Buying a French Horn

tango14
Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:11:14 +0000

A musician’s instrument is his/her best friend. They live, breathe, travel, even sleep with it. So it is not unusual to have a teacher or friend absolutely believe that the brand of instrument they use is the best. Some will play only one brand. (And if you think it’s bad for brass/string players, it’s just as bad for reed players and you have the question of reeds on top of that!) You have to take those comments to get a new instrument with a grain of salt sometimes.

I’ll second buying from wwbw. We bought S2’s first intermediate sax mail order through them. For the professional sax he plays now, we drove there (South Bend, IN) and to another place in Chicago, and he tried out about a dozen new & vintage “horns” (as sax players refer to them, too) and picked the one that was clearly superior to the rest (even to M & D’s amateur ears).

Since then we’ve also bought him a high intermediate-level flute (High end ones are sterling silver or gold–partly explains the cost) mail order which he is happy with. Just this spring, we got a great deal on a closeout of a professional model clarinet (1/3 the regular price). Since these were doubling instruments for him, we weren’t as concerned.

WWBW often has really great deals. As you explore the brand/model of horn to buy, If you’re not in a hurry, sign up for their e-mailing list and watch for sales. They often have them around the holidays, too.