Doublereed Archive - Posting 000078.txt from 2003/03

From: Nat Echols <nat@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] Selling reeds
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2003 16:42:41 -0500

> reeds which are just below my criteria for sale to professionals. These are
> good reeds which I would not sell to my regular clients, usually because of
> some problem in the sound, never the response. I charge a dollar a minute
> for lessons, so if I give them a reed or charge them $10 doesn't make a lot
> of difference. My regular price for reeds is $20.00

On the rare occasions when I've sold reeds, it's been to fellow students
who did not have the time, skill, or desire to make their own and had run
out in the middle of the semester. If I have few good reeds myself, I'll
part with a "development" reed for $10. If I have a good reed to spare, I
charge them $20. I've been told this is extortionate, but the amount of
time I spend developing a reed makes it feel ridiculously cheap.

What really is extortionate is the $30 or something that I spent on a
contra reed from Forrests once. I never did get it to play. (The
"cheaper" reeds usually took about a month to become usable.) On that
note, are any of the current contra reeds they sell any good? I'm not
playing contra any more, but it'd be nice to know for the future...