Question about buying musical instruments

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As noted, the cheap Ebay instruments are generally only suitable for wall decoration or movie props after a year of actual use. They might not sound terrible when brand new, but they are often so poorly constructed that they can’t be adjusted or fixed when the inevitable does happen and service is needed.

When in doubt about a brand, look around and find the regional expert for adjusting the instrument in question. Then call that shop and ask them if they’d do a pad replacement and adjustment on the brand you are thinking of. If they won’t even touch it, don’t buy it at any price. Sometimes that regional repair expert is the best guy to buy a used instrument from too. I bought my daughter an old YAS-23 alto sax from PM Woodwinds in Evanston, IL for $550 and it’s been trouble-free for three years now of beginner use (with a big thumbs up from her sax teacher). It is clearly a grizzled veteran, but it still has a big sound!
 
manualman said:
As noted, the cheap Ebay instruments are generally only suitable for wall decoration or movie props after a year of actual use. They might not sound terrible when brand new, but they are often so poorly constructed that they can’t be adjusted or fixed when the inevitable does happen and service is needed.

When in doubt about a brand, look around and find the regional expert for adjusting the instrument in question. Then call that shop and ask them if they’d do a pad replacement and adjustment on the brand you are thinking of. If they won’t even touch it, don’t buy it at any price. Sometimes that regional repair expert is the best guy to buy a used instrument from too. I bought my daughter an old YAS-23 alto sax from PM Woodwinds in Evanston, IL for $550 and it’s been trouble-free for three years now of beginner use (with a big thumbs up from her sax teacher). It is clearly a grizzled veteran, but it still has a big sound!
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I bought my Chinese euph from a dealer, not from Ebay, and it was definitely cheap (<$1k delivered, which is an amazing price for a full compensating euph). Two years later it still plays/sounds great, to the point where the pros at June’s International Euphonium Institute Festival commented favorably on the sound that I was getting out of it. It also won me first place in a solo competition. Wall decoration? I think not.
 
Somewhere there’s a happy and satisfied Trabant owner too. I’m still not recommending them! 😉

I will admit to knowing nothing of brass instruments. I never had that much of the rasberries in me. Clarinets, flutes and saxes: don’t buy new cheapos unless you can find a shop that knows them and fixes them.
 
manualman said:
Somewhere there’s a happy and satisfied Trabant owner too. I’m still not recommending them! 😉

I will admit to knowing nothing of brass instruments. I never had that much of the rasberries in me. Clarinets, flutes and saxes: don’t buy new cheapos unless you can find a shop that knows them and fixes them.
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To call a Jinbao instrument a Trabant with no personal experience is somewhat uncalled for, I think. I did a lot of research before I bought mine; there are several years of accumulated comments on the Tuba-Euphonium forum alone.

However, from my experience, the reeds and flute are more complex and easier to get wrong than are the brasses.
 
JerryZ said:
How’s the saying go? The best form of flattery is imitation 😃

But yes 1ke is right there is no sin here. It’s like someone making a copy of a Stradivari violin, he is using a template of a successfull instrument. Most musical instruments are not covered by patents their designs being soo old that if they had applied for them they are no longer valid.
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Sort of a Stradivariation, so to speak.
 
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