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- Gimmick water keys and valve bumpers don't add value.
- Silver plating might add value to a few, but in general it's sort of like a swimming pool in the backyard of a house that's for sale.
- High-end carrying sacks or cases that are in good condition could add a couple hundred dollars to the value of a tuba, but people are shopping for an instrument, and not for a cover.
- Whether or not dents have an effect on the sound, they certainly have an effect on the price.
- A tuba which has had bell creases repaired is not worth as much as one that has never been damaged, and the celebrity of the repairman means nothing compared to how well the creases were repaired.
- Only I am me (luckily for the world), but I'm suspicious of tubas which have had the lacquer stripped from their bells, as well as being suspicious as to any explanations of why.
- Models which are consistently known to feature troublesome rotors are going to feature troublesome rotors, even if some recognized repair person has worked on them. A mechanic cannot work on a Kia and make it into a Toyota.
- A large percentage of custom gadgetry - at least in pictures - looks (to me) as if it needs to be torn off and either redone or left off.
- Asking 80% of a competitive new price telegraphs the fact that the seller really isn't interested in selling.
- Regardless of the condition, used prices of unpopular models of anything-in-particular drop like a rock.
- Even though some people ask why something is being sold, it's really none of potential buyers' business, and sellers need not feel obligated to respond to such a question. After all, it was sold new and - when it was sold new - the buyer did not ask the retailer why they were selling it. THE reason to sell something is to get money for it. For a player/seller to state that they're "moving up to a better instrument" or "it's just not for me" - as reasons for selling - are not productive strategies.
- Advertisements for tubas do not need to mention "great intonation". Tubas are out of tune. If anything, it might be accepted positively to mention how little out of tune typical problematic pitches are - when playing a for-sale instrument.
- Very few people are interested in a musical instrument's provenance. If anything, mentioning fairly well known players who formerly owned an instrument simply demonstrates that it wasn't good enough for them, so they decided to sell it.

Players who are sponsored by makers will sell instruments if they change sponsors. In that case, the one they are selling is the best example they could get of that model while they were playing it.

Which begs a question addressed in the post, "Why did they change sponsors?"

How about:

If I am looking at an instrument that needs cleaning or minor repairs, I am mentally deduction 1.5X what my repair guy would charge from the price I am willing to pay for the instrument.

This is a rule of thumb that has worked well for me (being that I have never purchased a new or even newish brass instrument).

My repair-guy doesn't charge me a whole lot, but he show-iz clumsy.

I would add, in relation to the cleaning comment above-

CLEAN THE DANG THING!! That’s a huge turn-off to potential buyers - I buy your horn for full price, then have to pay more to not have it for a few weeks? Nah. I’ll buy another one.

Or, if for whatever reason (mostly - college kids) don’t have any money to do that, expect to knock the price of a cleaning off your asking price if you didn’t factor it in (like said above)

That should be a rule of thumb. If nothing else, it’s just common decency!

And no feet!

Three Valves wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2024 5:31 pm And no feet!

Courtois player:

Correctly priced items, tubas included, will sell if there is a matching buyer.

That’s my “tip.”

I’ve seen some crazy shtuff bought and sold!

Mary Ann wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2024 9:52 am Players who are sponsored by makers will sell instruments if they change sponsors. In that case, the one they are selling is the best example they could get of that model while they were playing it.

I have a wonderful tuba thanks to the previous owner being a sponsored artist. Lucky me!

bloke wrote: ↑Thu Nov 14, 2024 8:47 am - Advertisements for tubas do not need to mention "great intonation". Tubas are out of tune. If anything, it might be accepted positively to mention how little out of tune typical problematic pitches are - when playing a for-sale instrument.

I sold my first F tuba with comments about how some notes were quite out of tune, along with the alternate fingerings that worked for me but that were enough bother that I preferred another tuba instead. Someone bought it anyway, maybe to do some rotary F penance, or maybe because the price was right.

When I sold the second F tuba, the comments were more like “intonation is pretty good for a rotary F.” I think that was true, too, even though the one I have now is a lot better.

My NStar came from a sponsored artist, so did my MW F that is now being played in the Pittsburgh symphony, and my first 184 CC "theoretically" was owned and played by Torchinsky. i wish I still had that 184, but my reasons for selling it were not that I thought I could find something better. The Hagen is just as good as any of those and is eons better than the one I rejected.

The best prices that sponsored artists get are the prices that stores pay. That pricing usually comes with expectations of promoting the model on the internet and at shows like tmea and Midwest.
You've probably seen people post stuff like "#playshires" etc. Doing that is at the specific request/expectation of the manufacturer.

Here is one: don’t ask for a recording of ME playing it. You won’t get the same sound or results. If you are scared of leaks, you can come and play it. Me playing it in or out of tune won’t help you tune it any better.

Here is another: including a mouthpiece with a horn does not add value unless it’s a rare mouthpiece, like an original Conn Geib because I probably won’t use that mouthpiece.

To go on the comment about tuning: horns that are advertised as “in tune” are often some of hardest horns to play in tune.