Ethics question on imports

[pgym]

If someone buys an imported horn with a slide left so long that notes are not correctable without cutting said slide, should the importer fix or replace it even if it is used?

If bought secondhand from the importer with a warranty that specifically covers mfg defects, yes; if bought from a third party or secondhand without a warranty, no.

[vespa50sp]

If someone buys an imported horn with a slide left so long that notes are not correctable without cutting said slide, should the importer fix or replace it even if it is used?

By importer do you mean from Germany, the UK or Japan (I'm guessing you mean China)? I think that stuff is and always has been manufactured all over the place and that you buy from a dealer, not an "importer." Cocoa, bananas and coffee are "imports." Crown Vics were built in Canada.

A good dealer will take care of their customers, so that they can keep their business alive. Businesses that don't do this will not last long.

And you pay a little extra for this good service. Any deal that is to good to be true, probably is. And for second-hand horns you are mostly on your own, but of course you get them for a significant discount once they leave the showroom floor.

[ghmerrill]

So far as I can see, the major importers/distributers of Chinese made instruments in the US all offer some sort of warranty for from 1 to 3 years. The warranty is usually phrased as a "manufacturer warranty", a "warranty against manufacturing defects", etc.

If this situation can be classified as falling under such a warranty, then the seller should fix or replace it. I suppose a way to weasel out of this is for the seller to argue that "It's not a manufacturing defect. It's manufactured exactly to specs. It's just a defective design." I don't think that would stand up in court, but who knows?

[MackBrass]

If it played in tune for me, I would charge.

I agree, we play every horn but, we also stock longer tuning slides for all our BBb tubas. In over 5+ years and over 4k instruments sold i have had 5 people request longer slides. Is this a manufacturers defect? Not to me but again if someone needs a longer slide I don't charge for it either as that is part of our customer service. I can say we have never had anyone say the horns were too flat but in the case they were and i played it only to find it was fine, i would check for other issues. Now, not all dealers have the ability to make a determination as to the quality of the intonation or quality of a partifular instrument although some make claims of being musicians when they really cant play at all. I brought a few tubas to a dealer to sell on consignment back in the late 90's and the dealer played one and said it had leaks. I said really? Picked it up and played and showed the dealer the tuba was fine. It was his evaluation that was pathetic as he was trying to down play the horn so that i would take less for it or maybe he was the one with the leaks and just blamed the equipment for his shortcomings?

If a student brought me a horn, and it doesnt matter where it was made, and the slides were too long and the horn was new, I would tell them to take it back.

If there is a problem from the begining and it was backed up by a reputable player, or the player was well qualified then just send it back as there are probably other issues.

I have seen first hand extremes to where one player would pick up my horn and the main slide wasn't long enough but for my own playing my main is almost always in no matter what i play. When evaluating any horn you need to know where you stand compared to the masses as some play with fast air, tight chops, loose chops, or no support at all as pich can change dramatically from one to another on the same exact horn.