I bought myself an early Christmas present.
I’ve been checking Ebay daily for months, looking for a deal and I finally found it last Sunday.
According to the picture, it’s a real beauty - a nice little Moeck Rottenburgh soprano recorder. If you don’t know, the Moeck Rottenburgh is a pretty good name - way better than 95 per cent of the recorder manufacturers out there.
So, if you believe the photo - and I will until I see otherwise - I got it for one-fifth the brand new price. And as a used instrument, that’s how it should be.
(Don’t tell Tool Man, but there goes my Christmas budget. He’s getting the gift of music this year!)
I’ve been watching for a good deal for months - yes, I learned patience from my cats. And it’s amazing how many people will try and sell a used item for a brand new price. Or sell something that is clearly damaged for way more than it’s worth.
The thing that makes me chuckle are the pictures of musical instruments put together backwards. Maybe it’s a ploy to make everyone believe the seller doesn’t know what he’s got. It doesn’t stop them from putting an outrageous price on it.
Yes, I know, most of you are thinking: “She’s taking a chance.”
You’re right. But the price was also right. It was cheap enough that if it falls apart in my hand the moment I take it out of the box, oh well...
You can’t get anywhere without taking chances. Earlier this summer I made my first Ebay purchase and lucked out with a beautiful rosewood recorder made by a renowned Dutch instrument maker. It plays so sweetly that I can’t put it down.
I play it to amuse myself and drive my cats crazy. Strangely enough, I find that the really high notes send spiders running in the opposite direction. At least, it worked on the one spider. I haven’t seen any others since then. I may have stumbled onto a new chemical-free “spider blaster”.
So I have my good recorder and now I have a back up recorder. I have no more reason to watch Ebay for another deal. But..
Wendy Coomber is editor of the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal