Sax Appeal

MMR recently surveyed over 2,000 of our readers to try and get a bead on today’s saxophone market. While some of “the usual” topics emerged as hot-button issues (Internet sales, offshore instrument production, the economy), there were a couple other strong trends to be observed.

Virtually across the board, dealers bemoaned the lack of domestic saxophone availability, with a number of respondents noting that they are curious to see what Sonaré’s Elkhart operation yields in the coming months. “A quality, affordable American product would be nice!!!” said an obviously exasperated Dale Perkins of Perkins Music House in Skowhegan, Maine.

Saxophone repair was another area that seemed to have near-unanimous consensus amongst retailers with nearly 90 percent of survey participants confirming that they offer repairs and most singling out the repair department as an increasingly essential component to their business. “Our repair department, and a good rental plan including service has kept us in the black,” noted Music Street’s (Marshall, Minn.) Lon Right.

Whether relying more heavily on rentals or repairs, coming up with more effective ways to reach customers, or refining their product offerings, for the most part Sax retailers are figuring out how to survive, and even thrive, in today’s market.

What trends have you noticed lately, pertaining to saxophones and sax sales?

“Rentals are holding steady, but sales of step-ups have been trending downwards.”
Keith Weathers, Weathers Music Group, Salem, Ore.

“The market is healthy and beginner interest gets stronger all the time. In spite of the economy, our instrument sales are up 50% from last year, and saxophones are a good part of that.”
Drew Parker, Separk Music, Winston-Salem, N.C.

“People buying on the Internet and eBay now expect the same prices at local stores.”
Vincent Ruffini, A-K Music
, Lower Burrell, Pa.

“Customers are asking for used instruments for beginning students, whereas in previous years new was more popular.”
Lon Wright, Music Street, Marshall, Minn.

“Saxophone sales are still good and growing. Saxes have always been a strong BO category.”
Russ Beacock, Beacock Music and Education Center, Vancouver, Wash.

“Sales have declined slightly over the past two years due to school budget reductions and economic cutbacks by the consumer. The popularity of the instrument is still there but the investment is like sticker shock! Import brands are less expensive to buy but are also more likely to require more maintenance. In some cases the instrument is nothing more than a disposable product – cheap!”
BJ Watt, Northern Music Service, Marshfield, Wis.

“Saxophones are losing ground in popularity, but for that matter we have seen a decline in the ‘willingness’ of parents in helping their children stay committed to practicing and doing the necessary discipline needed to learn a musical instrument and, in the end, reap the lifetime benefits from studying music.”
Randy King, King Music, Bradley, Ill.

“Teachers are becoming much more hesitant to guide students into good quality saxophones, so many parents are buying instruments on-line.  After they receive the sax and it doesn’t work, they bring it into our repair shop.  Many of these are poor quality instruments that cannot be repaired.  Many are very good quality instruments, but they are long over due for having an overhaul.  When we tell the parents the price for properly repairing it, they are shocked and say that is more than what they paid for the sax in the first place.  More often than not the total of the cost of the sax and the cost of the repair are more than we could have sold them one of our reconditioned Saxes for in the first place.  We try to explain that repadding a woodwind is normal maintenance that needs to be done on a regular basis.”
Rudy Tichy, Twin Village Music, Lancaster, NY

Compared to this time last year, saxophone sales are…?

Up: 29%
Down: 47%
Level: 24%

Do you do more business in imported or domestic brands?

Imported: 82%
Domestic: 18%

What price points for saxophones are doing well for your business?

$500-$1,000: 14%
$1,000-$2,000: 54%
$2,000-$3,000: 21%
Over $3,000: 11%

Do you do a lot of business in step-up Saxes?

Yes: 64%
No: 36%

Has this increased, stayed the same, or decreased in the past year?

Increased: 38%
Decreased: 30%
Remained Steady: 32%

Do you offer saxophone repair?

Yes: 87%
No: 8%
No, but considering doing so: 5%

Any additional thoughts?

“There are so many brands… Some are very good, others not so. There are also differences in manufacturing from the newer companies who are trying out different models, textures, metals, finger positions, bores – most seem to be striving for ever increasing quality. A disheartening note is that some Chinese companies are copying Yamaha, Buffet, Selmer, and other horns, meticulously coping the instrument right down to the original name branding and putting them on eBay. Some of these are very hard to tell from the original name brand.”
Vincent Ruffini, A-K Music
, Lower Burrell, Pa.

“Our band instrument master orders have been down more than 50% the past 2 years because of the demand for good used. We are a small store with 1 location, and I will not buy instruments or commit to a master order unless I get end column prices.  It is the only way I can be competitive with sales of new instruments. Our repair department, and  a good rental plan including service has kept us in the black.”
Lon Wright, Music Street, Marshall, Minn.

“Get someone to build another instrument as tough as a BUNDY II. I worked on some Jupiters in Saudi Arabia and Qatar this year. The metal was strong on the Jupiter Saxes, Octave key alignment was pretty much the telltale sign. These are tough. Too bad they aren’t made in the USA…”
Hank Hartman, Matanuska Music, Wasilla, Alaska

“American companies need to build stuff at a better price point.  I look forward to seeing what Sonaré is going to come out with in Elkhart…”
Tom Pinto

“We keep a lot of inventory on the wall and take it out to many schools through out the year for not only band directors to play and look at but for the kids to take home to mom and dad and fall in love with.”
Ryan Smith, Beacock Music and Education Center, Vancouver, Wash.

“Maybe we need another president who plays saxophone!”
Vicki Archer, The Music Shoppe, Bellingham, Wash.