What was your best garage sale/thrift store/pawn shop find?

silvertonejones · Post by **silvertonejones** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 4:26 pm

found an old ARP Solina String Ensemble in a barn in upstate NY...Falling apart but works wonderfully!

garyk · Post by **garyk** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:19 am

OK: A "Realistic" 2 track tape deck on a garbage pile...is, in fact, a very nice Teac in running order.

A fantastic pair of Acculab speakers for $20 that I use for my studio monitors (these are great ...find some in the USA and use them!!...only lacking is the bottom end)

A Sennheiser MD408 for $20 on ebay

a great stereo tube amp (1960's) on the side of the road

A great sounding mono "leak" preamp for $40 that I use as front end for a lot of things

A cheap dbx 118 on ebay

A Tannoy ribbon mic paid about $20 ... best sounding ribbon I own...

and a great 60's Japanese guitar in a pawn shop for $27.

mrclean · Post by **mrclean** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:19 pm

1950's-60's Harmony Tenor Guitar
I found this in a thrift shop for $25 bucks about a dozen years ago:

Needed a bridge but got it fixed up and it plays fine now.

stringrazor · Post by **stringrazor** » Thu Nov 23, 2006 12:07 am

Got a Fender Rhodes Suitcase 88 from a super of an apt after the tennant passed away. Also got a small Fender Sidekick 15 amp at the same time, both free. Sold the Rhodes after a while for $500.

A few years later the same guy found an '83 Gibson Korina V Historic Reissue that had been tossed out of a window. The neck pocket was badly damaged and someone had tried to use wood screws to repair it (and failed miserably). There were also some cracks in the body. I gave him $200 for the pieces, spent about $50 in repair tools and supplies. Got some great repair advice from the good people at mimf.com and it turned out to be one of my favorite guitars. Funny thing is, I never lived Flying V's until I repaired this one.

before and after shot

Mark Alan Miller · Post by **Mark Alan Miller** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:52 am

Mark Alan Miller wrote:Compusound by Frogg. $9 at a Salvation Army store. Whee!

I had a request to post a pic of it. Took me a while to get to it... but here it is, amongst some other oddball stuff.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:18 pm

bluesman wrote:Ludwig Vistalite complete kit-perfect- yardsale for $10.00 in 2002
Slingerland big Jazz kit, beautiful, 24" kick, snare, double rack toms, double floor toms. all really big drums- church yardsale for $40.00 in 2004
Fender Showman 1-15 Tonering Cabinet-church yardsale, the same one as the Slingerland kit & at the same time-$40.00
All this stuff was in excellent condition.
1967 Fender Super Reverb in terrible condition-$20.00 in the early 1990's, I rebuilt it & still have it to this day. It sounds Super-b
Sound City 120 head- free 2003, it was left on the sidewalk, in front of a record store, the store owner called me & asked if I would haul it off...it worked.
In the late 90's a friend sold me an old Peevey PA head, a Hammond M-3 with a 145 Leslie and a dual manual Mellotron for $100.00.
A few months ago another friend gave me an Earth BA2000 bass rig with matching Earth 2-15 bottom....he even delivered it......it works, but needs a cap job.
Enough....Im sure you guys are getting sick of me!!

Stop all that braggin Lee!

Frankencow152 · Post by **Frankencow152** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:52 pm

got a redbear mk 120 halfstack for $400 TOTAL.

craigslist

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 4:50 am

nuttin ata pawnshop.Dang!

blakbeltjonez · Post by **blakbeltjonez** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 7:02 am

ah, i had the Explorer reissue that was the brother to that one.... what a great guitar

stringrazor wrote: A few years later the same guy found an '83 Gibson Korina V Historic Reissue that had been tossed out of a window. The neck pocket was badly damaged and someone had tried to use wood screws to repair it (and failed miserably). There were also some cracks in the body. I gave him $200 for the pieces, spent about $50 in repair tools and supplies. Got some great repair advice from the good people at mimf.com and it turned out to be one of my favorite guitars. Funny thing is, I never lived Flying V's until I repaired this one.

before and after shot

myleftfoot · Post by **myleftfoot** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:58 pm

well for me it is not about the brand name super valuable finds, but more the random cheap stuff that sounds good.
I found a Teisco Del Rey guitar from 1965 at a rummage sale and paid $40...you might think this is too much. this guitar is really weird nad has a unique sound and I like playing it.
I got a Crate bass amp for $10, as well as a crappy bass for $10, at a garage sale.
a bunch of Casios which in some cases I way overpaid for.
a bunch of random tape recorders, cassette and reel to reel, in various states of working-ness.
usually, when i am at a garage sale, and ask if i can test one to see if it works, they usually say i should just take it for free or i can have it for $1 if i just take it away.

beauarts · Post by **beauarts** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 2:47 pm

Was at a local music store yesterday and in the case was Schoeps cmc5 with a mk41 capsule. They just got it that day and I bought it for $415 + tax! When I quizzed the salesman, he said they looked it up and that a cmc5 sells for $580, hence the price. Good thing he didn't notice that the capsule is an additional $700!

I compared it to my CMC5 with cardiod. It's true like they say, the low end is lighter on the hypercardiod capsule. But it's still one smooth mic with one of the nicest hyper pattern i've heard. Woohoo.

renwick · Post by **renwick** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:24 pm

my first post here at tape-op! yeah!

anyway...

I use to go to garage/estate sales all the time. Unfortunately, it was before I totally took up recording. I ended up selling some stuff that I could have used now. Oh well.

An old Jazzmaster (?) snaredrum for .25 cents. I think it was an old student model. Nothing great, but with a little work.. it might sound ok.

Some old bass 20" drum drum for $5 that was wrapped in glued xmas paper.. probably used for xmas decorations. needs work. it's up in my rafters and when i have times.. i will work on it.

An old, working Leslie. I forget the model number. It was $10 and labeled as a "speaker ?" at an estate sale. The hammond organ that it was probably attatched to was priced at $400. The Leslie was in another room and they didn't know what it was. I sold that on ebay. stupid me.

MINT wurlitzer 200a w/ all original manuals. perfect working condition... that was $200. not a GREAT buy.. but worth it.

a working Hammond M3 by the trash.

a Hammond M1 (?) free. I have to double check the model number. Pristine/Mint condition.

various lo-fi mics.

a funky "organ" that has a motor and sounds like an acordian. $1.

I have seen a couple of odd looking, old preamps... that i never bought, cause.. well.. I didn't need them. stupid me.

Makes me want to start going to yard sales again.

fazeka · Post by **fazeka** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:25 pm

renwick wrote: a Hammond M1 (?)

That would be just a plain jane "M". First came out in '49, I believe. Then the M2 followed that until '55 when the M3 was introduced with "percussion".

renwick · Post by **renwick** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 5:01 pm

hmm....

it's got "percussion" "switches"... but i think that those just adjust the percussiveness (sp?) of the keys and not actual "percussion" sounds (ie. claves, toms etc).

I'll double check tonight... I have a bad memory. It's really pretty though

-b

moogplayer · Post by **moogplayer** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:06 pm

I've had some success over the years at pawn/thrift/music shops:

Ampex 300-4 tube reel to reel w/electronics - $50

Langevin 16 input 4 buss AM-4 recording console - $400

Wurlitzer 200A - $100

Moog Source - $60

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What was your best garage sale/thrift store/pawn shop find?

1950's-60's Harmony Tenor Guitar

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