Klarinet Archive - Posting 000233.txt from 2006/08

From: "Karl Krelove" <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] $650 mouthpieces???
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:00:55 -0400

Well, without trying to justify the overall pricing structure, I wonder if
you haven't misread at least the part about the restocking fee. I think it
says that the 5% fee is only applied if you don't buy anything - if you have
four on consignment and buy one of them, as I read the text the other three
can be returned free of any restocking charge. Which doesn't erase the
$650.00 price tag, but it's something.

I *have* tried one of the Backun/Morales mouthpieces, which are also selling
in the same price range, or were, last I heard. It was a wonderful-feeling
mouthpiece, but not miraculous enough to tempt me at the price away from the
Grabner/Zinner mouthpieces I've been using for the past couple of years. I
suspect you'd need to be in a job like Morales's position in Philadelphia
for the qualities that make the mouthpiece worth $650, whatever they may be
when compared to the work of other custom makers, to be necessary. In fact,
I don't know for a fact what Morales is playing on these days, whether one
of the Backun mouthpieces or whatever he was already using, but I suspect he
didn't pay $600+ for it either.

Karl

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bryan Crumpler [mailto:crumpletox@-----.com]
> Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2006 2:33 PM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] $650 mouthpieces???
>
> 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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