Posted by Several Reasons on January 02, 2003 at 10:30:10:
In Reply to: VMI 3301 posted by BRUCE on January 02, 2003 at 09:21:49:
1. over purchasing at Brasswind and Brook Mays
2. declining market since 9-11
3. people do not want or feel secure enough in their jobs right now to spend $2600 to $10000 on a tuba
4. people are keeping money in the bank in case they are downsized or laid off permanently, still lay offs going on and they read and hear about it
5. Brook Mays does not have a tuba person working for them at all that knows what they are doing so they have alot of inventory they have to get rid of
6. the war between Brook Mays and Brasswind has tubas selling at cost or slightly higher
7. the music stores had master orders in the system ahead of time before 9-11 happened and was hoping things would pick up. most stores to get good pricing have yearly master orders in the system with mfg's to secure better pricing
8. Brook Mays is not selling these tubas anymore and is just clearing them out
9. the FS101 which is a Miraphone copy but 2 inches taller and 16 1/2 inch bell is selling below cost and is a good tuba for that price of $2524. This is a very good buy for this price. Schmidts are made by VMI and is BM's personal label.
The Brook Mays site listed below has really good deals. Schools should even jump on these prices. The problem with BM is that you need to make sure someone actually looks to see if there is something there to buy. Their inventory tends to not be accurate.