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Thread: Deal or No Deal?

  1. Deal or No Deal?

    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!


  2. Deal or No Deal?

    Both the 642 and the 842S are great instruments... but, finding a 642 that is selling for 2,750... well thats just a steal. Of course if you can negotiate the price, then you should. But I've never really seen a professional level horn like this sell for under $3,000. The horn does appear to be in good shape... but this picture doesn't really allow us to see the whole instrument in great detail.. but I doubt an instrument that is 5 or 6 years old would be i bad shape. I wouldn't necessarily be concerned about the repairs that were mentioned, but you may want to ask the seller to elaborate a bit more on what the repairs actually were, and why they were necessary. Thats all for now, good luck!
    Gregory E. Lopes
    Euphonium player
    US Navy Band Great Lakes
    US Navy Music Program, 2009-Present

    Besson Prestige 2052

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    West Palm Beach, FL
    Posts
    3,853

    Deal or No Deal?

    Hi Leah,

    That 642 for $2750 looks like a good deal to me. I paid $2700 for my 641 (predecessor of the 642) about 7 years ago. From what I can tell from the picture, it looks in great shape. The 'overhaul' the seller mentions is probably just an internal cleaning and valve port alignment. You could ask him what was actually done.

    I think the only brand of euphonium I would consider buying without playing the horn first would be a Yamaha 641, 642 or 842 because of it's good intonation. Glenn Call (aka MC) helped in the design of the 642 many years ago. Mr. Call was euph soloist with the Marine Band years ago and loved his Boosey & Hawkes Imperial euph.... but said he wouldn't take it with him when flying because of risk of damage. He instead took his Yamaha 642 because if it got damaged by the airline, he could pretty much replace it without worrying about getting a real 'dog'.

    The 842 would be quite a bit more $$. It is a bit brighter in tone -- and -- some report that the 842 doesn't project above the band as well as the 642 does when needed (playing a solo with the band). Maybe that's because of the lighter bell material used in making the 842 -- but not real sure.

    Hope this helps.
    Rick Floyd
    Miraphone 5050 - Warburton BJ / RF mpc
    YEP-641S (recently sold)
    Doug Elliott - 102 rim; I-cup; I-9 shank


    "Always play with a good tone, never louder than lovely, never softer than supported." - author unknown.
    Symphonic Band of the Palm Beaches
    El Cumbanchero (Raphael Hernandez, arr. Naohiro Iwai)
    Chorale and Shaker Dance
    (John Zdechlik)

  4. Deal or No Deal?

    Leah,
    A gal in my community band just got a 642, and she loves it. I can hear the difference from her old horn. From the research that she shared with me, she felt that the 642 had more versitility than the 842, and about half the cost. From what you described your daughter's goals as, I think the 642 would be perfect.

    If you look on the Woodwind/Brasswind site, at the 642, you can read a review that Dave Werden posted.

    Go for it!

    Ally

  5. #5

    Deal or No Deal?

    I agree that that is a steal. Under $3000 for this quality of instrument is fantastic. Also, the repair tech at Indiana State went through one of the best instrument repair programs in the country and is a member of the National Association of Band Instrument Repair Technicians so there should be no need to worry about the recent work. However, if the price is negotiable... then you might as well negotiate.

  6. Deal or No Deal?

    Well it sounds as if this deal has the resounding endorsement of those in the know! I feel much better about it, considering I know nothing about euphonium other than what I have been able to read here.

    In reply to the question about the repair, the young man's mother told me the horn had a small dent in the lead pipe, and one his professors repaired it as part of a class in instrument repair. The instrument was completely overhauled in this class. And it was put together "stress free" -- whatever that means.

    Unfortunately, I may have to negotiate a little bit at this point though it sounds like the price is very fair. My husband feels the $1600 we just spent on her baritone is already a lot and doesn't quite grasp the difference between the horn we just bought and a concert euphonium. He keeps asking me why the instrument we recently purchased is no good anymore. *sigh*

    Thanks for all of the advice!

  7. Deal or No Deal?

    One thing "stress free" would mean is that the slides ought to all be working smoothly.

    Steve

  8. #8

    Deal or No Deal?

    Right - stress-free usually means that the horn has been taken apart and re-assembled so that all the joints/tubes align easily. Sometimes in mass production the whole mechanism doesn't go together smoothly so parts are "encouraged" to fit together. This can affect the vibrating qualities. That is perhaps ONE of the reasons that older horns seem to play differently than newer horns.
    Dave Werden (ASCAP)
    Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
    Adams Artist (Adams E3)
    Alliance Mouthpiece (DC3)
    YouTube: dwerden
    Facebook: davewerden
    Twitter: davewerden
    Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium

  9. Deal or No Deal?

    I have to wonder if an overhaul done in a class makes the thing better or worse than before. I'm not comfortable using student barbers or dentists; I'd have second thoughts about this. Can your daughter give it a trial, or is it far away?

  10. Deal or No Deal?


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