Posted by Wade on October 25, 2002 at 19:23:17:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: new yamaha prices posted by David on October 25, 2002 at 14:15:58:
Personally, I have never heard of parents willing to spend money on a tuba of any stripe for a beginner; even quite wealthy parents wait a few years to see whether Junior is serious enough to merit that large of an expense. That is not really a factor here. And prices almost always rise over time. When the original owner of my Alex 163 bought the horn new, the year was 1958. With a case, the instrument cost roughly $400 US at that time. Look at the price now on the Dillon web site. If I were to sell this same horn today, I wouldn't accept a cent less than $6,000. My very first tuba was one of the very early YBB 641s (from the time before Yamaha "improved" the design until it was the dog of today). I bought it new from Brook Mays in Dallas in 1983 with a hard case and shipping; I paid $2,200 total. What would that cost today?
Prices rise when the company is well in touch with their market. Sometimes they rise EVEN MORE when the company is a bit out of touch. Factors can include cost of materials, cost of labor (a major point to consider), and importation duties/tariffs. Or greed. Or who knows what? If you want them to get back in touch with reality, all you have to do is send them a message by not purchasing one of the horns in question. And, believe it or not, writing a well thought out (but angry) letter of complaint does have an effect sometimes; try it.
Wade