Crazy P.Mauriat price in South Korea

[Beowulfmk]

I recently had a business trip to seoul, South Korea and had a pleasant chance to visit Nakwon Sanga. It's a place where about 100 instrument shops are built in a mall-like fashion. I've been checking and comparing prices of the mpc and instruments. Most mpcs had insane price compared to the U.S. For example, Claud Lakey metal piece was around $500 in dollars. But P.Mauriat price was even worse.

It is my understanding that P.Mauriat ranges from $1300~$1600 or so in the U.S. The Korean dealer asked $5000 for brush antique finished alto and almost $8000 for other alto with a rolled tone hole. I tried both, and they were poorly adjusted with leaks here and there. Just to compare, Selmer Series 3 cost around $4500 in South Korea. Crazy?! The store lady also advertised that it is made in Paris...

[Daktion]

hehe crazy stuff intead. the P range has increased steadily over here as well I'm afraid.. you're looking at around 2k-3k for the more popular series.

I'm wondering if customs and taxes has anything to do with the crazy prices.

btw just to add.... i guess these crazy south koreans believe that the P.Mauriat is better than a selmer... haha

[rleitch]

You guys are right about wacky prices in South Korea. I bought my SA80 alto at basically the same market in Pusan (the 2nd biggest city) in 1998 for about$700 Canadian. If the Koreans feel the same way about horns that they do about other big ticket items--cars, furniture etc.--they would not be willing to spend premium dollars on old/used equipment: this is a generalization, of course, but Koreans seem to value newness and the idea of techological innovation over anything vintage.

Beowulfmk: did you get a chance to check out the live music scene while you were there? While living in Korea I met a whack of superb musicians. Korea has one of the most generally musical cultures I have ever experienced.

[Beowulfmk]

rleitch,

I had a chance to attend a musical play. There was a tenor player who played background music. He used Mk6 with Guardala laser trimmed piece and was a great player. I wish that I had a time to visit the live music scene, but I was too busy with the business trip. They put high price for new horns, but the vintage horns commend even higher price. Good MK6 with original lacquer cost about $10,000..