[Bill Mecca]

For a while I've thought it might be nice to try a HR Berg tenor piece. Figured I could pick one up cheap because a lot of people thought they sucked. Last couple times I checked fleabay, not one under $200, some $399, or more... what the heck happened?

Oh well, guess I won't be trying any out in the near future. weird did they all of a sudden become the new hot mouthpiece? or is the market being inflated?

Notice a similar thing with Jumbo Java's I've picked up some for about $60 in the past... not in today's world. just remarking on the current state of affairs. I doubt there is an answer.

 

[Honeyboy]

I'm going to guess one reason is it's easier to refinish a rubber piece and not too many seem to be wanting to refinish stainless steel pieces anymore. So you can get a great Berg but in the hard rubber version, so their price is going up? Just a thought.

 

[skippy]

I've noticed the same thing: ebay ain't what it used to be when it comes to mpc deals.

 

[drwhippet]

For a while I've thought it might be nice to try a HR Berg tenor piece. Figured I could pick one up cheap because a lot of people thought they sucked. Last couple times I checked fleabay, not one under $200, some $399, or more... what the heck happened?

Oh well, guess I won't be trying any out in the near future. weird did they all of a sudden become the new hot mouthpiece? or is the market being inflated?

Notice a similar thing with Jumbo Java's I've picked up some for about $60 in the past... not in today's world. just remarking on the current state of affairs. I doubt there is an answer.

Just wondering if you're doing a "Columbo" here (RIP Peter Falk). Because yes, starting a year or two ago they started to be grossly inflated by a certain mouthpiece seller whom we all know to the $400 mark. Now, you can still find one from other sellers for less if you're patient; but unfortunately, since this seller seems to have cornered the market on these by buying up as many of them as he can and fixing the new price, if you check the completed auctions on ebay it appears that his efforts to inflate them are succeeding slowly but surely. Because now even some of these from other sellers will go for $300 and up. I guess these things just take time--but if enough people get used to seeing them at $400, it's only a matter of time before folks will start to think $300 for one is a bargain, when it reality, I paid only $140 for one just 3 1/2 years ago, and it was a primo 1960s example with the narrow serif font, off-set M and the so-called "boat" table (something people didn't even talk about then when selling them, as yes, this seller I'm referring to seems to have come up with a whole new lexicon to entice folks--I guess kind of like "Early Babbitt" and such).

Anyway, as someone who's been following these things for the past 10 years I just thought I'd shed a little light.

Ironically, this certain seller may have actually gone overboard on his inventory of this brand of vintage piece because recently I saw where he was trying to unload tons of them at lower prices. Must be the economy....

 

[Bill Mecca]

LIke I said, I not sure what happened, but damn if I'm gonna pay $300 for a mpc I have to have refaced. ;-) I'm not the target market. lol guess I missed my time. This is a hobby for me and sometimes I like to experiment. No more.

 

[skippy]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Berg-Larson...ultDomain_0&hash=item27bf3ca668#ht_500wt_1202

 

[Mustang55]

Wow! An actual deal on E-Bay! That's not a bad MPC for $33.00. It may need to be refaced at around $75-$85.00, but it's still a good deal. I agree with Drwhippet...the MPC market is a total wreck right now. I know times have changed, but as an old fart I can remember walking into a music store and buying one of these new out of the box for $30.00 plus tax. Used Links were everywhere...if you dropped a STM, no big deal, they were $45.00 new and 15.00$ to 20.00$ used.

All this super stencle, angle fly, dinner table is too much for me. I'll buy a good MPC from a few members of this forum and probably won't get burnt. But when you're looking at some of the MPC's that go for $1,000 to $1,500 it makes you sick. I've played on the darn things and they make squat difference in sound. It's all you with a decent MPC. You can do anything on it. And whippet is right about the prices firing up over the last couple years. Hopefully the prices will drop, but people are willing to believe all the hype and a good Berg HR travels up with the other pieces. It's plain amazing....I'd kill one of my students if they paid that kind of money on a MPC.