Why You Should Rent and Buy From
A Local Area Music Store
Although Mass Merchandisers
Seem To Sell “Instruments” For Less
Notice there are quotes around “Instruments” in the title above. That’s to signify the big difference between a mass-merchandising store’s “beginner band instrument” and a handcrafted, high quality, "student level band instrument" manufactured by a brand name company and sold by a dedicated music store. In our case, we are privately owned Allied Music of Michigan in Temperance, MI and Allied Music of Ohio in Toledo.
We’re not going to stick our heads in the sand and pretend mass-merchandising stores don’t sell good-looking “beginner band instruments” at shockingly low prices. Huge piles of nicely decorated, brightly colored boxes, with cellophane windows for the glistening "instrument" to show through, adorn the front aisles of many large retail stores right next to equally-tall piles of off-brand telescopes, laundry detergent, car tires, and handheld metal detectors.
The fact is that retail mass-merchandising chain stores plunged, a couple years ago, headfirst into a territory that is completely unknown to them where musical wisdom, experience, and knowledge separate the inferior from the superior.
“Box store” purchasing agents don’t have musical wisdom, experience, and knowledge. They have one job - make the highest possible profit for their corporate employer by finding the very lowest wholesale prices overseas. Then attractive store merchandising of brightly-colored cardboard boxes attracts consumers who fall for low prices without considering the consequences of their unfortunate purchase. "Club Members" think their membership caused the price of a quality instrument to be dramatically discounted - a very wrong conclusion. It is not a quality instrument and it's not discounted. The amount paid for the "instrument" is actually more than it's worth in the real musical instrument world!
For box store purchasing agents, purchasing tens of thousands of “beginner instruments” built in undeveloped third world countries is no different of an activity than buying truckloads of shampoo, plastic yard furniture, or dry dog food. The qualifying characteristics of the "instrument" is not how good it is, how well it plays, or how reliable it is. The only characteristic desired is that it's shiny, it's in a colorful box, and it's as cheap as conceivably possible. If purchasing agents can save 50 cents on the wholesale price of a similar unit from another importer next season, they'll change brands in a heartbeat. Purchasing agents search out and buy cargo ship loads of shiny, mass-produced commodity band instrument knock-offs built in various countries of origin such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and other third world countries where privately-owned factories pay less than a dollar a day for general laborers to assemble components made from the least expensive materials that can be found on earth.
So what is the definition of a commodity-type knock-off? As has been the case for several decades, manufacturers in third world countries disassemble something of quality built by a well-known manufacturer to examine each part individually. They attempt to clone the components using inferior materials and poor manufacturing techniques. They will leave off extra parts if possible, or cheapen them if there's any way to do so. They then pay the lowest possible labor rate to assemble the knock-offs. We're talking about less than $1.00 American per DAY if possible. It’s not uncommon for assembly work to take place in barns or even outdoors under canvas tent roofs using uneducated and untrained laborers. The result is a “saleable” commodity that looks like the real thing, but in truth, it isn’t even close. In the case of these mass-produced products, it’s entirely possible that nobody at the assembly location even plays a musical instrument. They have no idea if the knock-off “instrument” they just built actually functions; just that it looks like the original sample.
Because the knock-off is presented to Americans in a brightly colored box and is categorically a “band instrument” because it looks like one, some consumers are impressed that the price is only 1/3rd to 1/8th of the price of a brand name high quality instrument sold elsewhere. They assume their club membership is the reason for the 65 to 85 percent discount and they are lead into an unfortunate purchase. Would you have a root canal done at a hardware store? Would you have your hairdresser or barber fix your kitchen sink? No, you’d contact someone you trust as an expert in his or her field. So please DON’T BE FOOLED!!! Rent-to-own or purchase your band instrument from a privately owned music store where research has been done to find the best quality for your student!
The keys to your and your student’s satisfaction with a band instrument are playability, durability, reliability, warranty, craftsmanship, materials quality, and your ability to easily upgrade later. Most importantly you must consider availability of service and parts. You simply won't find ANY of these satisfaction factors in a mass-marketed no-name knock-off.
Playability involves, for example, wind instrument keys designed to be more easily manipulated by a child with small hands. It also means highest quality valves, slides, and keys that move freely and quickly for much longer than low cost clones. Playability means adjustment screws with nylon collar sleeves that won’t allow the screws to loosen on their own and fall out. It means body parts perfectly fitted that slide together tightly but with ease as the student prepares for band or practice. The list of carefully designed and crafted features involved in excellent playability is virtually unlimited. Even the shape and size of the inside of a quality instrument are involved to create the best sound and projection. These factors are never considered on no-name knock-offs!
Reliability is more than just how many times the keys will move before something breaks. Reliability includes a wind instrument’s body material and how it endures moisture, dryness, heat, and cold without cracking. Reliability is components made of quality materials that have been tested for thousands upon thousands of movements to assure that they don’t deform or fail with typical consumer use. Reliability is instrument design evaluated in the field for years to assure it provides a long life for the end user. A brand name instrument is the result of decades of ever-increasing technical wisdom, design changes that improve the instrument little by little over time, and extensive in-the-field evaluation by professional players worldwide.
A major factor that can make or break your child’s resolve to remain in band is the playability of the instrument. Sticky keys or valves, pads that eventually become worn or lost, parts that get bent accidentally, and other everyday problems mean that warranty, service personnel, and parts availability for the instrument are crucial. Think about this – if you buy an off-brand knock-off from Malaysia or China in a mass merchandiser box store, who’s going to repair it? Would you think you can hand your child’s flute to the Customer Service Department at your favorite mass merchandiser store and expect it to be repaired? By whom? The Automotive Department? The Garden Center? If it was accepted to be sent away, how many weeks will it be gone? What will your child play in the meantime?
Okay...you say that the store guarantees your satisfaction. But for how long? 90 days? So you get a new flute or trumpet several times during the 90 days. Then what? You child may have another 7-3/4 years of band yet to go before graduation.
Typically inexpensive knock-off “instruments” also use proprietary parts that were stamped out in bulk just for that maker and replacement parts aren’t available to area repair technicians. Parts from other manufacturers’ instruments also won’t fit the knock-off. Music stores send their service-repair employees to very expensive training schools to learn specific techniques for fixing the store’s chosen brands. Knock-offs have NO service personnel available locally or even regionally. Few, if any, reputable music stores attempt service/repair on a knock-off because if something else breaks and parts are required there are none available. Most repair technicians refuse to work on cheap knock-offs because they fear the instrument may break further for that very reason. The mass merchandiser stores aren’t concerned with what happens to the knock-off “instrument” after you buy it and 90 days are past. You have a short period when you can get a full refund or exchange but there’s nowhere to send the “instrument” for service after that – except possibly a distant West Coast manufacturer’s warehouse and service facility. It may be gone for weeks or even months if they don't immediately replace it. There's definitely no local service.
You don’t learn these things until your child goes to band and can’t get the instrument assembled or make it produce musical notes correctly. Even if it does play, the instrument may be out of tune (this is common with knock-offs). What do you do then? Take it back and exchange it for another? Keep taking them back until several instruments later you have one that works fairly well? Then what happens after components get out of adjustment, the mouthpiece or moving parts get jammed, the body cracks, adjustment screws fall out, or the pads fall off or need replacement because of wear?
The only solution is to start over and go to a music store to buy a quality instrument that has parts and service available. You’ve then lost the money you put in the knock-off because the store can't give you a trade-in value for something that has no value. You end up spending more time and money than doing it right the first time by renting-to-own or purchasing from your local music store. A local store's reputation is crucially important. Big box stores, or mass merchandisers as they're also known, are most concerned about profit and the quantity of sales tickets per day.
We ask that you strongly consider the advantages of patronizing a local music store for renting and/or purchasing a high quality instrument. We have chosen world-renowned suppliers of band instruments to assure that we sell the very best. Our chosen manufacturers have been around for multiple decades and their reputations are indisputable. We do not sell or rent-to-own instruments built in China by Korean-owned companies, for example.
Please consider Allied Music's rent-to-own plan. Unlike an open-ended rental plan where you pay monthly until your child is done with school band and your money is gone, Allied Music's rent-to-own plan has a clearly defined conclusion - you own the instrument!
If your child tries school band for 3 months, you only have two month’s of rent invested if they drop out. If your child tries one instrument and the Band Director approves a change to a different one, he or she can readily switch to that instrument with no hassle and you get a credit for rent you have already paid. The crucial point is that you have the full support of FREE service, maintenance, repair, warranty, and even catastrophic replacement insurance while you are renting from Allied Music.
Buying or renting from your local music store is a no-brainer because we take care of everything for you. We've done the research, put together the right accessories, offer the method book that your student will need, and have consistent contact with area band directors.
Reliability? Our suppliers are simply the largest manufacturers of high quality musical instruments in the world. They’ve spent decades working the bugs out of their instrument designs. Materials are chosen to be the best - not the cheapest. Finishes and coatings are chosen to be the most durable – not just the easiest to apply. The first year jitters of learning to make notes with the instrument are calmed dramatically because our student instruments are designed to respond and play easily so the student can enjoy the rewards of playing music more quickly. If your band student has even the slightest ability to create a musical sound, our instruments will boost that ability so your student is encouraged and excited about what they’ve accomplished. You can't achieve that excitement with a chunk of shiny metal known as a mass merchandiser's “beginner instrument.”
In conclusion, we at Allied Music don’t believe in inexpensive instruments that “just do the job” or look like they should do the job. We believe the manufacturer of instruments should have a strong positive history of multiple decades and be around for the long haul - long after your child graduates. We demand that our instruments excel so your band student can excel as well. That’s why we chose world-renowned U.S.-made and Yamaha school band instruments for our rent-to-own plans. Please DON’T GET FOOLED!!!