 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: James
Date: 2002-06-29 19:41
I know buffet is under the control of a holding company right now becuase of some financial problems that are going on with the company. I have been hearing rumors though that buffet may go under. Is this really possible? I mean come on.... almost every clarinetist I know plays on their horns. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a good R-13 these days too might I add. Does anyone know what is going to happen?
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Author: JackOrion
Date: 2002-06-29 19:59
Yeah, Boosey Hawkes is going to discontinue the Buffet clarinets and soley go back into production of the 10-10. It has been thier plan all along
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-06-29 20:07
Boosey & Hawkes is still recovering from an overstatement of profits back in the 1998-2000 timeframe (shades of the very recent past - they're just a much smaller version of Xerox and WorldCom ...)
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Author: nzdonald
Date: 2002-06-29 20:27
this would be a good time for Leblanc to flood the market with really cheap Opus clarinets priced to undercut the R13 (nickel keys)..... heh heh heh
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Author: Hiroshi
Date: 2002-06-29 20:40
>Boosey & Hawkes is still recovering from an overstatement of profits back in the 1998-2000 timeframe...
British company too?
http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1210964
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Author: LaLa
Date: 2002-06-29 21:36
What does all this mean in layman's terms because i do not have a business mind. Does this mean the Buffet name may be a thing of the past? no more R13's?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-06-29 21:46
Boosey & Hawkes has had some lean years and a bit of fiscal mismanagement in the past. There have been rumors of buyers for the Boosey & Hawkes music division for some time. Unfortunately that kind of news doesn't help the bottom line - people don't know what to expect.
The chances are that if something unfortuitous happened to Boosey & Hawkes (the holding company) the divisions would be sold off to raise money. Which divisions, when, and to whom is up for wild speculation. Sometimes it can be a good thing, too.
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2002-06-30 01:23
If B & H were in bad enough shape to have to sell off some divisions, I'm sure many companies would be interested in buying a company with as devoted a customer base as Buffet.
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Author: LaLa
Date: 2002-06-30 01:39
maybe then Buffet would be able to produce a Vintage R13 "A" clarinet to go with the double case they send with their Vintage Bb
:-)
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Author: Corey
Date: 2002-06-30 02:41
lala: buffet does produce a vintage R-13 in "A" it's just hard to find them
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-06-30 03:00
Actually it comes down to whether or not they're profitable, and how good their future looks. Customer devotion is but a small part of the equation.
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Author: John Gibson
Date: 2002-06-30 03:05
Corporate greed is not isolated to the U.S.....I work for Clear Channel Communications...the largest radio holding company in the world....big buying spree over the past few years...and now...
a balloon note due in december....hundreds of millions due...
NO MONEY! May not have a job come January....
I know this has nothing to do with clarineting....but having grown up in the 60's...I'm feeling pretty lonely with the loss of the greatist bass guitarist ever...John Entwistle...the Who was my biggest influence growing up....The BeachBoys were maybe first...
then the Beatles...but The Who were to me the epitome of Rock...
I played double bass drums as a "pro" in San Fran "67--73 and Keith Moon was to me the Artie Shaw of drumming....I'm rambling...but...
Oh yeah....got to meet and shake hands with President Bush the other day when he was in Phoenix...Air Force One and the "little baby" AF1's (gulf streams painted identical) were a ssight to behold.....
Now back to clarineting....uh....what size reed is your favorite?
John
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Author: Carol
Date: 2002-07-01 03:50
An interesting observation about Buffet prices. I have noticed several Australian and European dealers selling R-13's at heavily discounted prices on eBay.
These very low prices seem to infuriate the local music stores here in the U.S. The reason is that, the foreign R-13's are typically sold for less than the US dealer cost. Some of these store owners have told me that they now try to persuade their customers away from Buffet, and into other manufacturers products where they can make a decent profit.
These same US dealers are not even allowed to sell or advertise their Buffet's below a certain base price. If they do, Boosey will no longer allow them to offer their instruments.
It sounds like Boosey's attempts to control every aspect of their market space may be backfiring. You would think they would learn a lesson from Apple computers who tried to do the same thing. Apple computers managed to take a product that, at one time, was several years ahead of their competition and turn it into a marginal player within the industry.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2002-07-02 02:05
Carol wrote:
> These same US dealers are not even allowed to sell or advertise
> their Buffet's below a certain base price. If they do, Boosey
> will no longer allow them to offer their instruments.
That would be against US retail price law (suggested list is just that ... the supplier cannot dictate the price of goods).
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Author: Carol
Date: 2002-07-02 06:38
Mark Charette wrote:
> That would be against US retail price law
Mark, You're right. I checked back with one of the dealers, and he said the restrictions were just on the advertising price.
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Author: David Dow
Date: 2002-07-03 15:02
Its unfortunate this is all happening when markets are down...the Buffet clarinet is still and will always be an industry standard. The problems with the company are small compared to the huge debts some IT companies are handling....the entire debt of all communications companies in North America is half a trillion dollars..Buffets problems are small in comparison one would hope.
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