Posted by blah on March 17, 2003 at 12:02:10:
In Reply to: Re: rhetoric posted by Lee Stofer on March 17, 2003 at 08:58:19:
That short-action valveset is obviously more expensive to make, but - though I'm ignorant regarding mass production - I can't help but think that the set-up/training cost to add a casing to the short-action instrument might only be $10,000 - $30,000 and once in production the time difference factor might only be $200 per instrument. If I'm anywhere in the ballpark, the end result would have only boosted the price by, say, $500 per instrument.
The 4V short-action set-up has obvious potential benefits, as they could absolutely squash the Jupiter 4V sousa market entry by absolutely trumping it with a 4V short-action "24K" (whatever) sousaphone...The ultimate...and you know they would have backorders at (wholesale) $4,500 each...then later optional upright bells for concert use, etc.