The Saxophone

Emily decided this summer that she wanted to learn how to play the saxophone at school this year. 5th grade is when the kids can pick an instrument and join the band. I played the saxophone in school and I still have the saxophone, so I brought it in to a music store a few months ago to have it looked at. The saxophone is old, broken, and has a musty smell from being in storage. The store owner told me it would cost more to fix my saxophone than to buy a used one. He had one for sale for just under $400, but I didn't have money at that time to buy the saxophone. The months flew by and now band is about to begin. Another music company came to the school Thursday night to rent instruments to the students, so Emily & I went to the meeting. We were late for the meeting because it started a 1/2 hour earlier than I had been informed in a newsletter, so I missed most of what the company said. I did talk with the music teacher and waited for my turn to talk with the music company. I was the last one the company talked to and I had waited for about an hour and fifteen minutes for my turn. They talked monthly rental prices, but I wanted the total of what I was going to pay in the end. $1600 for a new saxophone, $900 for a used saxophone. This did not sit well with me since I knew that I could have bought a used saxophone this summer for $400. I was glad they had run out of saxophones to rent that night because I needed time to think and do more research. It turned out to be a good thing to wait a long time and be last. On Friday, I called around to different music stores. Used saxophones are hard to find! The guy that I had talked with this summer had another used saxophone, but he had painted it red and blue. That just wasn't going to work. I called a company in Ellsworth who didn't sell used saxophones, but their new saxophones were only $399.99. Hmmmm...that sounded too good to be true! I called around some more and found out more about this $399.99 brand saxophone. One issue that was brought up about this brand of saxophone was the fact that it is hard to get repair work done on it. The store owner with the used saxophone would do work on it, though. After talking it over with Matt, we decided to go with the $399.99 saxophone. We figure that for the price of one $1600 saxophone, we could buy four $399.99 saxophones if we have to! The kids & I went to Ellsworth after school yesterday to buy Emily a saxophone. The guy that sold it to me does know a lady that will fix the saxophone if need be, so I don't see that being an issue at all. What a process this has been!

Emily is very happy to now have a saxophone to play! Her first lesson is today. :-)