Apparently Sweetwater has added to their product line...

[Ransan]

They have electric violins!!!!!!!! And Chellos!!!!

Lol we did too!
I used to love to pluck the cello strings such a great low tone.
We even had a couple of Zendrum ZX midi percussion machines in red AND white. Lol

 

[felonious69]

My 2nd grade music teacher and her husband own Farley's House of Pianos in Madison, WI. They restore pianos and such.
I went in there once and was talking to her husband about how I had a crush on my music teacher (back then) and I was slightly leaning with one hand on a piano. Then I looked, and the price tag said 78,000 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I straightened right up and thought "I can't afford to even BE in this store!"

 

[Ransan]

My 2nd grade music teacher and her husband own Farley's House of Pianos in Madison, WI. They restore pianos and such.
I went in there once and was talking to her husband about how I had a crush on my music teacher (back then) and I was slightly leaning with one hand on a piano. Then I looked, and the price tag said 78,000 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I straightened right up and thought "I can't afford to even BE in this store!"

Was going to comment on our exquisite piano show room. We had Yamaha, Steinway, Baldwin.

Some of ours were upwards in that, Steinway model S could be easily in that range.

We had one exotic Yamaha grand come in around $175k from Japan. Was ordered by a physician, but we needed to set up inside our organ room for proper inspection and demoing when he would come in.

Heavy son of a gun, though I didn’t work piano sales, we all routinely had to pitch in to set the bastards up, at least 3-4 men for a 6” grand.

 

[felonious69]

I was telling him about how, when I was in 2nd grade, my music teacher had a "program" in the school auditorium, where she introduced her new "husband to be".
I ran out of the auditorium, the school, and ran home (about two miles) crying!

 

[felonious69]

I have since forgiven her for cheating on me.

 

[iCe]

They now have:
Brass
Woodwind
Orchestral Strings
Concert Percussion
Marching Percussion...

Interesting.

Amateurs... we all know they need at leats 4 octobans, a gong drum, 6 concert toms and at least a 26" gong

 

[Rock Salad]

We have a local store here called Saied that sells pianos and band/orchestra instruments and supplies. The do sales, rentals, and repairs. I think they give lessons also.

The store has been in business since 1946. You cant buy rock band stuff there, but it's the only orchestral gear store in the area. Between all the schools and University, they arent going anywhere anytime soon.

We have a couple of Saied locations here too. (Tulsa, Ok) I guess we are lucky. I always shop the Music Store which is also a full shop with really darn near everything (limited gamelan gear maybe) and repairs and rental. There are a couple other smaller shops that do horns, and some cool hole in the wall fiddle shops.
Thank goodness I came up in rock & roll, those other instruments are high $$$

 

[PorkPieGuy]

School programs don't generally buy the higher end stuff do they?

They don't. In addition, cheap gear moves A LOT quicker than higher-end gear. It's much easier to sell 50 cheap guitars than one higher-end guitar.

 

[Cmdr. Ross]

I've never sold instruments but I've been around them for 40 years and one thing I can't understand is how someone can call an 800 number, talk to a "sales engineer" and expect to get accurate knowledgeable information about an Apollo Audio Interface and that person can recommend a clarinet?

The training to become a Sales Engineer at Sweetwater is very long & arduous. I get their newsletter & they once did a whole issue on that process. So all have been trained in everything to a certain degree. Then if they can't answer the question right away, you'll have the answer before you hang up.
The specialists there are the ones who work on the instruments. Prepping them for shipping & fixing any issues before they go out.