In a message dated 9/26/2003 10:43:49 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> Why would any dealer in his right mind want to stock one? > Why, indeed? And, you can turn that around: why would any dealer NOT want to go to the factory to pick the horns he or she wanted to sell? I tried to get that courtesy once from a major manufacturer and I was told "no". The reason, as given to me, was not that they didn't want me cherry picking good horns, but because they didn't want to have to clean the horns and repackage them after I'd gone through them. I then asked, "well, could a customer of mine stop in to try horns?" That was a different story. The answer was "yes". As far as I'm concerned, the truth is that there ARE good horns to be "cherry picked", and if you have to go to the factory to find them then something is wrong from a buyer's perspective. BUT from a dealer's perspective, if you can expect a shipment of several horns, in which there are some dogs (many dogs in my experience) then something is even more wrong. Here is the problem from a the small store's perspective: the factories turn out a mixed bag of good and bad horns. But they are all priced the same and they all have to sell for the same. Large discount houses buy the pro models in order to beef up their master orders and keep the factories happy happy happy. Then, because their bread is buttered on the student model/rental inventory side (not to mention guitars, percussion and keyboards) they dump the pro model winds for cost, sometimes less. And to make matters worse, as was alluded to in another post, B stock is often sold at a deep discount but is not marketed as B stock. The buying public only knows that deep discounts are the norm, and any small time shop selling for more is gouging them. Not true, but that's what they see. So as Bob Osmun points out, dealers would be insane to buy and sell "professional" model horns when they are getting the bottom of the barrel, Friday/Monday horns and competing against large houses selling for glut market prices who don't even open the box to check out the instrument before laying it in the hands of an eager kid. This is why I don't sell these horns, and this is why they have the reputation they do: some people love them, some people hate them. Why? Just look at the end product and you'll know why. Dave Weiner Brass Arts Unlimited, Inc. Baltimore, MD _______________________________________________ post: [EMAIL PROTECTED] set your options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
