By all means, check out the http://www.thespamletters.com site that keiths recommended. Find the exchange the website owner had with the spammer. It is hilarious.
Dale
Bloomfield wrote:
And for the record, being the lamer that I am, I would like to say that I consider red flashing sigs with Christian slogans in Latin a form of spam. YMMV.
Who me? It only flashes in Netscape. It scrolls in IE.
On 2002-06-14 14:07, The Weekenders wrote:
Hey, I didn’t GET to study Latin like some overeducated types.
Hehehe…that reminds me of a tshirt ad I saw once. It had a latin phrase written on it in flowing script. The translation on the order page read “If you can read this, you’re overeducated.”
WHAT??!! That dead Nigerian guy isn’t REALLY going to put 38 million dollars in my bank account?
uh-oh…
On 2002-06-14 00:26, The Weekenders wrote:
Funny thing is, I am about the hardest guy in the world to sell anything to.
So, how many whistles do you own? 
[ This Message was edited by: Daniel_Bingamon on 2002-06-16 12:09 ]
On 2002-06-16 12:06, Daniel_Bingamon wrote:
So, how many whistles do you own? >
Less than most of you guys, ha!
And to make the point finer, NOBODY tried to SELL me the whistles. I collected em in an almost secretive fashion, going out of my way to “visit” SF so I could go by Lark IN the Morning. There’s a big difference.
Since I discovered C&F, I have begun to put up my sales defense because I now have knowledge of WHoa in all its glory!
What I really want now: enough time to practice and to get better. A few more good whistles in different keys for song accompaniment is another longterm goal. But I have been considering Dixons as a cheaper choice for the odd keys even tho’ I love the Burkes, so my thrift is basically intact.
And I said it before but repeat: whistles are the best value in musical instruments that I know of. The difference in price between a $10 Feadog and a $100 Burke is like the difference between a $200 guitar and a $2000 one in my opinion. Maybe an overstatement as i haven’t played the ones you guys pay even more for. But its great value.
Best to all.
On 2002-06-16 17:04, The Weekenders wrote:
I collected em in an almost secretive fashion, going out of my way to “visit” SF so I could go by Lark IN the Morning. There’s a big difference.
Hey, I was there Friday! Bought an Acorn and a Meg (my first) from Heather. You know you’re in trouble when you know the first name of the lady running the cash register in the whistle store.
There has been a few different counter people when I have gone. There was an older lady (compared to the very young guys who were there otherwise) who seemed to be there the most. Until I learned diffently, I thought she was the owner or something.
Anyway, she was the one that told me (with a twinkle in her eye) that some of the best whistlers just used cheapies. This was in response to my non-excitement at a few of the premium whistles that I couldn’t get a decent scale out of.
I have said it before but do again, make sure and visit when you’re in SF! It’s really neat to see so many instruments in one place. It’s funny though that one drawback can be the same thing. I have had a hankerin’ to get an octave mandolin or bouzouki or cittern or whatever you guys call em now but when I go there, they have so many that I don;t know where to start… Considering I used to sell guitars in a store, it’s notable that I am intimidated by overchoice!!
[quote]
On 2002-06-16 22:09, The Weekenders wrote:
There has been a few different counter people when I have gone. There was an older lady (compared to the very young guys who were there otherwise) who seemed to be there the most. Until I learned diffently, I thought she was the owner or something.
Yeah, there are usually several people there, but Heather is the shift mangager or something like that. And I have yet to go in when she’s not there.
They have in incredible assortment of unusual instruments, that’s for sure.
The Weekenders wrote:
I have had a hankerin’ to get an octave mandolin or bouzouki or cittern or whatever you guys call em now but when I go there, they have so many that I don;t know where to start… Considering I used to sell guitars in a store, it’s notable that I am intimidated by overchoice!!
Be advised: Lark In The Morning sells a Romanian-made bouzouki for $300. I ordered the same exact bouzouki directly from the manufacturer (retail). With Express Mail shipping and all expenses, it cost me only $122.50. It is a great instrument.
Thanks for heads-up Walden. I guess if I really get serious about it, I will likely hunt down the best deal too and might even ask you about that particular option. Having sold guitars in a quality environment before, I know darn well that most music stores do not truly know how to set up guitars etc. unless they happen to get a fanatic employee who knows something. I get the feeling at Lark that they have a lot of stringed instruments but that wind and percussion are actually more up their alley. I really don’t know who in the Bay Area cares that much about that small niche. The Fifth String in Berkeley features one builder (from up in Washington? maybe) and one model but the one I played wasn’t that resonant so I couldn;t get worked up about it. I have a very good eye/ear for guitars (a nearly useless talent considering what retail pays) and won’t settle for something unless its really nice.I used to return up to half of the guitars we received from Yamaha etc when I managed a guitar store. I know they went somewhere but they weren’t going in my store!
I don’t blame LITM for marking up the zouk. It’s the usual thing of them doing something many customers won’t and you are paying them for the convenience. I ordered a Susato from Elderly, but it was back ordered so long, I did the research and ended up getting it from Kelhorn for slightly less. I should have known better but I always thought Susatos were made in the Netherlands! That’s how I ended up with two E whistles.
Part of my sales resistance is that I do understand the economics of marketing though mostly in a small-scale environment and in a non-educated way. When someone tried to sell me a #$%^%* Water Filter via Multi-Level Marketing I looked em in the eye and said, “I can go to the Home Depot and get a #$%^ water filter which has only been marked up once or twice at most. Why would I ever want to buy anything that had gone through the various payoffs that MLM represents?”
In another case, when my sister went ga-ga over melaleuca (tea-tree oil) cosmetics and products, I told her that if they were so great soon somebody would sell em in a store (and that’s where I would buy em, not from a #$%^ MLM drone). To prove my point, I called the 800 of the Body Shop and asked them pointblank if they had any tea-tree oil products. The lady kind of laughed and said, :“How did you know about that? We are releasing some products this summer with that extract!”
I don’t think it ever caught on in a big way without the door-to-door hype for the Body Shop but the market made my point.
It’s not easy being this cynical/pragmatic when you are surrounded by consumers.
Recently, the same sister went nuts for some tax scam called the The Tax People. She roped my sister and two of my brothers into the damn thing and I was the outcast for refusing to go along. Of course I was vindicated but you end up being somewhat estranged from the herd.MLM always tries to get you to sell to family and that really @#$%% me off.
The marketing geniuses have a category for shoppers like me called “inner directed.” There was an unintentionally hilarious profile re-printed in Consumer Reports about us years ago. In many ways, we just don’t really care about prestige that comes with product names and we will spend a little time to save a lot of money. Isn’ that shocking!
Best wishes all and sorry for symbolic profanity but money scams do @#$% me off.
My aunt got involved in Melaleuca in the early 90’s. She got several women involved. They claimed it was like getting in early on Amway.
A company whose promotional literature spends so much time explaining why it isn’t a pyramid scheme (btw it essentially is one) ought to sound a few alarms in people’s heads.
Pretty much all of them are now out of Melaleuca, though my grandmother still uses the foul-smelling products (which gave me a rash).
P.S. If you’re looking for a really top quality zook or OM, David Freshwater’s are widely praised, and look great. Plus they’re made in my ancestral homeland (you know: great-grandpa to 6th degree came over from Inverness, married Cherokee, yadda-yadda-yadda).
http://www.inverness-online.com/fretted/productmain.htm
Your assessment of Lark’s stringed instrument sales is right. I bought an OM from them, and its setup was atrocious. Not having my electronic tuner, I had to adjust the bridge by ear.
Walden
Deus converte nos et ostende faciem tuam et salvi erimus</font color>
[ This Message was edited by: Walden on 2002-06-17 04:12 ]
On 2002-06-14 20:47, Walden wrote:
Bloomfield wrote:
And for the record, being the lamer that I am, I would like to say that I consider red flashing sigs with Christian slogans in Latin a form of spam. YMMV.Who me? It only flashes in Netscape. It scrolls in IE.
I guess it’s all right then. 
Beati pauperis spiritu. 
On 2002-06-17 13:15, Bloomfield wrote:
Beati pauperis spiritu. >
As it says in the Pig](http://www.museumofconceptualart.com/ible-bay.html%22%3EPig) Latin Version of the Ible-bay, “Lessed-bay are-ay e-thay oor-pay in-ay pirit-say: or-fay eirs-thay is-ay e-thay ingdom-kay of-ay eaven-hay.” —St. Atthew-may 5:3.
“Lark in the Morning” = “Shark in the Morning” to those in the know. Buy elsewhere.
Chris
On 2002-06-17 16:08, ChrisLaughlin wrote:
“Lark in the Morning” = “Shark in the Morning” to those in the know. Buy elsewhere.
Chris
That is certainly their reputation.
I beg to differ insofar as they are offering something noone else has around here and they have lasted. The owner has been a promoter of Irish music and introduced countless people to new musical instruments and styles, which is generally a good thing. Perhaps they have greatly wronged you but in general they are a positive force compared to Guitar Center etc.
I don’t believe that LITM uses commissioned salespeople, which automatically changes the dynamics to the positive. Most of the items I have bought have been generally the same prices as elsewhere though Walden gave a good example otherwise.
I am sure they have run afoul of people just by virtue of the sheer amount of instruments they sell. Each family of instruments have maintenance and set-up issues and I don’t see how they could possibly keep after everything. So the idea of informed salespeople is pretty daunting.
Having been on the receiving end of abuse by customers despite doing a very good job in retailing in the past, I would ask that you qualify that kind of criticism. A lot of people read this Forum that might be customers there so enlighten us.
[ This Message was edited by: The Weekenders on 2002-06-17 18:51 ]
To be fair, my Hall Crystal Flute came from Lark, at a good $15 less than it cost at Mars (which is admittedly mostly a guitar shop, but they have a band section with the Hall flutes on prominent display), and similarly for various other mass-produced instruments, you can get often get good deals through Lark.
I’d be disinclined to buy expensive handcrafted instruments through -any- mail-order business, regardless of the markup that Lark or anyone else may have, since it’s the sort of thing you really need to see and put your hands on before purchasing, or if it’s being custom-ordered, then I want to deal with the craftsperson that makes them.
–Chris