Since my daughter now has her marching instrument we are planning to purchase her own euphonium to take to college. She's a junior this year and we'd like her to have a year on it before college auditions. Her high school band director prefers Yamaha instruments. Since she cannot play test it I believe this may be a good choice for her as the many reviews of the Yamaha compensating euphs on this forum say they are very consistent.
I found an ad for a YEP642 and emailed the young man for more information and a picture. This is what he sent me.
The horn is lacquer, and has a few small dents and some discoloration
by the leadpipe, because it was removed for repairs. The horn is in
really good playable shape though and would be perfect for your
upgrade. I'm asking $2750 for it, and you'll get the original case and
a gig bag with it, as well as a mouthpiece.
I recently had the horn overhauled
so it plays like new. I had the repair tech. at Indiana State in
Terre Haute do the work. The horn is
about 5 or 6 years old, and I was the second owner, I do know that.
His original ad stated that he had played the horn for three years and his price was negotiable. So here are my many questions...
1) Is the 642 a good choice of instrument or is there a great advantage to an 842?
2) Should I be concerned about the repair he mentioned?
3) From what you can see, does the horn appear to be in good shape?
4) Does $2,750 seem like a fair price or should I negotiate? Honestly I was thinking of offering him $2000 since my daughter would prefer silver and I would also need to pay our music store to go over the horn.
Any advice you can offer will be greatly appreciated!