mail order trombones and guitars

[bloke]

With the NECK of a guitar being SO VERY important - as well as the PLAYING SLIDE of a trombone,
- how in the world can anyone buy either of these (used) online from pictures?
- who in the heck would want to by an "8 out of 10" guitar neck or trombone slide?

[OhTubaGuy]

I agree, but also have been very lucky on eBay: 2 for 2 on trombones with better slides than I probably deserved.

[Bassboner]

Yeah, it's a speculative venture. If they're a reputable seller and they say 8/10, you're probably OK. I've bought dozens of bones online (mostly on the tbone forum) and I've been disappointed maybe 3 or 4 times. Generally a cleaning helps a lot. If it's a horn that I really want, I might be willing to put some extra work/money in to it. If your criteria is always a perfect slide you will either be disappointed or never buy a horn. A little risk makes the world go round.

[bloke]

I guess they've raised the grade name, but when I was in school 80% was a C.

[Mary Ann]

I remember many years ago locally going to playtest a bone that had a slide that felt like it was lined with sand paper. While I was there, the owner got a phone call with the person asking about the slide, and he was saying "of course the slide is good; I have played this for decades." I guess by "good" he meant "you can move it if you try hard enough."

Some people --- are either crazy or just ignorant. This was an older guy, and maybe he did play it for decades just like it was, and did not know the difference.

[MN_TimTuba]

I've only purchased a few instruments sight unseen, including one compact acoustic guitar that fits in my camper closet. Each time has gone well. I'm always more disappointed in my playing than in the instrument.
Tim

[Bassboner]

I think it really helps when you know something about the seller. I bought a used tuba from a guy in New Hampshire. I really loved the drive to southern NH, beautiful area. But this was my first tuba, and I had no idea what to expect, even if I'd be able to play a tuba. I talked to the seller several times before actually buying it. I had to buy (and sell) several tubas before I had any idea of what I was looking for or expecting from the tuba. My last online tuba purchase was from @arpthark, who I had done some previous tbone exchanges with and who seemed well recommended here. I bought the O-99, and I couldn't have been happier. The thing responds in a familiar way, and it will last me well into my next stage of tuba playing. And at $600 or whatever, I couldn't really go wrong.

I've done a couple purchases on eBay, and I'm more circumspect about those. I try to understand the difference between a good deal and something kind of sketchy. The last disappointment I had was a 24h which had an aberration in a photo, so I asked the seller if it had a crease in the bell. Oh, noooo, of course not. It came without a case packed in a box that wasn't as wide as the bell, and sure enough it had a crease in the bell. Weirdly the slide was like an 8.5/10 (better than what I would consider to be average). But it was a $500 horn, and the crease was like a $30 repair, and it plays like a monster 24h, so even with the crease, I'm ahead of the game.

If you're totally risk averse buying sight unseen may not be for you. There are certain things you can do to minimize the risk, so even when it's not what you hoped, it still isn't that bad. I've bought dozens of horns in the last 15 years and only once got really burned. I bought a Duo Gravis, and this guy sent it unwrapped in essentially a bag, with a loose mouthpiece. Of course it had more dents than a golf ball and was totally unplayable (2/10 if you're wondering). Still, if you follow your spidey sense, 95% of the time you're ok. If you make the right kind of deals, that 5% won't break you, but that has to be part of your planning.

[arpthark]

@Bassboner I'm glad we picked the weirdest little gas station in Brewster, NY to meet at!

I didn't tell you at the time, but I got completely turned around and lost in some backwoods neighborhood trying to find that weird little gas station. It was dark, in the middle of winter, with lots of one-way ramps that were not clearly marked and the road layout was just odd. My GPS was telling me instructions that did not align with the map on my phone or my eyes.

Anyway, I'm glad you are enjoying the Olds!

99% of the exchanges I make these days, I meet someone in-person. I will ship a horn but am very hesitant and if anything I go overboard with padding. I had a beautiful vintage Alex 164 being shipped from Europe suffer a really unfortunate bell crunch due to poor packing. I've been on the other side of that in my younger days when I shipped a Cerveny 601 via Greyhound that ended up fairly crunched up -- this was to a forum member from TubeNet and who is now a member here, and I wonder if he even remembers that, because he just immediately shipped it back to me and said "no thanks." That was 10 years ago. In person is pretty much the way to go. If the buyer wants to take the risk, I will do my best job, but that's up to them.

I buy the occasional trombone every now and then sight-unseen, but usually from Goodwill or eBay with the anticipation that I will have to do some work on it, so a goofy slide is not a deal-breaker. I picked up my tenor Benge in-person in Massachusetts, and my Bach 50BL in Vermont from someone who drove down from Montreal (the exchange rate really worked out in my favor on that one, paying in Canadian $$$). Nice slides on both but I'm not a pro and I'm barely even a trombone player, so I'm pretty easy to please.

[Bassboner]

@Bassboner I'm glad we picked the weirdest little gas station in Brewster, NY to meet at!

Oh, yeah, that gas station was in an odd little location. Freezing cold weather, we hadn't been out of the car since Virginia. I had my 80 year old father with me and he insisted on driving. His dog barked the whole time. It seemed the closer we got the slower we were going.

But that horn is really nice. Some new felts and I'm happy as a clam. I'll be stylin' at tuba Christmas this year.