Posted by C(G) on September 16, 2003 at 10:25:27:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Worse than a St Pete???? posted by Mary Ann on September 16, 2003 at 09:24:42:
I've been doing some internet research on Chinese tubas and it seems that they can be all over the place. In particular, I was surprised to see the offerings from Beijing Deyong included a 5RV CC with rose brass leadpipe and nickel-silver slides. While I don't know what the heck the thing plays like, or the quality of workmanship, it wasn't lost on me that the Chinese are starting to pay attention to details in their offerings. It probably won't be too long before they're offering some very decent instruments for not a lot of money. A lot of the horns seen on That Auction Site seem to be from second-rate manufacturers and not the better stuff.
It just isn't cheap labor that keeps the prices down on the Chinese goods. The government of China supports an artificially low exchange rate between the dollar (and by extension, other currencies) and the yuan that is something like 30-40 percent under "free market" valuation.