Dear Barton Cane Customers,
Welcome to the Barton Cane Newsletter! A lot has happened since our last newsletter from December of 2017!
First and foremost, we'd like to extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, students and colleagues of Eric Varner. It just doesn't seem real that he is gone. The double reed community misses you dearly Eric. Rest in peace friend, your smile lives on.
Barton Cane Happenings
On the Subject of Hardness Testing: Many folks have asked if we would consider doing hardness testing. We have decided not to for the following reasons: We currently offer 105 varieties of gsp cane. If we were to add "soft, medium and hard" options, that number would triple. We may also need to categorize our current cane brands, the density of which are somewhat fluid since density changes from one batch to another. In addition to the daunting thought of navigating this Pandora's box of variables, we could end up throwing cane away that was outside of the density parameters, but that may have made great reeds. Throwing cane away could easily result in driving up prices. Our current company goals include keeping all varieties in stock and keeping prices stable.
Cane Feedback from Customers: Since we do not do any hardness testing, we greatly appreciate all cane feedback. We reference this feedback when customers ask about cane density.
Website Updates
Ordering in Bulk: We recently added a bulk option to the website and lowered the minimum order from 250 to 150. Bulk prices are 25% lower than non bulk prices ($4.50 per piece vs $6.00 per piece). Bulk orders cannot be mixed, they need to be the same shape, profile and type of cane.
Factory Seconds: We added "factory seconds" to the website. These are pieces that didn't deserve to be thrown away, but weren't up to the Barton Cane standard. They are completely random, unlabeled and have some defects. Folks have asked for cane that could be used to practice making reeds and we thought this would be a good solution. Factory seconds come in packs of 10 and are $2.50 per piece.
New Cane Brand! Our cane selection will soon include Lavoro cane from Turkey! We aim to have the Lavoro option on the website by December.
Existing Cane Choices and Updates: We currently offer Gonzalez, Glotin, Medir, Rigotti, Danzi, Donati and K.GE cane. We are not going to order anymore K.GE. We'll sell out of what we have and then take it off of the website. The gsp on our website that has been processed using K.GE cane is of acceptable quality, but we throw away too much cane during the processing to make it worthwhile.
Swag: We now have a swag page to our website where you cane find Barton Cane t-shirts, water bottles, tote bags and temporary tattoos (free). Sporting Barton Cane swag has been known to drastically improve one's mood and to bring very good luck. Giving Barton Cane swag as holiday gifts to colleagues and mentors has been proven to bring good karma to both the giver and the receiver.
Sustainability
Energy: Barton Cane is powered by 100% renewable energy. Longmont Colorado's renewable energy comes from a variety of sources including wind, hydroelectric and solar. If you are interested in switching to renewable energy for your home or business, check with your power company to see what they offer!
Packaging: Feel free to reuse, recycle and/or compost all packaging from Barton Cane. You may also feed it to your worms.
We are always looking for ways to be more environmentally friendly. Feel free to contact us with ideas!
Reed Makers
If you have an online reed store and use our cane, we would love to help promote and grow your business. We are happy to share your info on social media and list your shop on our website. Feel free to email us your website and promotional materials. Click here to view our current list of reed makers.
If you are interested in opening an online reed store and don't know where to start, feel free to contact us for some ideas on establishing a website, marketing etc. We are happy to help!
Upcoming Sales and Events
Halloween Drawings: We will have two $100 Barton Cane gift card drawings on Halloween! Both will be announced the week before Halloween. The drawings will take place the day after Halloween. One will involve bassoons and will be posted on the Barton Cane Facebook page. The other will involve pets and will be posted on the Double Read Pets page. Consider yourselves warned!
IDRS 2020! IDRS is without a doubt our favorite time of year! We very much look forward to seeing you all there! The proposal deadline is December 1st so get crack'n!
Social Media
Social Media: We cannot thank you all enough for your ongoing support and enthusiasm on social media! It truly warms our hearts to be involved is such kind, encouraging and nurturing community. If you don't already, feel free to participate in these shenanigans on Instagram and/or Facebook. To be honest, we just don't understand Twitter so we have it set to automatically post our facebook posts. We don't even know our Twitter login info.
Double Reed Pets Facebook Page: We created this page when we realized that double reed players have incredibly cute and hilarious pets! Thank you all for blowing this page up! This is after all, what the internet is for. Dave and I have some serious favorites that include Knox the chinchilla, Cow the bunny, Leota the french bulldog... actually, this could go on all day, let's just admit that they are all our favorite!
Friendly Reminders
Permanently Free Shipping for Orders Over $150. We offer permanently free shipping on all orders over $150. This includes international orders. Remember to enter coupon code: FreeShipping at checkout.
Return/Replace Policy. We are always happy to send a refund or replacements for any of our cane that doesn't work out for you in any way. Please don't hesitate to let us know if you have any difficulties during your reed making process. Our company is built on customer suggestions and feedback and we are always looking for ways to improve the quality of our products. Feel free to contact us with any feedback or suggestions, we value your input.
Thank you all for making this company possible!
Have a wonderful week,
Dave, Julie and Lucille (the pup)
