Posted by Klaus on March 14, 2002 at 21:46:57:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: gronitz PCK inquiry posted by dw on March 13, 2002 at 23:21:08:
I respect your loyalty to a good mouthpiece designer.
As the highly political animal I also am, I have been around consumer protection. I am not active there any longer, but that way of thinking still is engraved in what might be left of my brain.
As far as I remember, you are a pro repairman. I would very much like to read your answer to these questions:
If the same mouthpiece had been applied to a King 2341, old or new version, how much of the desired by high school directors "oomph on the bottom of the band" would it have yelded there?
How would the "return on investment" curve have looked over 5, 10, 15, or even 25 years for the King and St. Pete respectively? Factors to take into consideration would be reliable funtionality, costs of repair and maintenance, musical satisfaction of students, teachers, and directors alike.
Would there even exist a 5 year curve for any single St. Pete? And we are talking of St. Petes used in school contexts. Not instruments owned and used by after all responsible persons like you, me, and even our fellow boarder, the libertarian Memphisian?
During my teaching career I never recommended instruments to students, schools, and parents on the basis of how they worked for me. But on the basis of my knowledge of how they worked for students.
As a neutral sample I can mention my own precious wood recorders. They would have broken at the edge of the windway very fastly, if I had allowed beginning, and even some intermediate, students to buy such ones for themselves. Some of my own ones have been used on and off for 30+ years. And exactly the on and off situation the worst one imaginable.
Klaus