Cannonball does not allow its dealers to advetise prices or offer discounts or sell outside their local market. This is clearly illegal. It is restraint of trade and price fixing. They are afraid of competition and are overcharging the buying public through these nefarious policies. No other major company does this, because among other things, it is against the law. It's called restraint of trade for a reason, and should be investigated and prosecuted. Its also called ripping off the consumer.

I think what you say is essentially correct. They do strictly enforce certain policies among their dealer network to prevent anyone from reducing prices or selling on the internet. I'm not a lawyer, but I do think this is restraint of trade, as you say. I'm not aware of any other industry that gets away with this. It seems like the Sam Ash chain does sell Cannonball at a discount, but I could be mistaken about this.

For the record, Saxgourmet Products does not restrain prices. We have one and one only dealer in North and South America who is free to sell for whatever they wish. The dealers in Europe and Asia are also free to set their own prices.

No matter what the price, why would you want one?

Didn't the FTC recently investigate price fixing in the musical instrument business and find that price fixing such as MAP was illegal?

Sam Ash stores sell them at somewhat less than list price.

I have a Cannonball "Vintage" Pete Christlieb model tenor (and a few other tenors kicking around here to compare it to...). It's a solid horn... well made and nice ergos. Nothing revolutionary, just a good workable quality horn. It stacks up well against any other horn I've played or owned. Most of the horns that I've tried from Taiwan recently are pretty decent overall, but I liked the tone of the CB a bit more.

I agree that the pricing is pretty wacky. But they can be had on the second hand market for pretty reasonable prices, well under $2k in almost-new condition.

Haven't had the chance to try any of the SG horns yet... but would like to! Not a lot of options here in Sacramento.

Pete

Cannonball has really bad resale value. If you can pick one up used, that is the way to go. Pity the fool who buys one new.

Guy's ....

This has always been the case ... Music 123 used to resell Cannonball sax's until they sold a complete set to me in the UK ... Unfortunetly the set had lacquer hardner problems, I.E. there wasn't enough hardener mixed in with the lacquer, and the lacquer started coming off after only 3 months use ... Music 123 were seriously compromised as Cannonball had no UK dealers at that time ... Consequently the whole set, Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bari sax's all went back to the USA .. and full compensation was received along with customs charges that I incured in the UK ... full marks to Tevis & Sheryl @ Cannonball ... But unfortunetly quality control issues arose from this minor mess up, and I dont think cannonball ever let Music123 sell their sax's at discount rates ever again . !

It is good to hear that a manufacturer stood behind their product.

I've used Cannonball horns for about 6 years for many recording sessions, jingles and concerts. I've found them to hold up very well and have had no problems with them. That's not to say I wouldn't play another brand of saxophone. I would love to have Steve's high end tenor and alto!

I always thought the recently produced ones played OK.....they have an interesting business model, but so do I.

Tevis is a very nice guy and outstanding player, and he's still in business after all these years, so he must be doing something right.

I contacted Cannonball to find dealers close to me. They would only give the closest one even though there are three within 100 miles and I wanted the names of all three to compare prices. I told them I am willing to drive that far for a sax i will have for years. they would only give me the one dealer even after i told them this.
I live in the middle of nowhere and could travel to any of the dealers with ease, but they would not relent.

It's an unusual business model for sure, but they seem to think it works for them