At the start of each year, we here at Gamut look over the prices and costs of instruments and strings to see if anything needs to be changed. This year, 2014, the stand-out issue concerning instruments has been the cost of cases. Since we have our cases made in England, the costs are subject to the ebb and flow of the value of the US dollar to the Pound Sterling. Unfortunately, the value has been doing more ebbing than flowing over the last year and the cost of cases has gone up quite a bit just because the value of the dollar is so low. Not only that, but the cost of transportation and gone up as well as the duties that we have to pay to get the things into the country.
It has always been the policy of Gamut Music that our instruments would go to the customer in a Kingham case. However, because of the rising and fluctuating costs of the cases, we are going to try something new for a while to measure the customer response. As of January 1, 2014, we will be offering instruments for sale without cases. We realize that there may be some customers that just want an instrument and can sort out their own cases or instrument storage needs and separating the cost of the instrument from the cost of the case will allow us to keep the price of instruments as low as possible.
Of course, we will continue to offer the finest, handmade, custom Kingham cases for our instruments for those customers who want them. For those who do not, we will be happy to supply the instrument alone.
If you have any thoughts on the issue, please send a message support@gamutmusic.com.