I'm still not buying into this. I do get the fact that if you're using higher cost materials, there should be a higher charge and that's it.
The student instrument is done to the point that it looks very good. The pro instrument is worked painstakingly to the point where it looks as if it just came from the factory.
Emphasis mine, of course.
Those highlighted points are exactly what I'm getting at.
If you start by saying that a -- and I'm using
worldwidesax.com's pricing and terminology -- "vintage standard" rebuild for my Keilwerth-made Bundy bari is $1299 and you detail exactly what's going to be done, that's exactly what I should expect. If you say that you can do some extra stuff for extra cash, that's great and I can choose that or not. However, your statement says that if a horn is considered to be a "student instrument" that you're just going to put in enough work to make it "very good."
Let me try another analogy.
I'm a computer tech. You tell me that you got infected with the Zbot virus. At this point, I can tell you that I can run three or four AV/AS programs (and do a couple other things) that'd
probably repair all the damage and it'll take me five hours -- but there are no guarantees that the infection has been completely healed. Or I can rebuild your computer from scratch, then scan and transfer your data files and that
will fix all your problems, but it'll take me at least eight hours, possibly more (depending on your configuration); you can make the choice. I don't care if the computer is responsible for running a multimillion-dollar measuring device or if it's a $300 netbook. You've got the two choices: a 5 hour repair or an at least 8 hour repair.*
I don't see anywhere that you're even offering the choice to the player. That leads one to say, "Ah. If they determine it's a student horn, they're not going to do as good a job." That's my problem.
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* Where I work, we have a standard software build for all of our computers that includes an operating system (OS) and standardized software (i.e. "everyone gets this installed, even if he only uses it once"). This is called an "image." If a user does come up to me with a virus infected computer,
I have the choice of running my fancy programs or rebuilding from the image. The only time I won't choose "reinstall the image" is if the user has had installed a bunch of esoteric applications or the applications he had are difficult to install/configure. Why? I can reimage a computer in less than an hour and have it all set up for you (transfer your data, configure your applications, etc.) in two more. In other words, a lot quicker than that 8 hour number. You also get the side effect of a fresh install: your computer will run faster than before.
Another way of thinking about it is that if I think that the fix to your problem would take me more than about three hours, I'm just reimaging you. And probably locking down your computer so tight that you'll have to call me if you want to play "Minesweeper."