Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: lbpesq on May 28, 2014, 07:52:52 AM
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What's the best bargain you ever got in acquiring instruments and/or music equipment?
I'll start off:
In 1975 I bought a 1961 Strat with case and a Crybaby for $125. The case fell apart, and the Crybaby is long gone, but I still have the Strat.
Bill, tgo
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I'll, give it a go. In about 1978-79 I walked into a small hardware store that was going out of business. Under one of the tables I saw the edge of a Fender amp mixed in with some boxes. I asked the owner about it and he told me it did not have a speaker, but, during the holidays he would plug a Radio Shack horn into it to play Christmas songs. When I asked how much, he told me to give him $10.00. I couldn't get it out of my pocket fast enough. It turned out to be a 1954 Deluxe Amp. Bill, like you, I still have it.
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I bought a Rickenbacker 4003 a couple of years back for $500. It didn't turn me into Geddy Lee, so I sold it. I think it might have been defective.
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In 1992, got my Fender Stratocaster Ultra guitar at trade price from a guitar shop in Florida who's owner was a fan of the band I was touring with at the time. Which was about a third of the UK Retail price for the guitar at the time.
Jazzyvee
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Everything in the pre-internet days! I bought 70's Rickenbacker's 4001's in the early eighties for $350. Rick 320 John Lennon guitar in the late eighties - $400. Hofner Beatle basses for $300 on average. Fender P or J's, same price range as the Rick's. A Gibson 335 with a headstock repair for $300 in 1985. All left handed too. I was away from the music scene for a few years and was shell shocked at the prices of everything when I returned. My local dealer told me the internet had exploded the market worldwide for him as opposed to the isolated, local cliental he had as a neighborhood ma & pa music store. He said he could sit in our town and sell guitars online with a worldwide audience and command New York prices as opposed to what the local economy would dictate. The law of supply & demand; and when you reach a worldwide audience, the demand and prices increase. I believe today's prices are out of line for many manufacturers, I cannot afford any new toys anymore. Another law of economics; what the market will bear! End of old man rant, thanks.
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Best bargain (against me); I had an all maple Fender Precision neck, not sure what year. The guy at the music store told me I could trade it for any of the guitars in that corner.
Young and dumb, and always wanting an electric 6 string I handed the neck to him and grabbed the cherry Lotus Les Paul copy . . . still have the guitar. Wish I had that maple neck. Maybe I should upgrade the electronics in the Lotus and make it a Lotumbic!
:-D
I did get a MIM Stratocaster for $100 bucks about 7 years ago - still have that, it's a decent instrument.
Bradley - defective Rick - you crack me up!!!!
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Early 1900's (we think about 1910) zildjian ride cymbal, garage sale, $10.00.
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I got a modded early-mid-'70s Telecaster Bass (the humbucker kind, though the humbucker was long gone) for $250 in around 1994. Even after paying $100 for an NOS humbucker I think it was still a bargain. Heck, I think just the neck is worth that! (speaking of maple Fender necks)
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'67 Starfire bass: $275
'65 Fender Mustang (refinished): $10
Trace-Elliot 4x10 combo amp: free
Alembic F-1X $125
Alembic F-2b, $100 and $75. (They weren't very popular in the early 90s).
Very early Bag End 2x12 cabinet: Free. But's too huge and doesn't actually sound all that good.
6 JBLs, K120s and E120s mixed: $125 from Tom Scholz. He said they were blown from experiments with an amp he was thinking about bringing to market. Only one was blown. They all are now!
Modulus Q6: ~$600
'67 Fender Bandmaster head (with bad OT): $25
McIntosh MC30: trade for Denon integrated amp (an admittedly very good one). I got a second for $500, so the pair for $250 each is pretty good.
I'm sure there are others. Of course, there are the ones I passed on or just missed, like the '57 Strat in mint condition that the owner decided at the last minute not to trade for my Hagstrom II (it came from his neighbor who had passed and he thought that his neighbor's wife would miss it) or the '59 ES355 for $1k, one of the very nicest guitars I've ever played. It rang like a strat. 3 Mutron IIIs for $50 apiece at Daddy's Junky Music ca. 1993.
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Edwin - I think you win!
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Just gotta keep your eyes and ears open!
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Edwin send some of that 'Bargain Mojo' my way please! Terrific deals. Congrats.
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While in college, I had a roommate who wanted a battery powered amp. He traded me a '50's tweed Champ for my Pignose.
In the early '80's I picked up my '71 ES-335 from Guitar Center for $400. After the deal was negotiated they offered me a job (which I turned down as I was in Law School).
A few years ago I happened to stop by a shop called The Starving Musician on my birthday where I found an early '60's National Studio 66 Resoglass on consignment for $250.
Bill, tgo
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I bought a vintage 70's guitar effects box last year at the goodwill for $9.99 that was a 4 channel band booster that I forget the name of. The guitar player from Yes used one back in the day and they were only made for 2 years or so. I sold it on EBay 2 weeks later for $430!
At a local garage sale 2 years ago they had a stack of rack gear selling for $5 each unit and they told me they all were broken. I bought a Focusrite vocal input (voicebox) and a MP20 mic preamp and a distressor for $15 tota The MP20 had a bad front input but the back one worked great. Everything else worked fine. The Focusrite was a $1200 unit!
I recently bought a 1929 Prague violin (with a high end pickup installed) at a local estate sale for $50 that is worth quite a bit more and is in excellent shape. Now I have to learn to play it!
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When I was learning to play, I had one of those Memphis Pbass clones (HORRIBLE), and I had my eye out for (at least at the time) my favorite bass, a Rick 4001. My teacher said his bassist was selling his Rick for $250, a lot of money for a 17 YO in 1982. It was in pretty bad shape, but it was an Early 1973, which are pretty rare. Got it re fretted and cleaned up, and it plays and looks pretty great now. Still have it.
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It's all a matter synchronicity... When I worked at the music store with Dean_m, I had a couple of good scores on stuff like a '66 Rhodes piano bass, a '59 Ludwig blue sparkle kit, Yamaha hollowbody bass, tube combos, etc etc.... All for pennies on the dollar...
I had a lot of free scores when working in municipal waste which were unbelievable. Turkish Zildjan K's, a kick ass Yamaha CP-30, a nice 30w Jess Oliver head, EAW mains, upright pianos and Hammond organs (I kept a '59 C3, and a '59 M3 which I'm getting ready to chop). Tubes, tubes tubes, and speakers speakers speakers..... The other guys always got lucky w/ the silverface Fenders and audiophile stuff, but I did put together a nice Scotts/B&W rig for spinnin' vinyl in the basement.
The most rewarding thing is all the Strat and LPj copies that are floating around now. All the Squire strat-packs and $89 Target guitars are great for finding, setting up, and giving away. There's nothing like seeing a kid play their first E5 power chord!...
(((((((Just Gotta Poke Around)))))))
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....a '59 M3 which I'm getting ready to chop.
NO!!! Don't do it! The world is full of chopped Hammonds; there'll never be more originals!
Peter
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In 1976 I bough a 1966 Fender Precision for 700 DM in Germany (about $ 450). Still have it.
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Sorry Pete!..... I should clarify that in its present condition, you'd probably agree, this M3 isn't suitable to tuck away in the corner of the den.... It wants to travel!...
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in the mid 70s - for $100 - a mid-40s top of the line gibson tenor banjo, 1937 martin round hole arch-top guitar. I felt really great about the deal. Left them with a luthier to clean up while I took a drive across country. Came back east to find the luthier had split with my instruments and a lot of other people's stuff. A great musical bargain, but short lived joy.
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My other one: Back in the 80s i was doing a lot of recording with Robby Krieger, Doors guitarist. He had a 335-12 string that he wasn't using much and sold it to me for $500. It was the guitar you hear at the beginning of Love Her Madly, and he gave me a document proving it. I used it occasionally since then, but sold it a year ago for enough to fund 2 Alembic guitars to add to my basses - a series II baritone guitar and a pretty snazzified little darling. So $500 --> mumbledy-mumble-thousands in Alembics Not a bad bargain.
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Peter,
The M models are a dime a dozen. You can't hardly give them away.
Mike, chop that sucker, and post pics of the process!
Bradley
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I see M3's quite often at my local Goodwill outlet store in the $15 to $25 price range. If you chop it, at least it will get used.
The cool ones are B3, C3, A100, etc. Big drawbars with percussion. Leslie speakers are probably worth more than the organs, but folks all seem to think grandma's old livingroom heirloom organ is worth a mint.
You can add percussion to the B2, C2 series with a Trek unit, but it ain't real cheap. Churches often have a Hammond tucked away in a closet and most finally get around to selling it.
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Hammond B3 + Leslie is like a Rolex or Patek, you're always going to be able to get your money back. Space permitting, always a good investment.
Fun fact: Hammond was tone deaf, which was probably the reason he held the Leslie speaker in contempt: http://www.hammond-organ.com/history/hammond_lore.htm (http://www.hammond-organ.com/history/hammond_lore.htm)
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Here's a couple for you:
Around 1978, Fender blackface Bassman with original 2 15 cabinet - $200 (later sold it for the same amount).
Around 1981, local pawn shop/music store was closing and I picked up a grimy Danelectro 12 string teardrop-shaped electric for $15. Cleaned it up, cut a wooden bridge out of a pencil, restrung it and traded it for a first year Ampeg SVT even.
Some years later I was sharing these stories with a young musician friend. Later, as he was starting to get good, I suggested he sell a couple of his first guitars to fund a better quality guitar to continue improving. He looked me in the eye and said, No sir. A wise man told me once he wished he had every instrument and amp he had ever sold.
Smart kid. I haven't sold anything since then.
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And a recent one:
Found a 1960s Framus 6 string banjo on Craigslist for $50. Just saw the same one in Gruhn's Guitars in Nashville for $400.
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Traded a Gibson Thunderbird for an Alembic Epic!!!
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This'll sound like bragging but here ya go: 1960 Gibson melody maker transition(still with lap steel pickups)free,1990 Gibson flying v(formerly owned by Lenny Kravitz)free,Acoustic 370 head free,Sunn model T head,$400...sold to a bandmate who's promised I get first crack if he ever sells it; incredible what that thing sells for now...there are more but I think that's enough for now...Tony
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If that Lenny Kravitz Flying V can come with a notarized letter of authenticity, it can be worth a small fortune.
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I had a customer show up with a 1974 Series I bass with omega cut in original case with power supply and cable. He had just bought it out of an attic in Texas for $100.00. When you see something like that, the range of emotions span from amazement, to jealousy, to sadness. I think I am in the deep depression stage now. LOL. I guess congratulations are what is really in order.
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Tony:
If you had included one more fantastic item that you had received free I would have been tempted to have added...
Instruction as to how to burglarize high end musical instruments and not get caught... priceless (haha). I am SO jealous.
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OK, how about this; I got a Foxx fuzz wah for free from a guy who ran a recording studio; he had a Guild foxey lady(very early EH big muff pi) and the foxx; if I could fix the guild, the foxx was mine...as many of you probably know, fixing old EH pedals only requires resoldering everything and sure enough, it worked like a charm...sounded awesome too!...anyway, that was so worth it...oh, and I recently got a Vox ac15 for free too...a recent one, so not like it's anything...the Lenny Kravitz V used to have his signature on it in 2 places but they were removed before I got it...a funny thing about his setups though; the bridge was slotted so the strings ran straight from nut to bridge, no spread...never seen that before...Tony...I beat the snot outta that guitar and it now had p90's in it (stock pu's sounded like poo)so it has little collector value( Lenny wouldn't even recognize it)...oh well, Tony
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Here are a couple more...Marshall JCM 800 combo for $250, which I sold for same to a friend's daughter, a Traynor mark III combo I sold to a friend for $200 ( I had to scrub a lotta nicotine off that amp; shoulda charged for it...) a Yamaha blue label FG-150 that sounds fantastic; I literally put in a gig bag and said it's mine and no one did a thing...it's all being in the right place at the right time, in my case for other people too as they look for something...I think if you work long enough in music stores/pawnshops you become a music barnacle; the flagellum catches things at opportunte times...Tony
(Message edited by peoplechipper on June 13, 2014)
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I guess a good strategy for getting killer deals is to become a good friend of Tony. :-)
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Thanks Edwin, that made me howl...I've never been especially lucky, although the number of times I could've died in bike and car accidents and didn't might put lie to that...when I started at the guitar shop and later the pawnshop things just came to me, sometimes for me sometimes for others; it's good to be a conduit for gear...the funniest thing is whenever I play a show someone says 'hey, it's pawnshop guy'...Tony
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I wouldn't say I stole it, but I did get a little payback on a pawn shop.
I walked into one here in Nashville, and they had a Yamaha BB5000AII, the last version with the ridiculously wide fingerboard and 1st-gen TRB electronics, in Pearl White.
Well, it only had four strings on it (?!?), and those four had obviously been installed, shall we say, hurriedly . . . . whoever it was had cut them off really short, and they basically made half a turn around the post and were stuck down that hole in the middle of the shaft ! So I asked if I could plug it in, and NATURALLY I made sure it sounded like hell, as if it had a wiggle stick on it. I made the guy stand there, and every time I made a note, it just dropped in pitch. You see, I knew there was really nothing wrong with it, but I was hoping I was dealing with Chumlee and not Dan Erlewine !
I told him I'd like to have it, but seeing as how I'd have to replace the keys, buy strings, and probably take it to a repairman, I damn sure wasn't going to pay the 800 bucks he wanted, as I was probably looking at spending $400 to get it playable. I offered to give him my tech's phone number (an expensive well-known shop that caters to all the big players in town, NOT cheap, but very good).
So . . . .
No case, but $400 out the door. Put a set of strings on it when I got home, straightened the neck a few days later, played and looked like new.
J o e y
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I love those Yamaha bass guitars; TRB-JPs, TRB-Ps, B1X, etc. The bass player from Earth Wind & Fire plays a TRB-4P but does not like to mention it.
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Good job Joey!
I love when guys try to pull stuff on me at the pawnshop and I actually know more than they do; I don't beat them over the head on it (usually) but it's funny...I'm a little less forgiving on the bike customers though (we sell bicycles) as I was in the bike industry for 15 years, had my own company designing frames and components, etc. so dudes try to trip me up or play me on bikes and they always lose...amazes me that people figure the pawnshop guy is stupid; seriously, if the guy was stupid he'd be outta business quickly...mind you, sometimes the great deal is still to be had...Tony
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I was lucky. Here in Nashville, most pawn guys have seen LOTS of good guitars, being where we are.
That being said, I figured if he couldn't put 2 and 2 together (obviously it wouldn't hold pitch with half a wind on the pegs, and missing the big B-string the neck would buzz like hell), it wasn't my job to take him to school . . . . not when he'd tell the next guy through the front door his Omega SeaMaster was only worth 20 bucks !
J o e y
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OH yes___ Those pawn shop guys . I have rubbed their unscrupulous assessments in their face a few times ___JUST for fun with a smile Most of the time I just left them speachless ____ . LOL ___
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Hey, some of those '70's ones ARE only worth $20 to a pawnshop, if it's broken...some of them only sell for 2-300 working, so if it needs work, there's all the money...sad when that's the case, but sometimes it is...anyway, I am honest with folks and don't rip folks off; what's most common is people have no idea what stuff sells for used or how fast stuff depreciates, so they think I'm trying to rip them off and I'm not...Anyway, I'm not trying to hijack this thread, so let's get back to good deals! Tony...that '61 strat kinda takes the cake here and I'm not even a strat guy...
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And then , _____there was that diabolical 16 year old hippy kid who made a hobby out of pulling the wool over the eyes of pawn shops after having had a bad experience with them . In his eyes they were part of the corrupt evil capitalist establishment _____
He would take tube gear that had been cannibalized of all its internal parts except for some junk tubes that were just wired to filament transformer so the tubes would light up and give the false appearance of functionality of the equipment to a technical laymen. See how , the tubes light up ! ____ He would just ask for a loan on the gear that was really just a worthless empty facade of junk ! ___ A prop for phools ___ LOL !!!!!
That was his retribution for having been told by the pawn shop guy that his Crown Dc 300 was only worth $5.00________because it only had two knobs!
( The above is fiction, non of the people or events existed or occurred)
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Ha Haaa! Wolf, this enterprising young lad could have offered to throw in a bag of 10K to sweeten the deal. Everyone knows tubes sound better with them. ;)
Pete
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No offense intended to any pawn shop guys . My stories are intended as intriguing entertainment only. If anyone on the staff of Saturday Night Live, OR Tina Fey reads this maybe they will offer me a gig as a writer .
OK musical bargains____These are real ! here it goes ; The list could get very long so I will not list all of them because no one would believe me anyway___
All legit ___
While still in high school ___ 1965 Guild Starfire $300
At a recent Guitar show 1990 USA Fender Deluxe Plus P bass fretless needing a little TLC $150
Soundcraft 200B 24 channel mixer frame with all ribbon cables from a nice producer in Los Angles $50
( now in my studio filled with mid-swept channel strips)
1949 Selmer Paris Trumpet in decent shape $300 , from a nice pawn shop guy in the state of Washington.
Ampex AG440B full track quarter inch machine in a roll around , fully functional with light use $110 from another producer.
Ampex AG440C half inch machine in roll around with DC servo capstan $100 , from a former original member of the band: It's a Beautiful Day.
I972 Fender Unlined Maple Neck fretless bass neck in a solid walnut body custom body with Dimarzio pickups ( I am thinking of replacing those with Alembic Activators), from another nice pawn shop guy in San Francisco that he sold it to me in his going out of business sale in the early 1990s. It had been there for a really long time since the 1980s and I often came in to check it out to see if it was still there. He originally wanted quite a bit more for it and told me that if was once owned by a member of Santana, but I do not know how much truth there is in that._____$300.
And then there is the truckload full of radio station gear that I was asked to pick up and remove that was blocking the fire aisle in the basement of a radio station . It had been removed from service during the analog digital conversion . It was all or nothing because the fire Marshall wanted it gone months previously , MCI JH110's / Otari MTR 12/ Gates stuff/ broadcast cart decks all kinds of stuff ,All very vintage _ALL DIRT CHEAP !!!!
There is lots more cheap stuff , AND I almost forgot the 2 Dual throat folded horn cabinets ( like the Cerwin Vega Earthquakes) loaded with JBL K155 18s , The deal was I had to take them both for $200 . They really did go on a Santana world tour and were part of Tom Costers's keyboard rig. I sold one of them to a friend immediately because I did not have a vehicle to fit then both in at the limited permitted pickup process . I still have mine LOL!
Next 2 empty cabinets from the GD Wall OF Sound complete with aluminum speaker clamps. One of them single 15 and the other 2 12's __ It is possible that one was for Mr. Lesh and the other either for Mr. Garcia or Mr. Weir ! I have since installed 2 K120's in the double 12 and a Gauss 4580 in the single 15.They are really HUGE and very heavy and awkward to handle and remain in my music studio on the bottom of a stack of their close cousins the Alembic A15 and early Bagend type.
There might be more stuff that I forgot about ___
(Message edited by sonicus on June 17, 2014)
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I tip my hat; that's an impressive amount of stuff...amazing what comes up if you're in the right place at the right time...I was wondering if they'res any bike collector geeks here? if so I'll start a thread on that for fun...ya know, vintage mtn bikes, cruisers, road bikes...Tony
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Tony , I have been into bicycles and everything 2 wheels since I just started walking. In high school I was on the track team and started a small bicycle team. We were into weekend rides from San Francisco to destinations in Marin County. We were also training for criterium racing and races . Just currently I built up a vintage Bianchi and have used all Italian parts . Names such as Campagnolo, Cinelli, Gipiemme ,Ofmega , Vittoria , etc... are all over my newest creation.
I think that a dedicated bicycle thread would be Kool! Bill ,____please excuse this minor hi-jack ___(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/194067.jpg)
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Love it! Raced myself for 20 years until a major accident led to two knee surgeries and one for the back. I still lead groups of cyclists over to Europe every other summer for supported tours in Belgium/Netherlands, Italy, France, Spain, and other countries (depending on how many of us there are maybe a future ride between Alembic gatherings across Europe tour).
Are those shift levers on the downtube or ends of the bars? I can't tell from the photo? I don't know if I could get used to either of those again in a racing situation. Are the parts you sourced all vintage or did you need to go with replicas?
Need to start a new thread.
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HI Brian ,
It is fun to find out what some of us here have in common!
My shift levers are old school friction type braze-on type down tube type Campagnolo Nuovo Record. That is what I am used to from the 1970's .Many of my parts are new old stock and some lightly used. Including a new old stock Regina Gold , Italian thread free wheel 13-22 that I intend to use . I found that on Ebay Germany.
WOW , what an inspiration of the thought of you leading the Alembic Race team across Europe . Giro d'Italia Alembic style , Fausto Coppi's ghost might be smiling already , show him a Series II and every one wins ___ . It's a small world after all .
Wolf
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In around 1975 I bought my 1966 (Fender) Jazz Bass (all original bass, parts & case/4 x 6 hang tag/owners manual) for $350.00 at Roselle Music in Roselle, IL.
Still have the bass.
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In 1972 I purchased a 1967 Fender Dual Showman from Don Wehr him self @ Don Wehrs Music City on Columbus St. IN San Francisco $199.99
Not really that cheap for those days, but I was a happy kid .
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1968 Fender Telecastor Bass neck $ 40 . In 1982 from a friend of a friend. I later traded a for a Thorens TD-165 turntable with a shure SME arm and a Shure V-15 II cartridge.
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Bill, I'll start the bike thread soon...I'm too computer dumb for adding photos though, which is too bad as I have some rare stuff...Tony
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Here's a few:
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'79 CBS-Fender USA Silverface Twin Reverb with OEM Pyle-made Fender 12's for less than $300 in '82...like new, still with warrantee card. $1000MSRP-plus back then. Replaced the $5 AC-power toggle switch and one 12AX7 pre-amp tube in 32years. Still works great.
'84 CBS-Fender USA Smith all-original '62 VRI lacquer tri-color SB Stratocaster with the OEM tweed case and all the pack-ins...$275 in '87 (New MSRP about $1300 in '84). Think SRV. Still looks, plays and sounds great!
New (ALL brand-new in-the-sealed-box from Sam Ash Music, Edison, NJ, ...no blems/seconds, or open box/demo's)-
'88 Charvel Jacskon Model 4 bolt-on 'superstrat with S-S-H Active ceramic Jackson p/u's with mid-boost, master tone and vol, three toggle P/u selectors, Jackson-Floyd Rose locking vibrato, compound radius 22-fret rosewood FB with shark-tooth inlays, heavy automotive polyester metallic finish. hard-shell custon Charvel molded case, $279 ($1200 MSRP)
'87 Yamaha SPX-50 rack mount studio/guitar MIDI multi-effector...$225(MSRP $700)
'89 Roland DEP-5 Digital MIDI digital delay studio rack mount processor $179 ($1100-plus MSRP).
There were many more ridiculously-low blow-out deals....Yamaha DX-11 synth and sequencer with Calzone ATA cases, huge Mesa-Boogie suspended 30- space rack case (designed for their all-tube monster bass power amps...drop it from 3-4 feet and the tubes/amps survive...their hype, not mine), etc., too numerous to mention.
I could also mention the unbelievably fantastic deals I got on all of my three Alembic basses (two new, one as new), as well as the new Alembic tube pre-amp and SuperFilter, but I dont want to embarrass anyone. Let's just say that if they walked, I couldn't afford to replace ANY of it at today's pricing.
Cheers,
Kevin
(Message edited by kmh364 on July 02, 2014)
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Thanks Kevin, I don't feel like the only bandit here...Tony
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Quoth the Raven, 'Whatever more. I concur ____ .
One must facilitate the mentation of a Raven to manifest such acquisitions ! In actual practice , such skill is an attribute to the ends . All in a legitimate climate and culture of course! However all inclusive of mindful focus____ And in the end ___Deeds, NOT words shall prevail to show the results! Like Jaco said it's not boasting if you can prove it .___ LOL .
Getting good deals often requires the tenacity and focus to get them , but I also believe ,that at times ,the Universe puts them right in our lap as a reward for our own positive deeds ! I think that my Alembics are a gift from the Universe___. I accept such gifts with honor and humility____ and am grateful for the turn of cause and effect.
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Quoth, I love it!
A well trained Raven is a wonder indeed. If I wasn't so hesitant in the potential of missing out on a deal I would inquire about Sensay training from Quoth for my yet unnamed aquisitioner and loyal Raven friend.
Pete
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I raise my cup to the good fortune and positive universal tidings to our Brother Pete !
To Raven Tenacity and Magic !