Due to the apparent chaotic nature of new U.S. tariffs, everything about this topic is a moving target. I will post updates as appropriate.
Key points
- My flagship instruments are made in the U.S. and, presently, there should be little, if any, effect on the prices of these more expensive instruments that are shipped within the U.S. The flagship instruments, as of this writing are:
- Violoncellos da Spalla
- 5-String Fiddles
- Octave Violins
- 5-String, Octave and Tenor Violas
- Travel Violins and Violas
- For customers outside of the U.S., there will likely be additional tariffs, beyond import taxes and fees that have already been in place for years; however, the good news is . . .
- Depending on the country, new tariffs on U.S. goods will generally NOT affect the effective purchase price of our high-end instruments. The reason is that, in the majority of cases, I will discount purchase prices by the percentage of such new retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods. This will always be handled on a case-by-case basis.
- Example: If you live in an EU country, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, Australia or New Zealand, etc. and your country’s tariff on U.S. goods is 20%, and you purchase, say, a Violoncello da Spalla with a purchase price of $12,500, you will only be charged $10,000 ($12,500 x .8 = $10,000). A $7,500 Octave or Tenor Viola would be discounted to $6,000, and so forth.
- The budget-priced factory-made instruments we offer WILL be affected substantially because they use factory-made components and materials from China.
- I will hold prices where they are for as long as possible
Details
Below is my best guess as to how U.S. tariffs will affect prices of our instruments for customers in the U.S.
Our high-end instruments (Effect of tariffs: Not much, if at all)
D. Rickert high-end instruments, regardless of type, are made in our workshop in Hiawassee, Georgia. This is true for bowed string instruments, as well as the soon-to-announced banjos, which will be marketed primarily under the brand, Georgia Mountain Strings. While some materials we use are from Canada or Europe, prices of finished instruments should not be affected. We will continue to use European maple and spruce, primarily from Canada (quilted maple), Bosnia (Bosnian maple), Romania (i.e. Carpathian spruce), Germany and Austria; however, most of my instruments are already made primarily of maple from the Pacific northwest of the U.S. (Washington and Oregon) and Sitka spruce from Alaska. We often use “bear claw” spruce for its aesthetic as well as tonal characteristics. Alaska is basically the main source of bear claw spruce. The majority is recovered old wood from “sinker” logs that have been under water for a century or more.
Parts, such as the tuning pegs we use (Wittner FineTune planetary pegs) are from Germany. The cost of a set of tuners for an octave/tenor viola or violoncello da spalla is about $150 per set. Even if the price would double, that is only a fraction of the materials budget for a high-end instrument, with a price tag in the $7,500 to $18,000 range.
The real impact on of tariffs on pricing will be on the budget priced factory-made instruments. These are instruments that are partially constructed in China and completed in our Hiawassee, Georgia workshop.
Budget-priced instruments (Effect of Tariffs: Substantial)
We call these factory-made. Even though their main construction happens in a Chinese factory, we still have to put at least 30 hours of work into bringing them up to professional performance standards. The work involves all of the following:
- Planing correct relief into the fingerboard to allow low action without string buzzing
- Reshaping or replacing the bridge
- Replacing poorly-fit tuners with Wittner Finetune pegs
- Installing high-quality strings
- Correcting nut problems or replacing the nut
- Fabricating and fitting a new sound post to optimize the instrument's sonority and timbre
These budget-priced instruments are for customers seeking an instrument that are set up to professional performance level playing standards and sound better than merely passable. The main instruments in this category are octave violas and tenor violas in the $3,000 to $3,500 range and violoncellos in the $3,500 to $4,000 range.
According to my research, including conversations with other small businesses that import a lot of stuff from China, as of today (4-23-2025), It appears likely that, as of May 2, 2025, the price we will have to pay for partially completed instruments with increase by 145%. Put another way, the cost will be 245% of what it has been up to now. At the risk of being egregious, I will give a realistic example of an octave or tenor viola.
Before new tariffs:
- Our current cost for a partially completed and pre-varnished base instrument ($800).
- The cost for parts and strings ($500)
- Our labor (44 hours @ $50/hr. = $2200)
- Total sales price=$3500
With new tariffs:
- Our current cost for a partially completed and pre-varnished base instrument ($1960).
- The cost for parts and strings ($500)
- Our labor (44 hours @ $50/hr. = $2200)
- New sales price=$4660
The sales price, while still less that the price of an instrument made by me ($7500), does give one pause to think.
Stay tuned for updates!
Contact Information
The web address for the “Cool Instruments for Hep Cats” video podcast is: @Cool_Instruments_for_Hep_Cats - https://www.youtube.com/@Cool_Instruments_for_Hep_Cats/podcasts
Don Rickert’s main website, ‘D. Rickert Musical Instruments’, is https://www.RickertMusicalInstruments.com.
Online store, ‘Don Rickert Musician Shop’, is https://www.DonRickertMusicianshop.com.
Don Rickert on Linktree: https://linktr.ee/donrickert. This link gets you to ALL of my detailed contact information, my websites and social media.
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]
Phone (in US): 706-400-1481 (mobile)
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