[Harp-L] Harp Price increases

[Michael Easton <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Not sure there is an easy answer to any of it.

I sell Hohner's, Seydel's and Suzuki's. Repair them too.

Some wholesale suppliers have cut back on the Hohner's they stock for  
dealers because they are too expensive to keep in inventory.
I had to switch off 3 different Hohner suppliers because they stopped  
carrying or refused to order certain chromatics that my customers  
wanted.

Suzuki sells direct to the dealer so there is no middleman price  
hike.  I lost recent business because of their extreme price  
increase.  Hohner's pales to it.
A Suzuki Sirius chromatic is now close to $200 more at dealer cost  
then  last December. Other mid to high priced Suzuki's also jumped  
$200 in price at the wholesale level. As the product prices increase  
the insurance value costs increase to ship them.  I cover customers  
shipping costs so I have to eat the extra cost.
In this case only the mfg and Feds are making extra money.  Dealers  
have to absorb the costs trying to bring in customers.
Those of us that are harp playing dealers aren't too happy to see  
these price increases. It doesn't mean we reap extra income.

Seydel has seemed to maintain it's grasp on reality and what players  
can afford.  I switched over to playing 1847's in 2006. At the time  
they seemed expensive.
I figured with the cost being roughly 4x more then a Marine Band or  
Special 20 they better last 4x as long.   I know milage varies for  
different players with regards to reed life but I'm still playing the  
first C and A  1847 I bought in 2006. Still with the same reeds.  My  
play mostly  in the Cotton/Butterfield style so I do play them hard  
with heavy vibrato.   I put away all my customs after the first year  
and only play 1847's out of the box.

Being a repair tech I don't have time to mess with my own harps. I  
want them ready to play  when I need them and not breaking down every  
4 months to be repaired.

Invest now in good quality built harps and when the price increases   
do occur you can ride the wave a bit longer instead of drowning in  
replacement costs every couple of months.


Michael Easton
www.harmonicarepair.com