Posted by Rick Denney on February 04, 2004 at 15:26:39:
In Reply to: tuba$ posted by tuba buyers' survey on February 04, 2004 at 14:04:17:
I'm not sure I can completely separate these categories.
And I have to add a category: Reputation (i.e., of the brand). This is a variation on recommendation, where the recommenders are the unnamed masses, as perceived by me.
I'll further separate "recommended" into "recommended by seller" and "recommended by friend/teacher".
Reputation of brand: 1 good choice (still own it)
Recommendation of seller: 1 good choice (though subsequently sold), and 1 good choice where this was half of the decision to buy (still own it)
Recommendation of friend/teacher: 1 not-so-good choice (sold it fairly quickly)
How it felt to play it: 1 good choice (still own it), 1 good choice where this was half the decision to buy it (but not the same one as above; still own it)
How it sounded: 1 good choice (still own it); 2 good choices where this was half the reason to buy (still own both)
How it looked: 1 not-so-good choice (sold after getting a better one)
Summarizing:
Recommendation: 3.5, 2.5 good choices and 1 bad choice
Looked: 1, bad choice
Feel: 1.5, all good
Sound: 1 plus two halves, all good
Total tubas not purchased by me at least in part because of sound: 5
Total of these that worked out as good tubas: 3
Total tubas where sound was an honest part of decision: 3 (all good)
Sorry for the halves, but a horn would be recommended to me, and I'd then like the way it sounded. Without the recommendation, I'd have avoided it; without the sound, I'd not have bought it. Same with feel. No way to separate them.
That said (and I know this isn't the point of your exercise), I don't regret any of the purchases. Each taught me something useful, and met my needs at the time (including budgetary needs). I've never slapped my head and said "That was a stupid purchase" outside the curiosity category (a category which includes all my euphoniums and trombones, by the way, in addition to my project horn).
Rick "who thinks sound is one of many factors" Denney