Buying a new instrument
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There are a number of reasons why particular brands of instruments are less than half the price of other brands :
- Inferior materials that cause the instrument to lose its adjustments (e.g. soft pot metal which bends all too easily and is impossible to solder).
- Inferior plating which shows wear within weeks and months of use, rather than years.
- Design flaws that prevent the instrument being played in tune.
- Manufacturing faults that prevent the instrument from being played properly (e.g. on woodwinds, poor quality pads that leak even when new and on brass instruments, frustratingly sluggish pistons).
- Little demand and poor resale value. There is little demand for used poor quality instruments, therefore, they also have particularly low resale value.
Low price instruments are of low quality and lead to low player achievement. Simply put, these instruments are not subject to the same levels of quality control as name brand instruments.
The purchase of a musical instrument can be compared to the purchase of sports equipment, like a tennis racquet. Player improvement and enjoyment depends on the quality of the instrument/racquet. Both a poor quality racquet and poor quality instrument can lead to player frustration and even failure.
It is hard enough for a student to get a good sound from a good instrument, let alone a good sound from a poor instrument. As a general rule, cheaper instruments are more difficult to play, to the point where a player may be put off playing the instrument altogether.
Some repairers, including Wombat Woodwind & Brass refuse to accept non-name brand instruments for repairs because the poor quality materials cannot be reliably adjusted and may break during the course of standard repairs.
Note : These comments are not particular to Wombat Woodwind & Brass, our concerns regarding the limitations of cheap non name brand instruments are shared worldwide by reputable music suppliers and music educators. A myriad of supporting comments can be found by typing simple internet searches including terms such as "cheap instruments" + "warnings" + "music".
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Spare Parts Catalogue
The existence of a spare parts catalogue indicates the manufacturer's long-term commitment to the ongoing quality of their instruments. All name-brand manufacturers invest in spare parts inventories which ensure that their instruments can continue to be readily serviced and repaired; maintaining the instruments in good working order.
Wombat Woodwind & Brass proudly sells the following brands of quality instruments which all have spare parts catalogues. We also maintain an extensive on-site spare parts inventory which ensures we can readily complete most repairs.
Yamaha, Trevor James, Mateki, Jupiter , Buffet, Schreiber
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The absence of a spare parts catalogue indicates the manufacturer's lack of commitment to the ongoing quality of their instruments. The service and repair of instruments without spare parts inventories will prove to be either expensive or impossible. The expensive repairs will be due to parts having to be specially made. Repairs will be impossible when major damage has occurred e.g. lost saxophone neck, crushed trumpet piston. So, purchase of a lesser brand instrument will only prove to be economical in the very short term.
Pre-Delivery Service
Each instrument requires a pre-delivery service by a fully trained repairer to ensure that the instrument plays to the expected standard. The pre-delivery service involves taking the instrument out of the box and performing a number of tests and adjustments as required. The adjustments are needed to compensate for changes which have occurred en route from the overseas manufacturer to the local Australian supplier; caused by environmental changes (heat, cold, humidity) and unavoidable bumps and knocks.
All new instruments sold by Wombat Woodwind & Brass include a pre-delivery service completed by a formally qualified experienced repairer.
The absence of a pre-delivery service may seriously limit the playing experience because changes have occurred during shipping e.g. pads affected by changes in humidity, corks compressing, slides out of alignment, joints too tight/loose, oil dissipating causing noisy key action.
It is highly unlikely that a pre-delivery service has been conducted if a new instrument is presented to you fresh "out of the box" in its original wrapping, including packaging extras such as cork wedges securing keys on saxophones and clarinet.