Knowing that there has been some discussion of Denis' products, with relation to the current Besson situation I thought it would be appropriate to place this in the announcements section of B-F.


I have just been on the phone to the man himself (Denis Wick) and B-F is the first place to get this information

For many years there was a very close collaboration between Besson (formerly Boosey & Hawkes) and Denis Wick - the former distributing the latter's products, as well as supplying a Wick mouthpiece with all of it's top level instruments. With Besson having gone into receivership, the contract between the two has ended.
Denis Wick products are now going to be distributed by Denis himself.

It should be possible for your regular stores to obtain anything from the Wick range by contacting Denis - he is getting in contact with all major retailers and distributors and letting them know this information but, as I am sure everyone can appreciate, this is not a matter that can be dealt with, everywhere, overnight.

With any luck you will shortly be able to obtain the complete range of mouthpieces and mutes from www.deniswick.com whilst www.deniswick.net continues to sell the Denis Wick Publications (many of which I can vouch for being excellent arrangements).

If there is something specific you are looking for, or you are hoping to stock Denis Wick products, you might wish to contact him direct on denis@deniswick.net


This marks a new beginning for Denis and hopefully it will mean that his products will become more easily available (he understands that there have been some problems with distribution, especially abroad, in the recent past). There is also exciting news about the possible freedom to expand the range that this new beginning may bring. There has already been an expansion of the Maurice Murphy signature line of mouthpieces (new sizes, beyond the standard MM2C) and there is the possibility of a rediscovery of some of the older lines that were removed from the catalogue over the past couple of decades. This includes certain sizes of mouthpiece that were deemed too unpopular to keep in a mass market.
One style of mouthpiece that I will be testing with Denis next week (hopefully) is an old line of 'C' cornet mouthpieces, designed for orchestral cornet playing, with a brighter sound than one may wish for in a brass band, yet producing a tone that should work in an orchestral setting. These have not seen the light of day for a couple of decades - once I have played on them I will report back with my findings - they may appear in the Wick catalogue in the future.




Hopefully this helps clear up any confusion that might exist at the moment.
Mike

Has anybody else seen that Denis opened up his website yesterday (12/19)?
Great!

Well, it may be by country because of contractual issues. Before the 19th, all I would get was the screen that said, "Coming soon." You may have been able to see more that I don't know about. As of the 19th, I was able to hyperlink to more product and spec screens, including pdf downloads of spec comparison charts.