Being an informed shopper

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Russjones92
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Location: High Point NC

Being an informed shopper

Post by Russjones92 »

I am just very greatful for my experiences as a musician and for pages like this one as I’m shopping around a potential “new” horn. While there are a good many sellers who are honest about what they have, there are far too many people (on flea bay not here) who say “selling bass trombone” but it’s clearly a straight tenor or they are asking retail prices for broken horns... I’m just thankful that I know what to look for because of groups like this.
So thanks for all the info
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ghmerrill
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by ghmerrill »

If you want a real laugh, look some time at the instrument descriptions on shopgoodwill.com. These err on both sides: some are overly inflated descriptions of old student models, and some are lame descriptions of very high quality "vintage" instruments. I don't think I've seen a "bass trombone" on there that was close to being a bass trombone. Anything with with an F attachment is a "bass trombone" to a lot of people.
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb tuba
Mack Brass Compensating Euph
Amati Oval Euph
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone
DE LB K/K10/112 Lexan, M&K GR Nickel leadpipe
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Bach 12c)
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Russjones92
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by Russjones92 »

Lol yea I’ve been checking under every rock I think I might just have to go the finance route to get what I want lol
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SwissTbone
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by SwissTbone »

Yea knowing about the horns and the market value is really important. And of course this forum is a great help with this!

What are you looking for?
ƒƒ---------------------------------------------------ƒƒ
Like trombones? Head over to https://swisstbone.com/ to see some great vintage and custom horns!
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Russjones92
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by Russjones92 »

pretty much either a large bore tenor or a bass that won’t break the bank lol
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braymond21
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by braymond21 »

Reverb.com is also a good place to check for horns. It's specifically for instruments and you can get some good deals on instruments.
Bryce Raymond
Owner/Repair Tech, Raymond Music
https://www.raymondmusic.com
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greenbean
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by greenbean »

I have several large tenors for sale: Bachs, a Benge, maybe a Conn... You can PM me.
Tom in San Francisco
Currently playing...
Bach Corp 16M
Many French horns
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Kingfan
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by Kingfan »

Greenbean is an honest seller, good horns for good prices. There is a Blessing B-88 and a King large bore on the TromboneChat classifieds.
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are still missing! :D
Greg Songer
King 606, King 3B-F: DE LT101/LTD/D3
King 4B-F: Bach 5G Megatone gold plated
King 2107 bass: DE MB109/MB J/J8 King
Arrowhead
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by Arrowhead »

It's a trial and error process, both as a seller and shopper. I've had horns that were in near perfect condition sell for peanuts on eBay (won't do that again- no more auctions!), because folks are skeptical of buying off of eBay (with good reason-been there done that). I've also had folks pay top dollar for horns that I thought were pretty much junk- older Yamaha Xenos, King 2103, etc. Which tells me that people are brainwashed by brand names- King, Yamaha, Bach....
As for buying, the description and the pics say a lot. You can automatically tell if the seller is a trombone player or not. "The slider works good...." No pics of the inner slide, etc.
So now if I buy a horn off of eBay it comes with the 99% chance I'm going to have to send it off to the repair tech after it arrives, so I'm not disappointed when i open the box.
You generally get what you pay for. Nothing wrong with shelling out a few bucks if the horn looks good. We live in a market economy. Someone has to make a profit somewhere....
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SwissTbone
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by SwissTbone »

I have bought a lot of horns and never had a bad experience. I buy only when I have a good feeling with the seller. Never on ebay (yet).

As for price, there are more than enough sites where you can check the market value. Dillons is a pretty good source and Brassark.com for more rare horns.
ƒƒ---------------------------------------------------ƒƒ
Like trombones? Head over to https://swisstbone.com/ to see some great vintage and custom horns!
Arrowhead
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by Arrowhead »

Dillons can be good, but their prices are all marked up, almost double what the horn would normally go for. Also, a lot of people are trying out those horns listed on a daily basis (you can just walk in there with a mp, grab anything off the wall and play test it), and to be frank, some of those slides are out of alignment and need to be repaired. The good thing about Dillon's is their inventory is almost constantly changing and they get in a lot of stuff.
Doubler
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by Doubler »

FWIW - I have had a few dealings with Dillon Music, and they have treated me exceptionally well.
Current instruments:
Olds Studio trombone, 3 trumpets, 1 flugelhorn, 1 cornet, 1 shofar, 1 keyboard

Previous trombones:
Selmer Bundy, Marceau
Arrowhead
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Re: Being an informed shopper

Post by Arrowhead »

Here's a good example!
https://www.dillonmusic.com/used-conn-6 ... mbone.html
I'm selling two of these horns at nearly half the price!
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