 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jerry
Date: 2001-03-17 20:11
..............With this Picture?
I hate that term. Anyway, I must be missing something (it happens a lot). I stopped at a pawn shop this afternoon and there was one clarinet (?) there. It was a Selmer Signet (not Signature) and it was plastic. It looked like it had fallen out of the back of some Texan's pick-up truck on a Dallas freeway during rush-hour traffic.
Price Tag: $429.95 - Should I run back and get it before it's gone? Must be a rare one. I didn't think these were any more than $500 new. Suppose I could get them to come down to $400?
Just kidding ~ jerry
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Author: deejay
Date: 2001-03-17 20:53
whoa... okay.. for a min. there I thought you were serious..
deejay
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Author: Benny
Date: 2001-03-17 21:28
All the Signets I've seen were wooden
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Author: Nate Zeien
Date: 2001-03-17 22:29
Jerry, thanks for a good laugh! :-) I was worried enough when you mentioned buying a plastic Signet, (all of them I have ever seen before have been wood). Then when you mentioned your enthusiasm for the price, amongst other things, well... lol The subject title made me think it was a repair question. It is nice to have good humour now and then, though best stay away from politics. ;-) -- Nate Zeien
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Author: jbutler
Date: 2001-03-18 00:16
Hey, enjoyed the post!
Selmer did make a resoite Signet for awhile. Yes, some pawn shops really mark up their inventory because they know you will want to offer them a lower price anyway. I picked up a Yamaha 481H flute for $275 out the door at one a few months ago. They had it marked above $600. The basic rule of thumb I go by is I believe most of them only pay or loan 20% of what they want to sell it for anyway. I "guesstimate" what the loan/buy price was and then double it. I figure they bought (or loaned) about $125 on the flute. So offering them $275 out the door they still doubled their money. On the plastic Signet (for $429.00) they probably only loaned (max) about $80 on it. In order to buy at pawn shops you have to know what the retail price of the article is. I bought an almost new digital caliper (both metric and inches) today for $75 out the door. I knew the price I could get it for at Rex Supply in Houston was $196 plus tax because I have been looking for one to replace the one I lost. (Actually I think that one of my co-workers at the shop I used to work at "borrowed" it and took it with him when he left.) The pawn shop had it marked at $109.95. I figure they only paid or loaned about $20 to $30 on it. I enjoy going around to pawn shops every once in awhile. I have a regular route I usually use and the managers know me now. That also helps if you've bought from them before. You can sometimes get a better deal if they think you'll be back.
John
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Author: Nate Zeien
Date: 2001-03-18 01:14
John, quite interesting fact! I never knew that they made a resonite Signet... Also, pawn shops may be a good place to get instruments at a reasonable price. I myself like to keep an eye open at garage sales, auctions, and antique stores, where they often do not know the value of the instrument. I still do not try to haggle with them very much. Either they want too much, or they don't know very well what its worth. I still never lie to anyone to get them to lower the price. If I like the price, I will buy it, if I don't, most of the time they wouldn't even go down to a price I like anyway. I do like to have fun at music stores where I know the instruments are over-priced and they have in-store repair techs that do less than good work. I will browse through the instruments, and look closely at them and pick apart little repair problems here and there. "Oh, look at this new pad, it isn't even seated properly. Look at all of glue that squeezed out, too. Someone must have taken it to some lousy repair shop!", or "Oh, look at this crack...", knowing full well that it all had been looked at by the guys that they hired as repair techs. I never lie and make up problems, but you'd better believe if I see one, I'll mention it. Also, it makes them rather nervous when you have a bunch of retail prices in your head, and you compare them to some of their used instruments. I just love to see the looks on the salesclerks' faces when I come in pretending to be interested in a sale, but then point out repair problems and over-pricing, complain, and leave. :-) Forgive me if this sounds evil, but I think that people who knowingly sell overpriced instruments with repair problems to school-aged children and their parents, telling them it is a good deal, should be shut down. Perhaps I am a bad person for giving businesses like this heck. Perhaps I am just honest and believe in ethics and expect that these businesses should be the same way. Oh well. These are just my opinions... -- Nate Zeien
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Author: Willie
Date: 2001-03-18 03:40
I do the same thing, Nate, in our area. One local pawn shop had an old silver Conn alto sax hanging on the wall for over a year. What few pads were left were hard as a rock and the neck was missing. They wanted $300 for it. I tried several times to talk the price down and they wouldn't budge (I knew some one who had a neck for that model). I also see a lot of clarinets at the school that are pawn shop specials that are literally junk. I just try to fix 'em up the best I can as I know the parents (and the kid) have already been screwed enough.
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Author: jerry
Date: 2001-03-18 11:56
JBUTLER:
Tthanks for all the info on the pawn shops.............very interesting and informative. I too enjoy visiting pawn shops (NOW - there was a time when I had most of what I owned in one).
NATE ZEIEN:
Thank you Ralph N......
"Forgive me if this sounds evil, but I think that people who knowingly sell overpriced instruments with repair problems to school-aged children and their parents, telling them it is a good deal, should be shut down. Perhaps I am a bad person for giving........"
I think you are right about that, Nate. The shop owner's should have to atone for such practices.
You know, it seems to be that way these days...............or maybe it has always been and we don't recognize it until we become older and wiser. Like you, I have a dificult time at the bargaining table (unlike one of my son-in-laws - he loves it).
Isn't it amazing what you can stir up with a "dumb" post such as this?
Have fun, all.
~ jerry
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Author: Laura
Date: 2001-03-18 19:29
Don't deal with pawn shops!! Nothing but grief. Ebay-be careful, Woodwind and brasswind.
And one have have found recently, Taylor Music in South Dakota always have some new and real good reconditioned instruments. They also do trades!! I got a buffet Radio bass Clar. totally reconditioned- keys replated, it plays wonderful and looks like new, if not better. New case and mouthpiece.
Just got a Leblanc pro 420 alto clarinet econo recondition (not replated) and its great also. New case and mouthpiece.
If anyone has any questions about Taylor Music -write me.
They currently have some intermediate and a couple pro line Bb sopranos in the used product area.
Laura
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Author: Dee
Date: 2001-03-18 19:59
Pawn shops and on-line auctions are OK for those who really know what their doing and how to evaluate the merchandise for condition, needed repairs, and know approximately how much they will have to spend to do so. However it is not for the inexperienced.
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Author: Cathy
Date: 2001-03-19 16:56
My favorite is when I went into a music shop and looked at the used clarinets. I had myself a good laugh when I saw a full boehm Bb clarinet labeled as an Eb alto clarinet -Cathy
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Author: Mike Irish
Date: 2001-03-25 13:00
one guy in town here, has a bunch of rental property, a couple times a year, has a sale of abandoned stuff.... once and a while will have a horn or two in the mess..
and is asking way too much.... unfortunaly, some one buys his junk horns. he usually has a story about them, ( use to play this one in vegas, or I used this one here or there ... all bogus ) he had two clarinets, both of which needed a minimum of complete overhaul pads, corks, springs..... and key straightening...
he wante 50.00 each for them....cases were a mess also...(claimed these were pro models he used in vegas, he never left this area, and they were plastic bundys, not even in their original cases....)
buyer beware....
mike
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Author: Nate Zeien
Date: 2001-03-25 18:16
Professional model Bundys? Um, <i>yeah...</i> This fellow must have been a real jerk. Ugh! If he supposedly played them in Vegas, you should ask him to play a tune for you. Wouldn't it be funny if he didn't even know how to put a clarinet together. :-) People like that would just come up with false excuse after false excuse, anyway... Sad... :-( -- Nate Zeien
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