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Thread: Just an observation

  1. #1
    Registered User Timbofood's Avatar
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    Default Just an observation

    I feel like I keep seeing the “Save 30%” on Mel Bay stuff every few weeks, am I imagining that? I’d think the “Sale” aspect would start to wear thin after the fourth or fifth time.
    Timothy F. Lewis
    "If brains was lard, that boy couldn't grease a very big skillet" J.D. Clampett

  2. #2

    Default Re: Just an observation

    Well, the nice thing about that is if you is if you miss it and want something later, it will come back around.

  3. #3
    Registered User Charles E.'s Avatar
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    Default Re: Just an observation

    Not as bad as the furniture store in Raleigh NC, where I used to live, that had a "Going Out Of Business-SALE" sign in it's window for twenty years.
    Charley

    A bunch of stuff with four strings

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  5. #4
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    Default Re: Just an observation

    It seems to have started early in the pandemic lockdown. It’s a great way to get quarantine mando improvement underway. I grabbed some goodies.
    Girouard A
    Silverangel A
    Eastman 615

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  7. #5
    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just an observation

    Mel Bay has offered various discount levels on and off for some time. I watch for their 25% or 30% sales and then buy. Whether or not it is a gimmic is irrelevant to me. I like the low prices and watch for them.

    I have purchased piano music from lots of different publishers and found the printing quality, one publisher to the next, to be quite variable. The music I have purchased from some has been printed very badly, making sight reading very difficult. I have always found Mel Bay's books to be well printed and I really appreciate that.

    I used to go to a large sheet music store in Haddonfield NJ and spend hours going through the racks. I'd only go once or twice a year, but what a joy it was to browse through their racks. I would come out with an armload. Sadly, I don't know of a single storer like that anymore. They seem to have all succumbed to this changing world.

    Anyway, Mel Bay on sale seems, to me, to be a real deal. I am glad they make these offers on the Cafe (good for us!) and especially that they seem to be doing it more often. It sure is great to have them as a Cafe sponsor!

    New disease abbreviation: mAS (note lower case 'm') for music acquisition syndrome. I have it bad and don't want a cure! (Think of Amy Winehouse's 'Rehab' playing in the background).
    Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album

  8. #6
    Administrator Mandolin Cafe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just an observation

    They've always offered discounts but since the pandemic hit they've stuck with a consistent 30% off since late March. We have a very good, close relationship with them and they're a great but small team with a massive catalog. An awful lot of people hanging around the forum are authors for them so us promoting the discount serves more than one purpose. A few of those people: Ted Eschliman, Aaron Weinstein, John Goodin, Tommy Norris, Dix Bruce, the Dawg. Go back more years and some people no longer with us like John McGann, John Baxter and Joe Carr. There are others.

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  10. #7
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    Default Re: Just an observation

    In the UK there are laws about this type of thing - you have to have someting on sale for a particular length of time at the full price before you can claim it to be discounted by a certain percentage.

    Personally, I prefer the more creative techniques; I remember spotting a huge banner outside a camping equipment shop which said “Now is the season of our discount tents”.

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  12. #8
    Registered User DougC's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just an observation

    I support Mel Bay as much as anyone. However it would be nice to see another now and then. Hal Leonard comes to mind. (Mel Bay did not publish my book so I guess I have a grudge. Ha, ha.) Regardless, I'm glad we have such a sponsor. They really understand our 'culture'.
    Decipit exemplar vitiis imitabile

  13. #9
    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just an observation

    Debating what to order? Here are my three Mel Bay favorites (no particular order). These get a lot of play whether at home for my amusement, or playing out with my duo partner.

    Renaissance Tunebook, by John Holenko. This is actually the music I took up mandolin to play. In my early days, I did all my own transcriptions from recordings. Wrote it all out in notation and tab to learn the fretboard. This book really moved me ahead.

    O'Neill's Music of Ireland, by Kevin Allison. I play a lot of these tunes and want to play them all. Maybe in time, I will. Just a great, fun book.

    Traditional Southern Italian Mandolin and Fiddle Tunes, by John T La Barbera. To my mind, an absolute 'must' for the mandolin. This music sounds like it was written for the mandolin because it probably was.

    I'd love to learn what others like from Mel Bay. This music is really affordable at 30% off. Too bad I am 'COVID' broke!
    Purr more, hiss less. Barn Cat Mandolins Photo Album

  14. #10
    Registered User Louise NM's Avatar
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    Default Re: Just an observation

    The occasional sales don't bother me, and I find it gracious of them to extend a 30% discount during the pandemic.

    Bob Clark, here are my three favorites:

    Marilynn Mair's The Complete Mandolinist. I would consider this one essential for everyone. Scales, arpeggios, etudes, repertoire, left-and right-hand technique, it's all in there.

    John Goodin's Telemann book. Calling Telemann "prolific" would be an understatement, and Goodin chose a variety of dance movements and other pieces from his work. Some are quite easy, others are not, lots of different keys and rhythmic patterns. Goodin's transcriptions of Oswald's Airs for the Seasons is also good.

    A Celtic encyclopedia which seems to have gone out of print. Not specifically for mandolin, it has jigs, hornpipes, reels, lots of O'Carolan, polkas, etc., etc.

    I'm glad to hear you like the Holenko Renaissance book. I keep looking at that one.

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