Posted by Rick Denney on July 15, 2002 at 18:02:26:
In Reply to: Re: Are Yorks a good investment? posted by Chuck(G) on July 15, 2002 at 14:29:15:
I chose my examples to make a different point than the one you are correctly refuting.
[pause while everyone figures out that sentence.]
I wasn't arguing that tubas do or don't make good investments on the basis of these examples, but that the real value of high-quality tubas has increase over that time. That York was just one of the pack reinforces the point. I'm comparing it with the cost of new tubas today, and not the most expensive of them.
My aside on the increase in value of the CSO York was just that--an aside.
Let me put it another way. Let's say that someone spends $30,000 a year keeping body and soul together. That's the sum of housing, transportation, food, clothing, health, and the average set of toys. The exact amount doesn't matter, so let's just go with my assumption for a moment. This might, for example, be the spending habit of a musician who makes $55K a year.
In 1923, one would have spent a little over $2900 on the same housing, transportation, food, clothing, health, and toys. They might have enjoyed a salary of $5400 a year. That might be a higher salary compared to the average than the $55K is now, but let's assume that it's about the same. The spending is equivalent in inflation-adjusted real dollars.
The point is that in 1923, one would have spent (195/2900)= 7% of what they usually spend in a year on the tool of their trade. Now, one would spend (10,000 / 30,000)= 33% of their normal annual spending on that tool. This trend isn't because the manufacturers forced it--they have to respond to what people are willing to spend. The trend results from the fact that modern tuba players placed a higher value on the tool of their trade than they did 80 years ago.
I brought up Arnold Jacobs because of a statement Brian made that struck me when I read it. He suggested that the $175 that Jacobs paid for the York was a huge sum at the time. I'm sure it was. But it is not as huge as the sums paid by tuba players today. It's not uncommon for students of Mr. Jacobs caliber to spend much, much more in real dollars than did Jacobs.
I don't know what conclusion, if any, can be drawn from that, but I find it really curious that the real value of tubas has increased so much.
Rick "not living on the margins...any more" Denney