Klarinet Archive - Posting 000887.txt from 1998/08
From: ROBERT ABRAHAM <rkabear@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: [Re: [kl] major decision]
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1998 21:37:02 -0400
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> These are the EXCEPTION, rather than the rule. Sure, Selmer Mark > VI's are going for $3500 these days, but Jack Kissinger's quoted > prices are, as a general rule, closer to reality for all but a few > highly favored models of some instruments. Check out eBay and you > can get a feel for it. Used R-13's are going for $600-800 if I > recall correctly.
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Just because eBay might have used instruments cheap doesn't mean they are a good deal. For instance:
1. I would never buy a used horn from any company unless I could return it if I didn't like it.
2. You would have no basis for comparison if you didn't try out *many* horns (also true for new instruments).
3. Also, just because *some* places have 1 or 2 used instruments of the model you want at a good price, doesn't mean that that is the horn you want (the used R13 that might be the one you want might just be $1300, but the $600 used R13 plays like a mack truck.)
Besides, when talking resale value, *most* people sell through personal ads, privately, through clarinet(insert instr.) teachers, or on consignment at a local store. *THAT* is how you get the real retail value of an instrument back. You will *NOT* get your money back on a horn by selling it to a pawn shop or clearing house. You will probably not even get $ back if you sell it from the wholesale place you might have bought it from originally (Woodwind/Brasswind or Frederick Weiner). When someone else sells your horn for you, *THEY* get the profit. You could even list a horn for sale here...like I have seen (but have them write back to *YOU* and not the list with their bid.) *THAT'S* how horns appreciate. The horn's resale when sold *PRIVATELY* is proportional to how high it is on the clarinet food chain... beginner models do not sell, because why pay $200 for a used beginner horn, when the new one is $250 with a warrantee. Pro models sold by the owner (especially wood horns) tend to sell for much more than they were purchased for, depending on how long you have it (you loose money selling it just 1 year later). The longer you have it, if it is in good condition, the more $ you will get for it. It *IS* a lot easier to sell it in a bigger city though (supply and demand) or at a major music school in a small town (hint). Advertise where people will buy the horn, put an add in the New York Village Voice (even if you live in a small rural town in Wyoming) It is worth the airline trip for someone to get a horn, if it is what they really are looking for, and if it saves them money off a new horn. This gives you the original $ of the horn when it was new, and they get a 3 or 4 year old horn for $500 less than a new horn.
Again, you can find cheaper models, but try buying wholesale through a company who will let you return the horn if it is not what you want (in 7 days, usually for exchang - you loose the postage to send it back). You don't have to sell it for wholesale $ if you offer it for retail worth of the horn...someone will buy it! This isn't illegal, nor is it unethical. Buy wholesale/sell retail...loose no money.
By the way...my super in my apt. building paid $400 for a 386 computer, VGA monitor (14") and a dot matrix printer (outrageously high price) but then sold it to someone else for $700 and bought a Pentium 66 machine with monitor (14" SVGA) and HP paintjet printer for $400 (still an outrageous price). He made a $300 profit on the original purchase, which someone was willing to pay as a "retail" value, so he is only out $100 for the next computer/monitor/printer. He sold this new setup for $700 because he found a wholesale place in town to buy a 266 Mhz Pentium II, monitor (15" SVGA) and new 1400 DPI Epson Color Stylus printer for $739...so for $139 difference after the two purchases/sales, he has a new Pentium II Computer, a nice monitor, and a great printer...and computers *DON"T* appreciate...he just utilized his ability to post an ad in the paper for a retail price on a used computer, which was still less than new price, and bought wholesale.
My conclusion to all this babbling is:
1. Look for bargains, don't buy a used horn without trying it.
2. Find a good deal on a discontinued new model.
3. Try new models and find one you like.
OR
4. If you find a cheaper horn that works, buy it. Just make sure you will like it for the next 3 years...that's a least how long you will probably have it (from the way your posting sounded).
Now I REALLY have to retire the Soap Box. It's weary from my hot air.
Kelly Abraham
Woodwind/Computer Geek
New York City
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