TubaForum.net

Isn't their Tuba Showroom in Jacksonville? They had a poster advertising Tuba Showroom at a recent regional conference.
https://m.facebook.com/106400505309684/

Someone I've talked to recently said they got a Baer direct from there for a little more than $17K. They don't have a dealer network anymore as I understand it, BBC (since before the announcement) and Dillon Music don't have new Buffet Group horns listed. Those are the stores I deal with the most, so I don't know who might have stock from any other store

@matt g

I'm certainly not any economic genius, but my suspicion (??) is that lower consumer pricing (cutting out retailers) isn't really going to increase sales - if all of the stock (as well as "the" showroom) is geographically closer to Bimini than it is to the overwhelming majority of US consumers.

I certainly could understand how European and US manufacturers are feeling the "hurt" as up-and-coming Asian manufacturers' stuff gets better - and with some of it being actually or perceived as "good enough for (whomever 'me' might be) me".

I could recall a story about - a few years ago - being solicited by this European company as a potential dealer (which might ?? be instructive), but I'll refrain.

I would tend to guess (??) that - when WWBW shut down their retail palace in South Bend, went to a pure warehouse model - tuba sales dropped...even though they allow *"trials", etc. (I see a bunch of the models stating - to the effect - "place your order now", or "be notified when back in stock", etc.)

One Asian-instrument retailer has a showroom (still?) in one large city (which I drive W-A-Y around, if heading to Wisconsin, but whatever...
I asked JP about a showroom, to which their response was, "Our dealers are our showrooms".

Perusing that linked list, I don't have a jones for any of those, but - well - I'm old and senile, so...
____________________________________
*Does wwbw/MF/GT offer FREE return shipping on "It's just not for me" tuba returns? These days, that's going to be several hundred bucks.

bloke "based on personal comparisons, not-in-the-least interested in selling my of-the-first-batch 5450 for $13,250"

@jtuba, thanks for that!

I reached out via Facebook to ask for pricing on a B&S 3100 (non-W) but hadn’t heard back.

I’m still interested as that’s in the ballpark of the old Symphonie model.

ETA:

That $1,100 added to get a handmade Baer vs. semi-handmade is eye opening.

matt g wrote: ↑Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:08 pm @jtuba, thanks for that!

I reached out via Facebook to ask for pricing on a B&S 3100 (non-W) but hadn’t heard back.

I’m still interested as that’s in the ballpark of the old Symphonie model.

ETA:

That $1,100 added to get a handmade Baer vs. semi-handmade is eye opening.

I posted on the other thread about that... maybe it wasn't as big of a difference as we were made to believe?

bort2.0 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:14 pm

matt g wrote: ↑Fri Jul 15, 2022 3:08 pm @jtuba, thanks for that!

I reached out via Facebook to ask for pricing on a B&S 3100 (non-W) but hadn’t heard back.

I’m still interested as that’s in the ballpark of the old Symphonie model.

ETA:

That $1,100 added to get a handmade Baer vs. semi-handmade is eye opening.

I posted on the other thread about that... maybe it wasn't as big of a difference as we were made to believe?

My opinion was that it was a higher markup at the risk of lower turnover plus some buffer just so that the one or two people that could hand form the larger bows weren’t overbooked for work.

As I hinted at above, most of the tubas are handmade/assembled anyhow. So the main difference is the amount of time it takes for a handful of bows to be made by hand. Based on the cost difference, it’s about a day or two of extra labor which seems plausible.

What’ll be interesting is that the handmade 6450 now only sits at about $4k more than the Eastman 836. While nothing to sneeze at, it’s a much smaller gap than the roughly $15 000 it was prior. If there’s an actual demand out there for handmade 6/4 CC tubas, Buffet Crampon is about to see some leadtimes develop.

I have already commented on this, but years ago - when there was a different company - Boosey and Hawkes/Buffet, they offered me a dealership, but it looked to me as though Dennis Bamber’s retail prices were all lower than their end-column dealer prices, so I saw no point in agreeing to buy a certain amount of their stuff every year.

For a while after Dennis Bamber lost his business, I guess it was a pretty good thing for stores to become B&S dealers. After Buffet bought them, I immediately began to wonder what would eventually happened to the dealers. Once the Chinese quality reached a certain point, I guessed correctly at what what happen regarding those dealers. I expect the Chinese manufacturers to all eventually do the same thing.

Ironically, a few years ago I had some representatives stop by here and offer me a dealership. The problem was that they showed me a tuba that would cost me $7500, plus probably at least $400 for a case, plus shipping, and were trying to sell it to me as a great tuba for schools. At that time, I had never sold nor repaired any school-owned tubas that schools paid even $8000 to buy.

Am I remembering incorrectly, or am I remembering correctly that - a couple of decades ago or so - Buffet nearly went bankrupt, and was sold for an extremely low price?