t too many
other string brands out there.
Jimi Hendrix had an English
manager, an English band and
came to England. There was
The Who in London. There was
Pink Floyd. Many brands were
around. We had a man working
for us named Alan Marcuson,
who was a director of the
company back in the ’60s. He
had this ability to get in among
the players and got the string
packets in the guys’ hands.
Jason How: There’s a massive
imbalance in the U.K. We’re
a debt-fueled nation. Everything
has been bought on debt. Our
country is out of context because
we are so financially led. We’re all
about selling insurance and paper
shuffling. Nothing’s been made to
export.
Phillips: We’re in a situation
where everything is on hold
here. There’s going to be an election
here. All of the parties say
they will turn things around and
take care of the huge debt we’ve
gotten ourselves into. If anything,
looking forward, the economy
here will probably get worse before
it gets better. Right now, the
government isn’t doing anything
because of the election.
Jason How: The British government
can’t get us out of this
downturn. The government has
no solutions other than to raise
taxes. Which means we will get
the country out of the recession.
The public will.
As for our company, though,
we have been doing well. We
have been taking staff on. We
have 50 employees. We’re very
fortunate. We have a great,
strong team here. We want to
achieve the same goal. We don’t
want disgruntled employees.
We want people that are happy
to be here and will work hard to
support the company.
The best acoustic tone is just one step awa
The best acoustic tone is just one step away
Pickups & Preamps
M&SR: In the U.S., we’re
hit really hard by the recession.
We are talking about the
Toneshaping
Pickups & Preamps
possibility of coming out of the
economic malaise now. What
have you seen economically
speaking on the British front?
Jason How: Our English reps
who are calling on the dealers are
all telling me it was the worst in
mid-February it has been since
Toneshaping
Acoustic Amplifiers
Christmas. Having said that,
it still seems like accessories
are moving through the shops.
Dealers may not be selling the
big-ticket items, but the smaller
items are selling. We had a good Acoustic Amplifiers
year in 2009 and had a good start
to 2010, but we don’t want to be
complacent. Deep down, I feel
confident all of the marketing and
efforts we have put in will keep
sales at a good level. So we’re in
a different situation than some
Visit us at NAMM booth 425
companies. Some are at the top
ACOUSTIC IMAGING
ACOUSTIC EFFECTS
of their game and have as much
AURA SPECTRUM DI
AFX REVERB
market share as they can get.
AURA SIXTEEN
AFX CHORUS
But if you’re growing into certain
ELLIPSE AURA
AFX DELAY
markets, like we are, it’s a good
ONBOARD AURA
situation to be in.
AURA PRO
fishman.com
Visit us at NAMM booth 4258
Phillips: The U.K. economy is
one of the furthest from coming
ACOUSTIC IMAGING
ACOUSTIC EFFECTS
out of recession. We’ve seen
AURA SPECTRUM DI
AFX REVERB
in other areas of Europe and
AURA SIXTEEN
AFX CHORUS
America that things are starting
ELLIPSE AURA
AFX DELAY
to turn around.
ONBOARD AURA
AURA PRO
fishman.com
Music & Sound Retailer 35