What do you do with valuable pieces?

[bennyw]

Just curious - what does everybody do with valuable pieces? The ebay prices have me thinking about fire-proof safes or something for my collection of vintage mouthpieces. Also, "saving" Slant-Sigs and such for secure gigs & recording - is this just nuts? Does everybody else just consider this stuff another risk we take to play music?
Benny

[MM]

Well, I don't keep them all in my case!

[davidk]

I only have one tenor mouthpiece - a Vandoren V16 costing around £330 ($615). I play it.

[blackfrancis]

I don't own anything that I don't use all the time. Play 'em- that's what they are made for. BTW, a fireproof safe will not give you good protection unless maybe it's a data safe.

[A Greene]

I wish I had a collection to worry about. I usually sell what I'm not playing. I switch equipment so rarely that hanging on to something - just in case- doesn't out way the need for $$$$$$.

But the Link Slants (Tenor and Soprano), Selmer Soloists (Soprano) and Meyer NEW YORK alto are getting CRAZY. It use to be the Guardalas were the only big money pieces.

[J.Max]

I don't own anything that I don't use all the time. Play 'em- that's what they are made for. BTW, a fireproof safe will not give you good protection unless maybe it's a data safe.


Yup. Unless you're a mouthpiece tech, I've never seen the point of having 25 pieces around collecting dust. Besides, I'd be tempted to mess with the mouthpieces rather than woodshed.

[bruce bailey]

Sell them. Some day a maker (probably in Asia) will get things sorted out and my Slant Tenor will be worthless!!! (I have been saying that for 20+ years)

[Tharruff]

Hmmm...I keep ALL of my mouthpieces that are not in the case of one of my horns in a shoebox...most horns have at least two mouthpieces in the case. The shoebox is pretty full.

I told my oldest daughter that if I died unexpectedly to tell my wife to not throw the shoebox away, but to take it to one of my musician friends for advice on 'disposal'.

[Grumps]

Sell them.
My thoughts exactly. There are still some excellent pieces being made today for under $300. If you can sell a mouthpiece and basically have enough to buy a horn, it's time to make that deal. Oh, will they be worth oh so much more some day? Perhaps, but unless you deal in volume, the few extra hundred you make down the road ain't gonna add up to any great fortune.

[J.Max]

I only have one tenor mouthpiece - a Vandoren V16 costing around £330 ($615). I play it.

!!!!

$615 for a V16?! Even in the UK, I thought retail was more like 125GBP...

[gary]

!!!!$615 for a V16?! Even in the UK, I thought retail was more like 125GBP...
Sorry to say it, but methinks somebody got skeeroood.

[davidk]

£246 for the mouthpiece and £81 for the fancy ligature. Total: £327.

[Pete Thomas]

You should insure them.

I only have one (almost) irreplaceable mouthpiece and I've had it cloned. I play the clone. If it gets lost or stolen I'd just get another one.

[Master.America]

You should insure them.

I only have one (almost) irreplaceable mouthpiece and I've had it cloned. I play the clone. If it gets lost or stolen I'd just get another one.

Does the clone age twice as fast? :D

I'm glad I don't have any valuable mouthpieces; I don't treat them with half the care they deserve. I've only had my link for a bit over a year, and it's chipped here and there, scratched enough to lead one to believe a cat got ahold of it (actually, not unlikely), and the gold plating is faded or worn off in some places. In my defense, most of that damage was done by my FL ligature, which I probably wouldn't use on a guardala or the likes.

[bruce bailey]

I guess I am lucky as I have a Slant Link HR Tenor 6* that someone gave me because it has a nick at the tip. I can't really sell it for anything and it is probably the best tenor mouthpiece I have ever owned. No worry.

[Frank D]

I've been thinking about the value lately, but I still play 'em, that's what they're there for.

[Off-kilter]

I've only got the one mouthpiece ( Berg Larsen S.S. ) but it is virtually priceless ( to me ). I inherited it from my father which makes it irreplaceable. It still gets played every day. What would be the point of getting something different and putting this one in safekeeping?

[Bootman]

I play the fancy expensive mpcs. There is nopoint in having them to sit around in the cupboard.

[bennyw]

Yeah, I've tried to thin out the ones I don't like to play, and to play those I do like more often. But still...For example, I'm closing a deal for a Mark VI soprano that comes with a Slant-Sig Link; I already have a nice Soloist for legit stuff...I guess it just weirds me out that these were basically just old mouthpieces when I stopped playing, and now I probably could buy an allright horn if I sold my stash. But then I'd be right back where I started, I think.

[king koeller]

It's only valuable if it plays.
I mean if it really plays!!

All the rest of my mouthpieces are in a suitcase somewhere.
I must have 80 or 90 of them, most will go to my son, who plays Alto in junior High School. The rest will be ground up and mixed into plant potting soil.

[bruce bailey]

I know a lot of us buy ebay horns to get that secret mouthpiece.