street value

Casey Tucker · Post by **Casey Tucker** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 2:12 pm

well if you made it to you houston i have $100 cash some pocket lent and a paperclip. you like?!

Ace · Post by **Ace** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:30 pm

Dirty Ernie,

Your question is a reasonable one, and does not deserve some of the lame-*** responses above.

Let me give you a real-life example of what your Miraphone 1291-5 CC might be worth.

I bought my 1291 CC from WWBW when Roger was still there. WWBW had a 5% discount and free shipping offer at that time., so my cost was approximately $6300. I used the horn for eight months. Although I liked the wonderful low range of the 1291, I couldn't get used to a piston horn, and actually preferred the sound of my Miraphone 188 CC rotary-valve tuba.

I spread the word in the San Francisco Bay area tuba community and sold the tuba almost immediately for approximately $6200. Granted, it was in mint condition.

If your horn is in good shape, it is quite valuable. Don't sell it for some unreasonably low price. Wait for a buyer who doesn't wear blue suede shoes and a white belt.

Good luck.

Ace · Post by **Ace** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 8:05 pm

My post was not directed to you, Joe. In fact, I always enjoy the information and photos that you post.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:35 pm

$3,597.14

Steve Inman · Post by **Steve Inman** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:20 am

bloke wrote:
LoyalTubist wrote:$3,597.14
damn...I'm out.

I'll go $3597.15 .....

My point being to agree with bloke's earlier post, and some of the other good advice.
1. Search the FS part of this site using the term 1291 and see what asking prices have been.
2. log onto eBay and look at the prices of completed auctions for 1291 horns
3. Pick a very reasonable 50% of wholesale minimum bid on eBay, and set your reserve at something significantly higher -- whatever you learn from your research (suggested in steps 1 & 2 above). If you really want to sell it, set the reserve for $5K -- if it's worth $6K during the week of your particular auction, that's what you'll get. If the "street" will only fork over $5100, then that's what you'll get. If you think it "should" go for $5500, then use that as your reserve.
4. Repeat #3 above if not successful the first time -- vary either the starting minimum bid (if no bids were ever received) or the reserve price (if it didn't sell).

Cheers,

Uncle Buck · Post by **Uncle Buck** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 10:29 am

This has been pointed out in numerous other responses, so I'm not sure why I'm repeating it here, but a HUGE factor is how quickly you need to sell.

That is a factor that it is NOT in your best interest to disclose in the public forum where any potential buyer is likely to read it.

If you are in a hurry to sell, then eBay is by far the best place to see what the immediate "street value" is, at least at the present moment.

If you've got a little more time, you can play with a higher asking price and consider other options - posting it here in the "For Sale" section, using bassclefbrass, or selling on consignment with a dealer.

Again, repeating what has already been said: You've been given some EXCELLENT advice in this thread. There isn't much else to say - it's your move now.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 2:52 pm

Having sold a few tubas, I can offer the following guidelines:

Condition--if it looks and plays like new, you should be able to get at least 80% of what you paid for it, subject to the remainder of this list.
Currency exchange rate fluctuations. With the USD headed into the toilet in relation to the Euro, you ought to be able to do considerably better, as the "replacement value" of the horn increases.
Locale. Local markets can be hideously fickle. There are places in this country where you couldn't sell a CC tuba if you offered it for 50% of what you paid for it.
Trends. Rotary-valved tubas seem to be out of fashion nowadays, so piston valves are in demand. It was the other way around in the 1970's.
The horn itself. If your instrument is a lemon, don't expect to get top dollar. If it's acquired a bad reputation, that will hurt also. Fortunately for you, the 1291 seems to enjoy a good rep, at least for the BBb model. The CC doesn't seem to be as popular.
Your skills as a salesman. Pictures and painful honesty are what seem to sell tubas. Folks seem to be able to sniff out mendacity pretty well.

Offhand, I'd guess a good start is asking somewhere in the neighborhood of $6000 for your horn; more if you're patient.

adam0408 · Post by **adam0408** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:01 pm

I think it all depends on how quickly you want to sell it. You could probably find someone that would pay 5500 for it, but it might take quite some time. Sell it for 2500 and you will have people busting down your door.

Here's what I say:

If you've got time, put it out there at a price about 500-1000 above what you want to sell it at. Wait for people to come to you and talk you down. If they talk you down 800, then everybody is happy and feels like they got a good deal.

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:24 pm

Bob1062 wrote:Then again, northwest Indiana wasn't exactly a hotbed of tubadom.

Try to find a new BBb in stock anywhere.

Northwest Indiana, huh? How far? I note that you didn't specify "da Region", so I'm guessing Valpo or Merrillville or thereabouts. I was born and grown in Hammond.

Uncle Buck · Post by **Uncle Buck** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 5:55 pm

This is veering WAY off track, but as Rick always says - nobody owns a thread, so . . .

bloke wrote: If you're trying to win the ****-*** of the Year contest . . .

OK, that one made me laugh out loud.

I was raised by a father who wasn't very well-versed in "colorful metaphors." I would be in trouble for a simple "damn" or "hell" - he never even said either of those.

Once when I was about ten, he and my mom were having an argument, and he got really mad. There was a long pause, where all of us kids in the room could tell he was trying to think of the worst possible thing to say, and he called her a "****-***."

We all started laughing hysterically, because we had never heard those two words used in combination - it just sounded funny. We gave him a hard time about it for the next thirty years or so.

By the way, I'm in complete agreement with your post.

tofu · Post by **tofu** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:26 pm

djwesp · Post by **djwesp** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 11:41 pm

DirtyErnie wrote:gee, i ask an honest practical question and get a bunch of pseudo-serious answers. You think I don't know that something is worth what someone else will pay for it?
I spend a lot of time doing things that are not related to the tuba world these days so I don't have an ear to the ground. I come to where people have many ears to the ground and look for help and suddenly it turns into amateur night at the Apollo...
Grow up, all y'all.

Oh dear god man!

Why don't you just cover yourself in beer and honey and run at a pack of grizzly bears feeding on salmon in an Alaskan stream. You are going to be eaten alive.

LoyalTubist · Post by **LoyalTubist** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 4:09 am

The thing is that a tuba is worth whatever you're willing to pay for it. Check with eBay, antique stores, pawn shops, music stores that stock tubas on the shelves, and tuba players selling their old axes. This is the only way to get a serious answer here.

The Big Ben · Post by **The Big Ben** » Sun Jul 15, 2007 9:35 am

DirtyErnie wrote:gee, i ask an honest practical question and get a bunch of pseudo-serious answers. You think I don't know that something is worth what someone else will pay for it?
I spend a lot of time doing things that are not related to the tuba world these days so I don't have an ear to the ground. I come to where people have many ears to the ground and look for help and suddenly it turns into amateur night at the Apollo...
Grow up, all y'all.

"Now, squeel!"

"WEE! WEEEEEE! WEEEEEEEE!"

TubeNet

street value

How quickly do you need to sell