Instruments for elementary schoolers?

[ajwolfe]

That was our deal, too. My husband went to band information night and came home with the contract. I discovered I could buy used for far less than a year of contract costs, then - as long as the instrument stayed in good shape - resell it back to the used instrument dealer for 50% of what I bought it for.

Oh I wish our company offered the buy back!! That would be great!!

 

[angierae]

We did a rent to own through the school - it was expensive, but she ended up playing all the way through high school so it was worth it eventually. (We never moved her up to a better instrument because she didn't put enough effort into it - she did the bare minimum when it came to practicing. I told her if she'd tried harder and really wanted to get good instead of average, I'd pay for a higher quality instrument, but she never did.)

 

[crisi]

Oh I wish our company offered the buy back!! That would be great!!

This was a consignment place that does musical instruments. Its a 50% charge on consignment. So if I buy it for $500, use it for four years, I can have them sell it again for $500, and get $250. NOT a musical instrument rental place.

 

[Egdisney]

I'm buying used too. My daughter also picked the french horn which must be the most expensive instrument ever. It was going to cost 90!!! dollars to rent!!! What?? So the $500 used instrument will be cheaper for the school year, she will at least be in band for 2 years, and I have 3 other kids who will be strongly encouraged to try the French Horn if she quits

 

[snoopy5386]

Thanks all. She wants to play the cello, it's $55 a month to rent, $40 down and that $55 starts in December so $425 for the school year. Music store made a big point of saying they don't rent used cellos (so what do they do with the used ones that get returned?) and that if we continually rent (including summers) that when she grows into a full size new one they will give a brand new one to us, that being the rent to own part. By that point we would have paid them close to 5K in rental fees! I'm still not sure what we are going to do, but the rental game seems like a racket.

 

[Pesky]

I would rent but depends on your investment and the instrument. DS wanted to take guitar. A used guitar ran about $60 (less if I was willing to hang around CL for longer than the 3 weeks I did). Renting it was $30/mo. We had to commit to 18 weeks of lessons. You can see at that point it is cheaper to buy it. DD wants to take drum lessons. A kit can run easily $400 used. There is no way that makes sense for her at this point. We will invest in some drum pads and see how she does and if she is really into it and committed, we'll look at a drum set in a year or so.

 

[HHMcG]

Very happy mom of a 4th grader here! Our district let's 4th graders borrow at NO charge. If they like it then we start renting next year. I have no idea how much that would cost but seeing some of these $$ scares me. DD brought her flute home last night! We will owe $8 for the year for her music book.

I played an instrument for two - three years. Right around the time my parents bought it I gave up.