Re: Re: Hirsbrunner Tubas


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Posted by Rick Denney on November 10, 2002 at 03:37:51:

In Reply to: Re: Hirsbrunner Tubas posted by Tracy B. on November 10, 2002 at 01:18:10:

I have no reason to believe that Hirsbrunners cost any more to produce than, say, Willsons, Rudy Meinls, Gronitz's, Alexanders, or any other mostly hand-built instrument.

I think that Hirsbrunner has done a good job, though, of finding a way to make sure that, in the U.S. at least, their limited production goes to the people willing to spend the most for the instruments. If you could sell 1000 Yorkbrunners at $5000, 100 at $10K, and 10 at $20K, what price would you charge? You'd charge $5000. But if your production capacity is 10 instruments, then you'd be a fool to sell them for less than $20K, if you can persuade 10 buyers to spend that much. If supply is limited and demand high, the price will be high.

Rudy, Gronitz, and Alexander don't get as much not because their costs are lower, but because either 1.) they can't persuade people to spend that much, and 2.) they don't care about making as much money as they can. Probably both are true to some extent.

If demand would be higher if the price were lower (which is always true), then dealers would be motivated to sell for a bit less than the competition to both increase the size of the market and to capture a bigger share of it. This drives prices down. Again, it has nothing to do with cost.

Of course, Hirsbrunners are exclusively sold in the U.S. by Custom Music Company, so no such price pressure exists. If Custom can sell ten Yorkbrunners at a profit of $5000 each, and 15 at a profit of $3000 each, then they are better off selling ten at the higher price (do the math). That 40% difference in their margin is only a 10% difference in selling price. So, they keep the prices high and do their marketing thing to keep the demand high enough to sell their ten.

The only time cost enters into the price is when it is too high for a price the market will support. When that happens, the tuba doesn't stay on the market (can you say Getzen G-50?).

Rick "who has only played one and thought it was pretty wonderful, but not better than some others" Denney


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