Rip off Britain

[FLATROCK HILL]

What Eddie said

Sad but true.

[FLATROCK HILL]

I know this is no consolation for most of you folks over there, but the UK has an amazing plethora of antique Italian bowlbacks which were imported by the crateload in the early part of the last century.

Jim, I would guess that you wrote that with a sincere sigh of frustration, knowing (as you said) that few will be consoled.
With no disrespect intended, I have to say that it is one of the funniest posts I have ever read.
I hope you wrote it with comical irony in mind. It not, I apologize and slink away in shame for misundersting it.

Clark

[mandroid]

+1, the U$D is at least buck-sixty~seventy-five to the £ and still less than 1 to the Euro.

[Jeff Mando]

Jim, I would guess that you wrote that with a sincere sigh of frustration, knowing (as you said) that few will be consoled.
With no disrespect intended, I have to say that it is one of the funniest posts I have ever read.
I hope you wrote it with comical irony in mind. It not, I apologize and slink away in shame for misundersting it.

Clark

Ha, I get it! Like finding a warehouse full of Yugo's!!!!

[Gregory Tidwell]

Or like finding 50 million Prussian Francs.

[neil argonaut]

Having seen various medical practitioners absolutely free of charge for mandolin induced tendonitis, I've more than made back the extra I pay on strings or on American instruments. I use European plectra too (from Wegen). And stuff here is certainly a lot cheaper than on mainland Europe.

[Jim Garber]

Jim, I would guess that you wrote that with a sincere sigh of frustration, knowing (as you said) that few will be consoled.
With no disrespect intended, I have to say that it is one of the funniest posts I have ever read.
I hope you wrote it with comical irony in mind. It not, I apologize and slink away in shame for misundersting it.

Clark: You can certainly take it that way. I was trying to figure out what the UK has that we don't mandolinwise. I happen to be into those lowly bowlbacks (as well as other mandolins) and I realize that other may not. Then again, I suppose I could have noted that you have bangers and mash and bubble and squeak (or whatever) that we here in the states do not.

BTW I like that new word you use: to "misundersting".

On the third hand... BION there are those of us minority who actually play a few bowlbacks and there are some that rise much above the category of "Yugo."

[SincereCorgi]

I sympathize with the UK folks... I went to school in London for a year and I felt sticker shock the whole time, especially for any music stuff. I broke a ligature before a recital and ended up paying about four times what I would in the US. Buying any CD that wasn't a dodgy 'budget' release was out of the question. On the plus side, BBC radio, the health care system, and public transport, museums, etc, were superb.

[Eddie Sheehy]

We're divided by a common language...

Mind the Gap...

[FLATROCK HILL]

On the third hand... BION there are those of us minority who actually play a few bowlbacks and there are some that rise much above the category of "Yugo."

Jim, I consider you to be one of the most sincerely helpful and knowlegable contributors to this forum. I've been reading your posts long enough to know of your love of the Bowlback mandolin. I did not mean to question your appreciation of those instruments nor did I intend to insult the instuments themselves.

For some strange reason I found humor in your post. I guess it was mostly the fact that you knew and admitted up front that not everyone would be consoled by an amazing plethora of Italian Bowlbacks.

We all like and appreciate different things. This world would be a boring place if we were all alike. As much as I love cars the "Yugo" analogy was not mine. If I were to make such an analogy, I would have come up with a car that is considered by some to be a true classic. A car that is coveted and revered by a few, yet underappreciated by most... maybe an Edsel.

[Bertram Henze]

I was trying to figure out what the UK has that we don't mandolinwise.

They have Fylde. If that alone doesn't make up for everything else I don't know what will.

[Gelsenbury]

They have Fylde.

And Sobell and Phil Davidson. And a diddly-diddly scene that isn't being lorded over by some self-appointed ITM police.

I buy my strings for less than a tenner at my local Hobgoblin. The most expensive picks I own are all from the USA.

Rip-off Britain exists, but I have no complaints about music-related goods.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Beanzy - If our UK dealers could buy directly from the US manufacturers,without going through a UK 'middle man',then we'd be fine (maybe !).It's the UK wholesalers who pile on the price.There's no US duty or anything that's been paid,just the wholesaler's price hike' as they buy from the makers. When i bought my Gold Star 're-issue' banjo about 9 years ago,i asked my dealer friend who'd got the Bill Keith 'D' tuners for my Stelling, to get me a set for the GS. he told me that he'd have to get them via an importer & they would cost more than the US price 'to him'. He'd have to put on his own profit margin & the price would be around 50% higher than the cost of importing a set myself - which i did. Of course i got slapped bythe tax man,but it was cheaper.
In the UK,we all know & understand that we have to pay tax on our US imports,i've no problem with that,other than it makes many items far,far less of a good buy than in the US. As i mentioned,the large increase in postal charges has had a big impact on what we have to pay when we import. I was recently looking to import a Bobelock mandolincase & one store was charging $75 postage to the UK. Now,being honest about it,i don't know if that's a realistic charge,but it has to be added to the cost of the case itself & then tax is paid on the total,not just the case cost, that's our tax man's little earner !.
As for the UK cost of a Blue Chip pick from our only vendor £38 UK ($64 US) ,that's simply a total rip-off (IMHO) & i hope they choke on 'em !!!,
Ivan

[Dave Hanson]

Thanks Nick, but I did buy some after all, good picks.

Dave H

[Dave Hanson]

The US also has more competition more competition leads to lower prices. Free enterprise is good for consumers ,the economic other systems well not so much.

You've hit the nail on the head there Nick, there is no competition here in the UK.

Dave H

[Nick Quig]

No probs, you can get them on ebay here in uk : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Golden-Gat...item27e285952d

[trevor]

I do sell strings (and offer full service), I just don't send them out. There's no point when there are several mail order specialist firms doing this.

[Grommet]

We can't even get a sniff of good Indian takeaway here in the western US. Great Mexican food, and two great mandolin dealers here in the Phoenix area though. Local GC is the cheapest spot I've found for J74s except for the Dennis V's Thanksgiving Sale at the Mandolin Store.

Scott

[Anglocelt]

I wonder if all you UK residents could stop whining and realize that

a - you are living in the most beautiful archipelago on this planet, and might want to start enjoying it
b - an archipelago consists of islands where everything has to be shipped to - paradise comes at a price

No reason to envy us landlocked continentals from Central Europe or the US.
Thomastik and D'Addario are just neccessary souvenirs from hell.

Hi Bertram, I don't recall whining and I said the import costs were reasonable. I have pretty good local music shops nearly on my doorstep which supply me with most things I need (and too many that I don't). I actually enjoy importing bits & pieces from the USA to complement all this.
Thanks for the pro-British Isles promo boost though. I meet lots of 'continentals' walking trails in our beautiful countryside as I will be doing again in the Scottish Highlands in a couple of weeks. I also live in 'God's own county', aka Yorkshire, where the music and the scenery is pretty fine. If you visit this way let me know.

Kevin

[Jim Garber]

As for the UK cost of a Blue Chip pick from our only vendor £38 UK ($64 US) ,that's simply a total rip-off (IMHO) & i hope they choke on 'em !!!,(

I don't know the ins and outs of the music biz in the UK, but is there any reason why you could not contact Blue Chip directly (or any other US dealer) to work out something circumventing these middlemen? Might there be a way for the UK dealers to pool their resources and buy direct in quantity if it is not sensible to buy in small amounts?

[nickster60]

Maybe this is the start of a Blue Chip smuggling ring.

[Bertram Henze]

Maybe this is the start of a Blue Chip smuggling ring.

Illicit Blue Chip factories, camouflaged, among the hills...

[trevor]

Far East fakes... lets hope not.

[nickster60]

!00% profit, Hummm I wonder how many I could affix to rather generous posterior.

[allenhopkins]

UK's not a "rip off," it's just a different society. Some things are less expensive there, some more so. Overall standard of living's comparable to the US, just that the money's allocated differently.

We mandolinists have our own perspective. Were we in a different line of "work," we'd feel differently.

I can remember a couple of French college students coming into the instrument shop where I worked part-time in the '70's, looking for moderate-priced electric guitars to take back home. They said that there was a 50% "luxury tax" on instrument sales in France at that time. And I own a Sobell "large mandolin" that used to belong to English guitarist Martin Simpson, because he traded it here on a vintage Gibson mandolin -- to take back to England and sell at a major profit.

Doesn't make either France or England a "rip off" -- just different societal priorities.