[Harp-L] Hohner Price Increase

["Bill Kumpe" <bkumpe@xxxxxxx>]

Just got an email from John Watts at Coast to Coast warning that Hohner
plans to increase their prices by another 8 to 10 percent shortly.  I know
the dollar is deteriorating.  And,  I know the cost of everything is going
up.  But, I would propose that Hohner and Suzuki take note of the fact that
harmonicas are becoming less and less of a value on the low end musical
instrument market.  Right now, in my neighborhood music store, a very
serviceable soprano uke with geared tuners and quality strings costs about
the same as a Marine Band, Special 20 or Golden Melody.  I bought one of
these low end ukes for a kid for Christmas and almost wound up keeping it
and giving her cash.  It was a cool little instrument.   Last week, I paid
65 dollars for a very serviceable baritone uke that with a little set up and
tweaking has turned into a really useful tool in my box.

 

What I'm saying is the competition is not just other harp manufacturers.
The underlying decision for the beginner is whether or not to play harp at
all.  I just counted heads in my harp case.  At fifty bucks a pop it would
take over two grand to replace it.  Even figuring approximately 30 bucks a
pop that is probably the average price I paid, I'm still looking at a twelve
hundred dollar instrument (or set of instruments if you want to argue
semantics).    Twelve hundred bucks will buy a Les Paul, a Gretsch, a very
nice acoustic, or a couple of darn good Epiphones.  At at least fifty bucks
per single unit and or worse if you throw in the Hohner's new marketing
strategy of packaging standard replacement harps in multiple units at the
point of sale, they are competing head on with not only ukes but even
guitars.  You can buy a very playable guitar these days for a little over a
hundred bucks.   Bottom line, the harp is turning an awfully expensive
instrument, a fact that the manufacturers should keep in mind.

 

Bill Kumpe

Tulsa, OK