mrmusicnotes

I"ve been a member of Ebay for about a month now.I"ve noticed that whenever a quality horn is up for bid,half the question asked about the horns are about shipping it over seas somewhere.I am finding it almost impossible to compete with the Euro VS the dwindling U.S. dollar, and the fact they are being shipped duty freealso the fact that horns are about a third more expensive out of the country.I fear that all our prize Recorders and Constellations,Mendez"s etc. will be gone forever.Is this fair?What are some of your thoughts?

bagmangood

What exactly do you mean gone forever? Does it really matter who is playing them so long as they are being played. perhaps years down the line people will wish for one of them, but they will still be around somewhere. Eventually I think the dollar will turn around. Hopefully.and then this thread will probably be mentioned somewhere else (maybe the french were complaining about this a few years ago since they made a lot of really good horns in the first part of the century)

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Bach 180S-37
Bach C180-239 w/ Akwright tuning bell conversion
Monette B2S3&C2S3, Bach 7DW

Jimi Michiel

mrmusicnotes-

I think you're right about American bidders being at a disadvantage, but with any luck things will turn around. Exchange rates are funny things... the Brits and Euros should enjoy it while they can. Several of the Monette mouthpieces I have sold on eBay recently have gone to European or Asian winners, including the one I sold just about an hour ago. It doesn't bother me--I'm glad someone is willing to pay $200 for a used mouthpiece!

On the flip side, there are many places in the world where the dollar still means something (albeit slightly less than before). I was in Prague last summer and I spent most of my week drinking beer that cost me little more than $1.50 per half liter. My advice--skip the trumpets, head for Czech!

-Jimi

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MFfan

I have an old Czech trumpet that plays well and was cheap, so I guess I got the European benefit without going there or drinking beer. I wonder how many horns are actually sold overseas. Just because there are questions about foreign postage, it may not mean many of them get the horns. It would be and interesting subject for study if such data was available.

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Dave Rafferty
07 Barrington Trumpet,
1972 Reynolds Medalist
55 Besson 8-10 trumpet
55 Roth by Reynolds Cornet
73 Olds Ambassador Cornet
30's Czech small bore Trumpet
Getzen 80 cornet,
33 American Standard cornet
www.kalamazooconcertband.org

Vulgano Brother

Hah! Right after the curtain fell, Pivo was even less--like $.50 for Pilsner Urquel or Budweiser. The tank tracks were clearly still in the roads to Prague over twenty years later though--sobering.

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www.letsbuildhope.org

Jimi Michiel

I actually made a day trip to Pilzn, the home of Pilsner Urquel. I drank unfiltered Pilsner Urquel from a large wooden cask in the bowel of the brewery. During the wars, the brewery was converted into a factory to produce supplies for war. Thankfully, peaceful times allowed it to return to more trivial pursuits. This was perhaps one of the happiest days of my life:

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tedh1951

Hmmmm? Thinks: Perhaps we could come to some long distance Trumpet purchasing arrangement here?
(On the other hand, consider yourself very fortunate, we've paid through the nose for instruments for years - in 2001 a Getzen 700SP cost me US$595 at Washington Music Center and was valued in Sydney three weeks later at AUD$1800. Remember, there is always someone worse off - so rejoice, it's another great shiney sunny Winter's day in lovely downtown Sydney.)

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Ted