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.