If you can imagine it, it can show up in an eighty year old saxophone (proving once again that Mr. Murphy was right). Much of these issues aren't discernible either from minuscule eBay pix, or by asking questions of the 'non-expert' eBay 'pickers' that comb the land for anything they can 'flip' for a profit. Now I truly appreciate the spot in our saxual food chain filled by the many entrepreneurs that proliferate eBay and the web, but dealing with them cannot provide you the assurances as to what you are paying for -- AND the ability to deliver it as promised -- that doing business with a reputable worldwide web saxophone restoration specialist does. You have to pay to get those assurances, and by standing behind our promises, web saxophone specialists like CS earn the reasonable retail premiums you pay us. If you don’t think we earn the few extra bucks we make on a turnkey resto, you need but take a look into our parts-horn bin for all the old horns there that wouldn’t make the grade for our turnkey program. If they're junk we junk ‘em. We don’t try to fix ‘em up to pass off on some unsuspecting client. Our clients are like gold to us, and we strive to treat you all accordingly.

Now I just wanna' ask a couple questions here to see how well I've gotten over to you folks these points I am trying to make: If after forty years of buying and selling saxophones (and having seen about all there is to see in the way of what CAN happen when you buy one off the web), I still get stuck with a clunker here and there, don't you just gotta' ask yourself, what are YOUR chances that your one shot is a clean hit? Don't forget, by the way, that finding and buying a good carcass is only half the battle. You still gotta' get it shipped to where you want it -- damage free. Believe me, friends, we have a detailed picture essay on "packing saxes for safe shipment" on our web site for a darned good reason. There is no plumbing the depths of laziness, idiocy and general incompetence that goes into packing your web purchases for their blessed journey. I've had the UPS guy walk up carrying a sax case by the handle, one that some idiot simply pasted a label onto and dropped off at the counter (we can debate who was dumber, the shipper or the counter clerk that took the horn like that). I've also seen sax cases in a box with little or no packing at all (and even saxes without cases), simply rolling around inside an empty box like clothes in the dryer (to my mind this is a much WORSE trip than the bare case example).

Trust me, there's everything in between those two extremes that one can imagine -- like using the contents of one's trash can as packing material (it was handy). When it comes to shipping saxophones, it's Mr. Murphy's purview once again. And sending out a link to our picture essay on how to pack a sax doesn't always take, either (hence the above reference to laziness as a shipping risk). Keep in mind that improper packing is NOT an insurable shipping risk -- not that you want the hassle of a shipping claim, anyway -- so what gets broken on the way here, you pay ole Bear to fix that, too. It's your job to sort the responsibility & cost out between the seller and their shipper. With our program horns you know that they are already safely here at our shop, and ole Bear has already hassled out any shipping damage issues for you. If it's broke, Bear fix ... and that's all you need to know. So here's the other question I wanted to ask:

Feelin' lucky?

If not, our CS turnkey resto program was designed with YOU in mind ...