The Vincent Bach Corporation is a US manufacturer of brass instruments that began early in the early Twentieth Century and still exists as a subsidiary of Conn-Selmer, a division of Steinway Musical Instruments. The company was founded in 1918 by Austrian-born trumpeter Vinzenz Schrottenbach (Vincent Bach).
Vinzenz Schrottenbach (sometimes misspelled "Vincenz Schrotenbach") was born in Baden near Vienna in 1890.[1] As a child he received training on violin, trumpet and bugle. By age 12 he had concentrated on the trumpet.[2] After he graduated from Maschinenbauschule (Mechanical Engineering School, Ansbach) with an engineering degree,[3] he entered into compulsory military service in the Imperial Navy, worked as an elevator operator, and then was re-conscripted during which time he served as a military musician in the Austrian Marine Band.
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During the Second World War, Bach coped with a shortage of workers and materials and, while not converted to produce war materials as many competitors were, the company cut back on production. Throughout the early years, Bach resorted to mixing parts and modifying earlier horns returned to their ownership during this period to provide requested instruments to customers. Some horns built from extra parts or reconfigured bear an X on the serial number on the second valve casing, others had a digit added to the original serial number. In some cases, the same serial number exists on another horn.[8] After WWII, Bach was similarly creative in the first years with manpower and material shortages.
Over the years, the company produced several ranges of trumpets, cornets, flugelhorns and trombones, using the brand names Apollo, Minerva, Mercury, Mercedes and Stradivarius. The Vincent Bach Corporation moved in 1953 from New York City to Mount Vernon, New York. Mt. Vernon Bach horns are prized for being hand-assembled instruments.[3][4] Mt. Vernon horns can be identified by the Bach manufacturing stamp listing Mount Vernon NY on the second valve casing along with the bore letter code and serial number.[4] 2ff7e9595c
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