MOD EDIT: This post was first made in another thread that went downhill. I found the information below useful, and thought it might be a good starting point for a new thread as I must delete the older one.
Now if anyone is still interested about S&R, I was their purchasing manager in the mid/late 1980s and still have a lot of info on them. The only instruments coming from Korea at the time were guitars, that were sold through Conn/King band instrument dealers. Conn, King, Artley, Continental Music and Scherl&Roth we all part of UMI, headed by Swedish investor Bernhard Muskantor.
S&R was moved from Cleveland to the Atlanta facility where I worked around 1985. We were beginning to get some of the lower end student violins, violas and cellos from the Czechoslovakia (remember the Soviet Union was still intact at the time), though the basses and better quality outfits were still all coming from Germany. The instruments didn't necessarily come from one manufacturer, but from several, determined usually by who could meet our delivery needs.
Early 1988, the Atlanta facility was closed and everything moved to Elkhart, IN. So through 1987, I can say for fact, none of the S&R instruments had come from Korea. Having already done some time in the snow belt, I opted to stay in Atlanta and lost track of the S&R operation. I remember reading UMI was acquired by Steinway, and later Steinway by Selmer. S&R is now part of Conn-Selmer.
The S&R shop was headed by a German guy named Schuechner. A really skilled luthier. I wonder if he is still there?
