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Re: Any good stores in Bay Area?

Author: GenEric
Date: 2018-03-23 06:05

Welcome to the Bay Area! Unfortunately, it' a little rainy this week so maybe trying out instruments wont give you the most accurate results... From where I live, the only high end buffet they sell is the R13. There are other music stores but they only sell student model instruments or don't have a large stock of pro horns to choose from.

Check out:
Bridgepoint Music
http://www.bridgepointmusic.com/woodwind-instruments

West Valley Music
http://www.westvalleymusic.com/

Music Village
http://www.musvil.com/instruments

I highly recommend West Valley Music located in Mountain View. The owner there is super friendly. When I was trying out instruments, I got to try out almost 10 R13s that were hand picked from Florida according to their website. They are also a Yamaha distributor so I also got to try out some CSVRs and CSGIIIs. A repair technitian also works there so after you purchase the instrument, he can do some quick adjustments so that it's working perfectly before you leave the door.

Music Village has a mouthpiece maker called Fred Rast. My friend takes lessons from him. Perhaps you can hit him up with an email and maybe get your mouthpiece refaced.

Bridgepoint Music also sells Backun instruments and barrels. They also sell the Backun alpha for $650 so if you're looking for a quality plastic horn for marching, that would be my #1 pick. Only went there once but it's a nice place.

Always email them before you come in so that they're prepared to let you try out all of their instruments