Klarinet Archive - Posting 000232.txt from 2006/08

From: "Bryan Crumpler" <crumpletox@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] $650 mouthpieces???
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 14:34:03 -0400

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has tried or had any credible reviews of the Behn
International's clarinet mouthpieces (http://www.clarinetmouthpiece.com).
From the website, I think he had a booth at Clarifest, but I was not in
attendenace. I'm curious about the mouthpieces, but as it seems, they only
expect to sell about 50 of them worldwide - ever. Why? Because they are $650
a piece... and to my knowledge, have no established reputation on the
market.

I'm having a really hard time trying to justify why this guy, and his
company, expects anyone to pay $650 per mouthpiece, regardless of how good
the mouthpieces may be. There is something to be said about labor... but the
company's business model is a tad flawed, especially their sales policies.

The company requires full payment in advance on all orders, and they do have
a trial period of 14 days. If you return any mouthpieces within that trial
period, they charge a 5% restocking fee... which is already ridiculous. Fred
Weiner does that too, and their restocking percentage is higher... and Fred
Weiner is rather bootleg tossing everything in old business papers and
newspaper with crappy boxing as opposed to what would normally be considered
"professional" packaging.

So... let's say I want to try 5 mouth pieces... That means I have to have
$3250 up front to pay for the things??? And what if I don't like them? I end
up spending $162.50 in restocking fees, or at least if I keep one... I spend
$650 + $130 in restocking fees for the rest of those mouthpieces? I'm not
even going to let you do the math. That's 780 bucks for 1 mouthpiece. And we
ALL (at least I hope most of us) know that no mouthpiece is the blow all be
all of mouthpieces. What's up with that?!

So I'm just curious if anyone has ever actually tried the things, and if so,
what their honest opinion is.

Thanks,
Bryan

www.whosthatguy.com

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