Re: Re: Re: Re: "Blind Date" with a tuba


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Posted by Joe Baker on September 04, 2001 at 12:27:57:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: "Blind Date" with a tuba posted by Jay Bertolet on September 03, 2001 at 17:28:15:

The following may seem brutal, which is not really my intention. I like Jay, and have always found him to be a fair-minded guy. If I felt otherwise, I'd just ignore this whole thread and go on. I only wish to bust his chops a bit to help him see the error of his ways! So, with neither malice nor further ado:

Jay, to follow your stated opinion to its logical conclusion, people who hear your orchestra should pay on the way out, not on the way in. After all, if the program isn't really to their liking, they shouldn't have to pay. I mean, it isn't as though you had to fabricate any parts specifically for them, so you're really not out anything if they don't care for it and decide not to pay. All the members of the orchestra already knew how to play all those notes, so they didn't have to make anything new; they just had to put them together a different way for this concert than for other concerts. The audience should be entitled to be sure they REALLY LIKE the music before committing to pay for it.

Okay, smart-alecky analogy over, real-live suggestion commencing: why not offer them some sort of forfeitable earnest money, say the difference in cost between the 4-valve and the 5-valve. Whatever money BW or MW - I'm not sure where the return of a NON-customized cimbasso goes -- whatever money is not recouped upon the sale of the instrument comes out of your earnest-money, the rest is returned to you. That way you assume the risk of the customization cost, but not the risk of the entire instrument.

Meinl-Weston has evaluated the potential costs and benefits, and made a business decision that the market does not exist sufficiently to support production of a 5-valve Eb cimbasso. Having made that decision, it is entirely reasonable for them to expect the custom buyer to take the risk instead of taking it themselves. The value of repeat buyers is a real one, but you don't seem to be a repeat buyer. Your main axes have been a Yamaha, a Cerveny, a Nirschl, and a Willson, so it doesn't seem reasonable for them to count on you as a repeat buyer (personally, I applaud the independence of going for the individual product you want instead of the brand name; I'm the same way. But we independents don't get any of the little extras that come with brand loyalty).

I do hope you find an instrument that meets your needs, and I hope you take my little jab as it was intended.

Joe Baker, who sometimes disagrees with people he really likes and admires, but who does agree with Jay about going into the tuba retail biz.


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