When buying a new trombone there are many very important questions to ask before you buy, the least of which is how much it will cost!
When buying a new trombone most musicians or parents will focus in on one thing only, finding the lowest price. The idea of finding the lowest price for a new trombone and buying it sight unseen is not the best idea, especially for more experienced players. Use these suggestions when researching trombone prices and vendors:
- Even though online retailers may be less expensive in the short term, local brick and mortar retailers may be cheaper over the long term. All instruments must be maintained and repaired from time to time, and when you purchase a trombone online, you may not have any way to get it repaired other than to drag it in to a local shop. Some mail order and online trombone vendors will provide repair and replacement coverage, but if you need to use it you must often ship the trombone via UPS to their location. Since most online retailers do not provide loaner instruments to use while your's is being repaired, you will be without an instrument for a long period of time.
- All instruments are not created equal. As any professional musician will tell you, buying a new trombone should be a personal matter. Much the same as buying a new car, you should always give a new trombone a test drive before taking it home. If possible, bring along your local band director or a professional trombone player to give you suggestions. This is especially important at the intermediate or advanced levels of musicianship. Bring along an electronic tuner to test your instrument to see if there are any intonation problems before you buy it.
- For beginners, buying a new trombone may not always be the best deal. New trombone players will occasionally switch instruments due to a variety of factors. If you buy the instrument then you are stuck with it. Renting an instrument for the first three to four months is almost always the best thing to do when getting a new trombone. Most companies now offer rent to own deals which make this a very easy decision. If you want to save the extra money, buy out the remainder of the rental contract as soon as you are certain that your new trombonist is going to stick with it.
- Cheap and better are almost never the same thing. While there are always exceptions (such as sales and clearance events) you can pretty much assume that a lower priced trombone is made of cheaper components. Since all beginner trombones are essentially identical, the cost difference is often made by using thinner metal or lower quality alloys. All of these things can affect the durability and overall sound of the trombone, so again, research and test the instrument carefully before buying a trombone solely on the basis of the lowest price.
The copyright of the article Buying a Trombone in Music Education is owned by Chad Criswell. Permission to republish Buying a Trombone must be granted by the author in writing.
