Ok, I'm sure that some one on this site has asked this question before, but I couldn't find it.

I'm currently trying to save up for a new marimba. I'm still an undergraduate, so I have a few years before I actually make my purchase, but... as we all know, they are ridiculously expensive. If you own or know someone that owns a marimba, how did you save up the money for one? Did you get a loan for part of it? Any info is greatly appreciated.

Marimbas aren't a purchase like a car or a house where a loan seems feasible, unless you're establishing a current career as a professional marimba soloist (which I'm assuming you're not, if you're an undergrad.) It just doesn't make sense to worry about taking out a loan, considering you'll have to pay that loan back plus interest.

A musical instrument is a desired purchase, not a necessity, although us musicians like to view them as such, on some occasions. I'm going to pull out the hard core conservative in me and say this, if you want it bad enough, then you'll take the time to save up for it, rather than trying to take out a loan, and putting yourself in a financial situation that you can't handle.

Again, this is just my ranting about it, I just don't like the idea of taking out a loan on something that isn't necessary, when you could just save up your extra money to make the purchases that you want.

Want some ideas on how to save up? Try this. Bank of America (assuming it's a bank in your area) offers a "keep the change" policy, which rounds up all of your purchases to the next dollar amount, and puts that change in a savings account. After quite a while, you tend to build up a lot of money that you didn't even really know about. In addition to that, if you have a pretty steady income, after paying your current bills (like for me, cell phone, gas, money set aside for car repairs [which I'm about to dish out 500 in as we speak - ugh], college expenses, etc.) then take 15% out of whatever is left, and transfer THAT to your savings. That's a good idea for anyone to do, whether you're saving up for a new Gibson Les Paul, a MalletTech marimba, or if you're saving for retirement. Again, this is the conservative in me just coming out, but I would strongly suggest this to anyone, because you never know when you'll find that impulse purchase that you'll want, or maybe some spontaneous bill that you may need.

Good luck!
B

Well at UTPA, Doctor Ramirez owns a five octave MalletTech marimba. I myself have been curious about maybe financing the "Love Vibe" at a later date for my personal enjoyment, and what I was told flipped my views a bit. I was told that in buying something like that, you would need to make a down payment of half the price, and two months later pay the remainder of the bill. Not cheap at all. So my serious suggestion is keep saving like a champ, and MAYBE by the time you graduate you could almost afford it. That is under the assumption that you don't have major expenses that come up (car payments, student loans, rent, bills, that stuff). So yeah, save money, take care of necessities first, and it very well could happen!

Do you plan on performing on this Marimba or just practicing on it? There is really no reason to get a top quality marimba just to practice on. Getting a synthetic marimba can be a load cheaper than getting anything from Malletech. Actually, getting most any marimba is cheaper than anything from Malletech. The quality of an instrument will go up in price (generally) but you also have to factor in whether that extra quality is worth the extra cast.

Those prices are very high the set of Vibes is $8,000 and they have three 5 octave Marimbas ranging from $12,000 to $15,500. I would think that you really want these so it will be the money you will have to come up with and being in college full time you may have to get a job to start to make some right away.

I was thinking if you got a credit card and only used it for this purchase that you will have a major payment every month and the interest will also be a problem but you will have what you want. Very expensive world we live in today but it is something that will haunt you until you have it. But then you would have it and play on it all the time. Maybe get the down payment from working and put the rest on a card.

I don`t blame you for wanting it, in my experiances with musical instruments the better quality instruments make your playing sound so much better.

I would suggest looking at slightly used instruments. Think of it this way, the average loan payment is about $20.00 depending on banks and what the loan is being used for and credit score for every $1000.00 you borrow. So if you can afford and extra $160.00 a month in bills over the next 4-5 years for an $8000 marimba (I know I couldn't have in college). I don't suggest doing that with the uncertain times in the economy. You will be graduating soon and probably looking for a job. That's a lot of unneeded stress just to have a marimba. Save up and look for a used one and that way when life hits you with some emergency, you won't be looking at $8000+ worth of debt sitting in your home.

If you are going to purchase any of it on credit, you need to be looking for the lowest interest rate possible. That is not likely to be a credit card. Local credit unions usually offer low rates to members. Membership usually has no fee; you just have to open a savings account. The nice thing about the savings account with a local credit union is they won't fee you to death like the big banks do.

If you are able to make the purchase while you are still in school, you may be able to get a private student loan with an awesome rate. Just make sure you really read the fine print. Banks have recently been selling loans to each other and jacking up the rates. Some of mine went up from 6% to 9%, enough to increase my monthly payments by almost $50. You don't want to get stuck with a variable rate that will be able to jack up too much.

If you save up enough to pay for most of it, many creditors offer a period of no interest to start off a loan (usually 6 months, but sometimes more). I bought my fiance's engagement ring and wedding gift using 6-months-same-as-cash loans from Wells Fargo. I was very surprised at how high the credit limit they gave me was. I paid all these off before they started taking any interest. If you needed just a few thousand more, you could find a loan or credit card like that and put in a couple hundred a month to finish it off with no interest.

When you save, you earn interest on your money. When you borrow, you pay interest to the lender. The longer you wait (and save), the less money you end up spending. The only exception to this is if a student loan will offer an interest rate significantly lower than any other loan you can find, but you have to get it before you graduate. Also, if you plan to do any of this on credit, learn as much as you can about how credit applications will affect your credit rating. I was not attentive to this enough in my college years and I'm still paying the price. ClarkHoward.com is a good resource for free advice about how to save, borrow, and make large purchases without getting ripped off.