I’d like to address some questions we frequently receive from customers:
“Is it true that used instruments are hard to play because they’ve been shaped to the previous owner’s playing style?”
Yes, to put it plainly,
not only the instruments on display in our store, but also the instruments you all own are secondhand. If it were true that secondhand instruments are hard to play because they’ve developed “quirks,” then the instruments you own would have already turned into useless instruments with those quirks...
“Hey, that’s rude. It doesn’t have any weird quirks, you know! (`□´)!!”
I know, I’m sorry.
Would you mind letting me take a quick look…? Wow, you have a wonderful instrument… Hmm?
Ah... ah... oh my... um... when you play this instrument, does it feel okay?
“Wh-what? (^_^;) What’s up?”
No, in this condition, isn’t it pretty hard to play? For starters, the pads are coming loose…
……D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D
If you’ve ever felt that “used instruments have quirks = they’re hard to play,” the vast majority of the time, the cause is poor maintenance and tuning. Slight misalignment of the pads, dirt inside the bore, wear on the felt and cork—this kind of deterioration from normal use, which doesn’t amount to actual damage or malfunction, negatively affects the instrument’s response and tone.
However, it’s surprisingly common for the person who’s been using the instrument to be completely unaware of these issues. When someone else plays an instrument in that condition, they’ll think, “Huh? It’s kind of hard to play—maybe it has its quirks?”
What’s even more interesting is that when I ask customers where they heard the saying, “Used instruments have the previous owner’s quirks…,” I find that a very large number of them are actually people who would be troubled if others were satisfied with used instruments.(-_-メ;)
In other words, the “the previous owner’s playing habits” argument isn’t based on solid evidence—it stems from what you might call a smear campaign. When you think about it, the general public rarely has the opportunity to compare playing a New instrument with a used one… Instead of acknowledging the positive changes unique to an instrument—changes that enhance its resonance when played—they focus solely on the negative aspects. It’s a shame.
I’m not trying to fight back, but the mindset that “New = peace of mind” and “used = anxiety” not only causes people to miss out on great deals on used instruments but also hides the risk of falling into unexpected pitfalls.
(゜ロ゜;) What!?
In our special feature column on our website, “The Journey of a Used Saxophone to the Store Shelf,” we use top-tier saxophones from a leading brand as examples to introduce the re-tuning process that takes place before they reach our store shelves.
As readers of that column will know, we found warping in the tubes and parts—as well as imperfections in the molding—that couldn’t have been caused by normal wear and tear. We didn’t specifically choose a particularly bad individual instrument; this one was about average for this brand, or perhaps even slightly above average. The same can be said for products from other top-tier manufacturers.
(Though ultra-cheap Chinese products are out of the question...)
Even new instruments aren’t always assembled in 100% perfect condition. If we were to put every instrument on the shelf exactly as it arrived from the factory, we’d be inundated with complaints. The fact that technicians at distributors and retailers often perform significant readjustments is largely unknown.
The so-called “hit or miss” quality often attributed to musical instruments is frequently due to technical variations in the manufacturing process. If an instrument is based on a sound design, making corrections and readjustments according to the original specifications will bring it within a very narrow margin of variation. Of course, individual variations will remain, but you’ll rarely come across what are commonly called “lemons.”
(Though ultra-cheap Chinese products are a different story...)
At Okubo Gakki, we believe that the most important factor in choosing an instrument is that it has been thoroughly adjusted and maintained. In that regard, all the instruments we sell meet this primary requirement, so you can try them out with confidence. If you focus directly on the instrument itself—without being swayed by brand names or store signage—you’re sure to find a high-quality instrument at a great price.
