Expensive means: Nicer for Longer
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:45 am
My definition of expensive is: something that costs more of my life force than something that costs less of my life force. Most of us give up our life force in exchange for money that we exchange for goods. i.e. a $5000 tuba is way more expensive to me than a $10,000 tuba is to someone earning ten or twenty times my salary.
From more than 24 years working on and selling tubas for Dillon Music, I have observed: The more expensive a musical instrument is in the mind of the owner, the better it is taken care of over the years.
I've seen brand new $12,000 tubas bought by kids (their parents) who have never known want, come back a year later with a beat up horn complaining it isn't holding up. I've seen 4 year old Chinese tubas only show lacquer wear on contact points that were bought by a family that scrimped and saved to buy what the child is grateful to own and considers to be precious.
Yes, there is a certain level below which is pure crap. But above that point, how well something is cared for makes the biggest difference to how long it lasts.
From more than 24 years working on and selling tubas for Dillon Music, I have observed: The more expensive a musical instrument is in the mind of the owner, the better it is taken care of over the years.
I've seen brand new $12,000 tubas bought by kids (their parents) who have never known want, come back a year later with a beat up horn complaining it isn't holding up. I've seen 4 year old Chinese tubas only show lacquer wear on contact points that were bought by a family that scrimped and saved to buy what the child is grateful to own and considers to be precious.
Yes, there is a certain level below which is pure crap. But above that point, how well something is cared for makes the biggest difference to how long it lasts.