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.

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.