Kade1301 wrote:
My teacher has seen so many "bad" recorders bought from mail-order shops (i. e. places that do almost all their business by mail order as opposed to those that also have an active brick and mortar store) that he is convinced that the manufacturers send them their second-rate products.
While it is possible that some manufacturers are paying people to play test and sort the good instruments from the not so good, for the purpose of favoring certain sellers, I seriously doubt that’s the case.
Now, that’s not to say your teacher’s experience isn’t valid, I believe it is, but for a different reason, let me explain: The better shops will play test all incoming stock and either return to the manufacturer those instruments that don’t play as they should, or they will have an in-store recorder repair person adjust the instrument to get it playing correctly. We did the latter where I worked: Cases of new wooden recorders would arrive from a manufacturer and immediately they’d be sent up to the shop for play testing and adjustment as necessary, until they played to spec or better. Of course this process has a cost to the business, so our price was maybe not the lowest you could find, but you also weren’t gambling on whether or not you’d be getting a lemon.
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Because many people buy an instrument without bothering to return it if it does not live up to expectations.
Perhaps with some very inexpensive plastic recorders, but people certainly will return instruments that cost $100+. Those returns also have a cost the seller, obviously, and this is another reason it made more sense for us to sort things before selling. I suspect some other shops have realized this over the years as well. There really are too many downsides for the seller if they ship off an instrument that makes their customer unhappy. Of course some sellers just don’t care, and some customers have unrealistic expectations and therefore can never be satisfied, such is life.
Moral of the story: When buying a recorder, it’s worth trying to find a seller who tests the instruments prior to selling, even if it means paying a little more.