Saturday, September 5, 2009

Saxophone Rent To Own Payment Plan

Starting in July of 2009, CE Winds started offering to middle school, high school, and college students, the option to make rent to own payments on our Alpha Series Alto and Tenor saxophones.

It has been a great success so far, and we want to keep promoting the offer for as long as we can! If you havn't had the chance to check it out, alto and tenor saxophones only cost you $30 per month with a small deposit.

Remember, this isn't a saxophone rental program, this is a rent to own payment plan for saxophones.

Also, these aren't used or pre-owned instruments, beat up Yamaha YAS or YTS 23's, or Conn 24's, these are brand new CE Winds Alpha Series Tenor and Alto saxophones, the same ones that people in the US and around the world have been giving very favorable reviews to.

Check it out if you havn't yet... click here: CE Winds Saxophone Payment Plan

God bless!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Don't forget to STUDY YOUR SCALES!!

I used to bring my sax home every day from school.... I had like a two mile walk from the bus stop and had to carry my Yamaha YAS 23 with me, because my parents did not want me to leave it at school. Back then (I started playing in 1989) $1300 was A LOT of money to pay for a student sax, or a saxophone PERIOD, and my parents wanted to make sure there investment was safe.

Anyway, I would be forced to lug this thing home (glad I didn't play tenor), knowing I should practice, I never would. I neglected my scale study, and found that later on that was a HUGE mistake.

Bottom line is, SCALES ARE IMPORTANT! Learn them, ALL, memorize them ALL, and know them by heart!

I mean, if you are going to carry your sax home anyway, you might as well use it.

Trust me.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Music Life Lessons - For Students

I remember being in school, in our music programs, but I honestly don't remember being 'taught' too much. I mean I had good teachers in band, but unless I just wasn't paying attention - which I highly doubt - teachers just didn't have time to really educate theory of music, they just pretty much told us to 'read this' or 'do this'.

Thats fine for a student who was just in band because their parents wanted them to play an instrument, but it did no good to the student who really wanted to be a musician for their careeer choice. That is where I think school music education lacked.

As much as I can over the next few blogs I am going to visit some VERY IMPORTANT areas students need to pay attention in, or even self study, if you want to pursue a career in music. I found out myself the hard way that natural talent could only get you so far, but eventually you need a 'solid education & routine' in order to make it.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Time Flys!

Man, has it really been since March when I posted our last blog? So much has happened since then.... where do I start.

First off, we got LOADS of new stuff in stock, from Alpha Series Black Nickel alto, tenor and soprano saxophone, Red Brass Copper altos and sopranos, even archaize bronze and clear lacquer baritone saxophones.

We started a rent to own program for Alpha Series Clear Lacquer Saxophones, Alto and Tenor. It has been working out pretty well for us so far, people have been pretty excited to pay for a CE Winds sax over a two year period - gives it even better value for them!

Texas Bandmasters show in July went AWESOME! People loved our stuff in person, techs, pros, teachers, students, all were coming and playing our horns, examining them, and most comments were the same... "you sell them for how much???" We never get sick of hearing that.

Well folks, I promise to our followers I will not take so long to post another blog..... I PROMISE! I have lots of updates, very little time, but I'll make it work.

Blessings to you all from CE Winds Florida!!!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Depreciating Assets

Depreciating Assets

I get a ton of emails from (mostly) parents looking to sell the instrument their student played for 1 or 2 years. Mostly saxophones, but flutes, trumpets and clarinets are always in the mix.

Most of the time, when I give the parent (or seller) the value of the instrument, there is a reaction of total shock! “No way, I paid $_________) for this sax!” Well, I do believe them, but what most don’t realize is that student saxes, for the most part, depreciate at a rapid rate. Yamaha makes one of the best student alto saxophones you can buy, and for $1200-1400, they are great instruments. However, as soon as you use the sax for 3 months (sometimes even less) it’s lost over half of its value. You would not to, at that point, be able to sell it for more than $600 at best, unless you found the right buyer at the right time.

Is that to say, don’t buy an expensive new student saxophone? Not at all. What it IS saying is that you as the consumer should be aware that if you DO buy one, it will go down in value. The best way to get the money back is to encourage your young prodigy to play the sax for more than a few years, or to look for a more affordable, high quality brand such as the CE Winds Alpha line for students/intermediate players, or even consider buying a gently used instrument from eBay or craigslist.org.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

The BIG 4 ….. are they really worth it? Yamaha, Selmer, Yanagisawa, & Keilwerth

The big four….. are they really worth it? Yamaha, Selmer, Yanagisawa, & Keilwerth.

For the most part, the answer is yes. It’s hard to argue the history and craftsmanship, and the dedication to ingenuity, that’s really what makes them the best saxophone makers in the world today. They reinvest into the technology that has really changed the saxophone industry as we know it. To play the best saxophones though comes at a high price. Companies such as these will not allow you to deal direct, so you are purchasing through a chain of buyers, all of whom are taking a little piece for profit. It is business, and generally this is how business works. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just buy direct from the companies and cut out all the middlemen?

The existence of companies like these four has really opened the doors for companies like CE Winds, Phil Barone, Cannonball, P. Mauriat, & Antigua Winds to be able to provide a competitive instrument at a much more affordable price.

We (CE Winds) work directly with our customers and dealers so that we can eliminate the middle buyers, allowing for a high quality instrument that will stand next to and compete with any saxophone in the market today, at a price that most buyers can afford."

Should you get the big four? Well, if you have the money lying around, maybe. Should you check out some other options as well, like CE Winds? The answer to that is Yes, Yes, Yes.

Friday, February 27, 2009

It's about time....

I know, I know. It's 2009 and we still don't (didn't) have a blog. Well.... now we do. So please stop making fun of us for it, and please subscribe to it. :-) Thank you.

We will try to make as many updates as we can, and add as much useful information (and I'll admit some not so useful), and it will generally be saxophone related, but we will also share about all other musical instruments and just about whats happening in our industry.

If you have anything you want added, just give us a shout. Email me at brians@christophherelliottinc.com.