I'm writing a story taking place in the Jazz Era, also looking for context from earlier in time for a deeper understanding. I'm uncertain how my characters may have acquired their musical instruments, especially as working class citizens. On the other hand, I know for certain that most jazz musicians of the era had very little money. Did they get them from music stores? How much might they have cost? Specifically wondering about sax, oboe and upright bass. Also piano--for pianists, which couldn't really transport an instrument, did they just use what was in their venues? What were the struggles in wanting/not actually owning one or vice versa? How common were pianos in said venues, esp. speakeasies? Any further reading on this and related topics would be much appreciated, I want to have as much depth in my research as I can.
It doesn't exactly answer your main question, but I answered a similarish question about fiddles in bluegrass in the same era a while back - if you're specifically interested in sax, oboe and upright bass, you can probably find the prices in the Sears-Roebuck catalogue I linked to, which will at least be a starting point.
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