best/worst garage sale deal.

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calaverasgrandes
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best/worst garage sale deal.

Post by calaverasgrandes » Sat Dec 04, 2010 11:44 pm

I was talking to a friend of mine whose dad recently passed. Apparently my friend and their step mom have no love lost. To such an extent that before estate proceedings had really started she sold off all of her deceased husbands music and recording gear at a garage sale. Mics $1 each, effect pedals $2, and so on. It was all my friend could do to make it out of there with the Goldtop and the Black Falcon. Apparently the rest of the($250,000) studio gear was liquidated in such a fashion.
So in the spirit of that utter waste of gear (I secretly wish I could have been there!) what kind of crazy finds have you kids made? Or what was sold out from under you without your knowledge or consent?
I had my Ludwig Vistalites sold by my mom when I was on tour playing bass. She was moving and couldnt be bothered. I think she got $20 for "those toy drums".
OTOH I picked up a 60's? 70's? Fender P at a garage sale when I was 14 or so. My first bass actually. With a silver face combo bass amp it was $100.
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Post by JGriffin » Sun Dec 05, 2010 1:09 am

When I was 14 I got an EV 664 at a garage sale for a dollar. It lived at my bass player's house because that's where we rehearsed. I don't know what happened to it, but it likely stayed there when the band split up.
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Post by Danders1 » Sun Dec 05, 2010 7:57 am

This was not a garage sale but still a great find. I was failing spanish and had to get a tutor in high school. a spanish woman that lived on the other side of town agreed to give me lessons. One day in the late spring their garage door was opened and I noticed an amp stacked in the corner. At the end of the lesson I asked her about it and she said that we could take a look at it. Turns out it was a 71 Fender Twin Reverb that she gave me and wouldn't accept any money. It was complete with some 1960's RCA tubes; it was a great amp.

Unfortunately it was stolen out of a practice space about 4 years later.
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Post by pwrb » Sun Dec 05, 2010 10:56 am

This topic screams for Darron Burke. Paging Mr. Burke...

In the meantime, my stock answer to this question is generally:
About ten years ago I acquired a super-nice 1940's Slingerland Radio King snare in great shape. Price: free. It was being put out on the curb by a lady who had a very short amount of time to empty out her deceased parents' house. Also got a nice gothic chair, but that doesn't sound as good...

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biasvoltage
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Post by biasvoltage » Sun Dec 05, 2010 10:02 pm

EV 666 for $3

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Speakers and stand...

Post by mrclean » Mon Dec 06, 2010 7:48 am

Our town has a town-wide yard sale day every fall. A few years ago I wandered by a yard with a few crappy practice amps and some other music gear. I spied a pair of KRK Rokit 5's

I asked the lady how much. She said "My son owes me money and he's not here...oh I don't know... how about 15 bucks?"

I said "for the pair?" She replied yes.

I gave her a 20 and she threw in a boom mic stand.
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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:17 am

Hammond M3 (working, but no Leslie) for $25 at the Goodwill. Found a working Farfisa in somebody's trash once. Found a very solid but well-used Gibson acoustic something-or-other at a garage sale and my pal bought it for the $15 they were asking. later it appraised before any repairs at $1200ish.

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Post by ??????? » Mon Dec 06, 2010 9:31 am

1929 Vega Vegaphone Professional tenor banjo at a garage sale: $25. Optimistically, worth about 1500 maybe.

Old Turkish/Istanbul K Zildjians, 20" ride and 14" pair of hats. $140 total at a Memphis pawn shop. I can't keep up with prices on these they're rising so fast, but at the time the ride was worth about 1k and the hats about 800. I'm sure more now (this was a few years back).

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ott0bot
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Post by ott0bot » Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:12 pm

Saw a pair of Sennheiser HD280 pro's in a case full of random video game cords at a thrift store in Gallup, NM. How much you ask....$2.50. Sold!

Found an Sk-1 at goodwill fro 5 bucks. That was swell.

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shedshrine
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Post by shedshrine » Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:44 pm

Man, the warehouse at our local goodwill employs a very happy crowd of concert t, tats and piercinged rockers. That place is always picked clean before it reaches the indoor shelves. Only cheap clock radios, vcrs and toasters make it through..
Last edited by shedshrine on Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

chovie d
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Post by chovie d » Mon Dec 06, 2010 12:50 pm

I literally bought this at a garage sale for $25, but mne looks in nicer condition. It is actually a great guitar tho I was susrpised to see the ebay prices go so high.
I guess some old blues guy used one...


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ott0bot
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Post by ott0bot » Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:16 pm

shedshrine wrote:Man, the warehouse at our local goodwill employs a very happy crowd of concert t, tats and piercinged rockers. That place is always picked clean before it reaches the indoor shelves. Only cheap clock radios, vcrs and toasters make it through..
that is odd, because goodwill employees are supposedly not allow to shop at the location they work at to prevent this type of thing. I'm sure they could call a friend to come in and buy the "cool" stuff, but the policy is supposed to help give the customer first shot at the purchase.

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Brett Siler
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Post by Brett Siler » Mon Dec 06, 2010 1:18 pm

ott0bot wrote: Found an Sk-1 at goodwill fro 5 bucks. That was swell.
Me too, it made my day.

Best was a Otari MX-5050 BQIII quadraphonic deck for free.

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winky dinglehoffer
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Post by winky dinglehoffer » Mon Dec 06, 2010 2:40 pm

Out of the handful of music things I've managed to pick up at yard sales, I'd say the the coolest deal was probably a Wurlitzer Sideman for 25 bucks.

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Post by ??????? » Mon Dec 06, 2010 3:56 pm

I've learned that it's often a good idea to at least drive by the dumpster out back of the goodwill. A guy told me once he snagged a NICE pair of JBL L-100s out of the dumpster. That's about a $400 dumpster-dive these days.

Especially vintage hi fi stuff but probably other old audio stuff too makes it into the dumpster rather than out onto the sales floor, especially if it looks "old," unless there happens to be someone there that knows what they're dealing with.

The guy that dumpstered the L-100s probably put the shiny new-looking black Panasonic speakers from the all-in-one out on the sales floor with a tag saying $75 bucks.

Goodwill seems to like to think of itself as a "better" thrift store, so they tend to push the stuff that looks like you almost could walk into a Target or a Mall and get it. Anything that looks old isn't "vintage" to them, many times-- it's just old.

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