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Most of the stuff we buy every day has roughly doubled in price.

If not for you, then you might be buying different stuff...whatever.

TOPIC: INSTRUMENTS

People don't "need" instruments.
College kids who claim to "need" them don't really understand the definition of the word, "need".
Many others can hold off, use what they have, or do without (and the sun will rise again tomorrow).

Just because prices of most everyday purchases (and houses - if anyone has recently bought a house) have doubled DOES NOT MEAN that people have twice the money. Actually, most people have considerably LESS money.

When I'm selling stuff, I'm keeping all this in mind.
If I foolishly try to raise the price of the stuff I sell enough "to keep up with inflation", I know that not much of it will end up being sold.

I try to be a realist - about a whole lot of things.
My experience is that embracing reality (and using plain words to state what is real) tends to be a bit offensive to some, but it seems to work best for me.

Agreed. Prices go up. People dont have more money. This also applies to businesses. I work in manufacturing, and our work has slowed considerably due to the inflation. Stuff costs more and our customers are buying less. It really sucks. Some of my co workers are already being put on partial lay off. If this inflation doesnt ease up, i may also be put on a partial lay off. Good thing is that my employers believe in us (workers) and strive to keep us on. Still sucks though.

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One thing tuba related I am following is the used tuba market.

Since you can get a 6/4 Eastman or whatever brand for cheaper than ever (guess this is the new fad), the Buffet Crampon company took out the local shops and is selling directly to the customer at the old price without shop markup to stay competitive. I noticed when I saw these prices, it was about what people were starting and selling their “gently used” tubas of those brands for.

I am curious what the rate of price change between the German/Japanese/USA made instruments versus the Chinese imports will be in a couple of years (when you have students looking at buying tubas and such, helping them with a sound investment).

If I were to add to Mr. russiantuba's post, it would necessarily become (at least interpreted by some as) "political", and what's coming isn't good news.

bloke "Some of y'all are going to live through quite a bit more of it than will I...or not."

…or already have lived through.

Inflation (official inflation) and interest rates are still not as bad or prolonged as it was in the late 70s and early 80s.

One could argue that back then, the economy was in a genuine transition whereas today it’s self inflicted.

But that would be straying from the original intent of the topic.

You are reminding me of when someone foolishly tried to control inflation by price freezes mostly on food) which simply caused wholesalers and retailers to rename things as other things to avoid those price freezes, and you are also reminding me of a time between the late 60s and the mid 70s when the price of a Miraphone 186 completely doubled.
Actually, that time period was what prompted some people to start dabbling in the importation of East German (B&S, Hoyer, etc.) along with Czech musical instruments (Soviet controlled), because they cost so much less.
Oddly, in the early 1970s, I recall being able to buy gasoline a block and a half away from my house for 20 cents a gallon... so when I see pics on Facebook about "look how cheap gasoline used to be back in the 40s or 50s", we bought it for less than those prices shown on those old photographs, even allowing for inflation from those times to the 70s...
... I also remember nonsense from just a few years later when Talking Heads were claiming that the Earth was running out of petroleum. Via that alarmism and manipulation, gasoline prices suddenly shot up 70% and more. Quite a few people actually believed that the Earth was running out of petroleum, because they were told so by faces appearing on their televisions - the very faces that people today on Facebook claim were honest/trustworthy faces and to which I chuckle, which is the same reason that so many people believe things they are told today. As we've all experienced, we've just been through a multi-year orchestrated experiment to see just how much people will believe, just how compliant they will be, and just how fast they are willing to watch their spending ability evaporate.
Getting back to the tuba thing (as I posted this thread in the main forum) I think I'm remembering the (store-branded) B&S model 101 B-flat tubas selling for about $700 bucks retail advertised on really crappy looking black and white Xerox mailers) and some people have told me that - if you could buy them from the factory - stuff like that was only a couple hundred bucks. I remember seeing ads for those things around 1974, playing some Selmer imported ones that same year called Schneider but not realizing they were the same darn thing, and then - few years later - playing some other ones at a high school (when I was teaching at KU for just one year), and thinking that they played just fine, and way better than those Yamaha 641 things that had also arrived on the market.

Surely the rock-bottom gig pay of $50 will be a thing of the past...$100 or at least $80 coming soon! Yeah we'll see some of that inflation, probably 20 years behind everything else.

$50 is "Would you please come play for free, if I pay for your gas and give you a bologna sandwich?"

Inflation Is a PAY CUT!
How can you work for some one who cuts your income time after time?
"Tuba......market price'" JLH

groovlow wrote: ↑Sun Apr 23, 2023 8:51 pm Inflation Is a PAY CUT!
How can you work for some one who cuts your income time after time?
"Tuba......market price'" JLH

Considering who really orchestrates it, more people claim that inflation is a tax...but then some will claim that "inflation is actually caused by [insert all sorts of Keynesian gobbledygook here]", we'll end up with a spat, and the monitors will step in, so...

bloke "nevermind...I didn't say that."

Other than prices going up (gasoline just jumped to $4.50+ here and I wish I had filled the truck two weeks ago) I have also noticed that suddenly there are used tubas on the market again, when there just weren't any for a couple of years. And I am totally happy that I have my three Miraphones.

Most all grocery prices have doubled...including store brands from their previous pricing.

I'm thinking that almond milk might be one thing that has only gone up (store brand) from c. $1.79 to c. $2.50, but - if not "caught" right after being restocked - it's immediately sold out, which (for those of you who've taken freshman economics) indicates that supply/demand will soon define that price level as unstable.

The very cheapest gas (without grocery store points) is around $3 here, which is also double what the cheapest gas was - prior to the top-down orchestrated economic shutdown and money-printing.

...and yeah...(for a short time) house prices seem to climb by 50% - 60%, but I predict a crash in that market...and - with so many investors having bought so many at inflated prices - that's going to be interesting.

I'm just glad that I'm (ok..."somewhat") separated from high-density populated areas...

bloke wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 8:37 am...and yeah...(for a short time) house prices seem to climb by 50% - 60%, but I predict a crash in that market...and - with so many investors having bought so many at inflated prices - that's going to be interesting.

During the pandemic, the "Escape from Chicago" crowd bought anything and everything habitable here in Manistee and the surrounding lakeshore communities at absurdly high prices when working from home (or a second home) was a thing.

Now that working remotely has come to an end for so many people, some of those escapees are realizing what a PITA a second home is--especially in a lakeshore community where buildings are constantly battered by high winds--and we're seeing an increase in home inventory and lower prices.

@WC8KCY

As a sidebar, I've always been attracted to the houses along the Lake Michigan shore between Sheboygan and Manitowoc Wisconsin, but mostly due to fond memories of trips up there for family reunions when I was much much younger (40 to 65 years ago). Nearly everyone I was close to up there is now dead in the ground, and the winters are pretty bitter - particularly right there on the edge of the water.

I like blokeplace quite a bit...

bloke wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 11:44 am @WC8KCY

As a sidebar, I've always been attracted to the houses along the Lake Michigan shore between Sheboygan and Manitowoc Wisconsin, but mostly due to fond memories of trips up there for family reunions when I was much much younger (40 to 65 years ago). Nearly everyone I was close to up there is now dead in the ground, and the winters are pretty bitter - particularly right there on the edge of the water.

I like blokeplace quite a bit...

When I was with the Escanaba City Band, our main venue was the bandshell at Ludington Park on the Lake Michigan shoreline, which is overlooked by beautiful Victorian homes. I sure miss performing there, and can only imagine what a treat it would be to live in a home where you could take in a good concert from your front porch every Wednesday evening in the summertime.

Here in Manistee and neighboring Ludington, Victorian mansions built by lumber barons are in most of the long-established neighborhoods. Going for a walk of more than a few blocks will pass you by some gorgeous architecture.

WC8KCY wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 11:58 am

bloke wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 11:44 am @WC8KCY

As a sidebar, I've always been attracted to the houses along the Lake Michigan shore between Sheboygan and Manitowoc Wisconsin, but mostly due to fond memories of trips up there for family reunions when I was much much younger (40 to 65 years ago). Nearly everyone I was close to up there is now dead in the ground, and the winters are pretty bitter - particularly right there on the edge of the water.

I like blokeplace quite a bit...

When I was with the Escanaba City Band, our main venue was the bandshell at Ludington Park on the Lake Michigan shoreline, which is overlooked by beautiful Victorian homes. I sure miss performing there, and can only imagine what a treat it would be to live in a home where you could take in a good concert from your front porch every Wednesday evening in the summertime.

Here in Manistee and neighboring Ludington, Victorian mansions built by lumber barons are in most of the long-established neighborhoods. Going for a walk of more than a few blocks will pass you by some gorgeous architecture.

Those miles of houses that I refer to were - many MANY years ago - empty beach.
The dairy farmers considered the land close to the Lake to be worthless, due to their being so much sand in it and - thus - infertile...no good as pasture land. These days, those are very nice-nice to extremely-nice retirement homes and the weekend-escape homes of well-to-do Milwaukeeans.

I small gap is located in the old settlement of Hika, which is (obviously) at the shore immediately east of the very small town of Cleveland, Wisconsin. There formerly was a hotel there, and the park is called (duh) Hika Park. I never go up there without visiting that park.







...so this is just a hint of what it's like to live right on the Lake Michigan shore - and more than an hour north of Milwaukee...
(and - from the highway - Highway LS (aka "lakeshore"), just about all you can see of those houses is trees, bushes, and entryways.)





BTW...ALL of this is @ParLawGod Country. This is where he supports his family by making music.

bloke wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 5:27 pm Those miles of houses that I refer to were - many MANY years ago - empty beach.
The dairy farmers considered the land close to the Lake to be worthless, due to their being so much sand in it and - thus - infertile...no good as pasture land. These days, those are very nice-nice to extremely-nice retirement homes and the weekend-escape homes of well-to-do Milwaukeeans.

I small gap is located in the old settlement of Hika, which is (obviously) at the shore immediately east of the very small town of Cleveland, Wisconsin. There formerly was a hotel there, and the park is called (duh) Hika Park. I never go up there without visiting that park.

Lovely, thanks for sharing the pics.
We were in your neighborhood this past weekend - well, closer than from Northern California, anyway - in Huntsville for NABBA, and were tickled to see gas for $3.19-9/10. No vapor reclamation on the nozzles, either. It was like stepping back in time. Same with the prices to eat out. Fabulous trip at any rate, but especially nice to enjoy better value than what we're accustomed to.
I sold my 1940s King 1261 yesterday. Per Uncle Sam's inflation calculator, if I'd sold it just a few years ago for what I'd been offered then I'd have profited quite a bit more than the offer I accepted yesterday. I.e. my one data point supports your supposition, assuming I understood it correctly.
I'm not complaining - my music is hobby, not business. Despite the financial times, I managed to break even for the original cost + restoration. I'm pleased with a decade's rent-free use of a lovely horn and the satisfaction of having kept it off the trash heap.

I remember (AFTER "milk factories" became a thing, pastured cows became NOT a thing, and using the manure to fertilize the pastures became NOT a thing) a few decades ago that Hika Park actually STUNK from the manure running out of ditches and streams into Lake Michigan...but that's since been addressed. I'm pretty sure that they now SELL all the manure they produce.

bloke "Factory milk tastes VERY bland, compared to alfalfa-fed pastured manure-fertilized cows milk. When I was a little kid, Wisconsin whole milk (yeah...just regular grocery store whole milk) actually tasted like a DESSERT, to me."

This (figuratively and literally) SUCKS: