Ensnareyou,
All the years I sold Solton and Ketron during the Lou and Aldo Bell/Solton years, before CMC Distributors bought them about 3 years ago, the "B" Discount structure was on all the models they sold. Although some of the models were more expensive than the competition, the margins a dealer could make were equal to all other manufactures.
It's only been in the past year that the new Distributor and or Ketron Italy have changed all the margins. This is what I'm complaining about. To make you, the customers feel like the product is not to expensive compared to all the others, the dealer selling the product is the one loosing. I understand the customer is getting a lower price, but I also think the manufacturer is still making exactly what he needs to make, and perhaps the distributor is making exactly what they need to make, but the dealer selling to the customer is not making a margin needed at such a high cost for the goods.
I agree, that if the pricing is not right that just don't buy it, but I also serve the Southern California musicians who can't find these products anywhere else. If Kaye's Music Scene doesn't sell it, Ketron would probably have a hard time finding some other store to sell their products.
My feeling is that Ketron Italy, even though they are a small company still needs to sell their products world wide and if other dealers feel as I do, they might just not have enough dealers to survive the recession.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com