In these Terrible Economic Times - Windfall?

[gadlaw]

You know, I've never been in a Pawn Shop in my life and I don't look at the For Sale ads in the newspaper or even at the Craiglist but does anyone have any experience buying stuff from the economically distressed at bargain prices? Anyone forced to pawn a guitar at a Pawn Shop to pay for baby formula? Heck, I haven't even been near a Garage Sale in ten years. I'm sure there might be some good stuff out there but who knows. (perhaps it's you guys who know)

[beboy]

I have been leveraging my money at my local grocery store, which is the "one stop shopping" kind of store (it has food, clothes, electronics, furniture, etc).

2 days ago I got two winter jackets $140 each retail but they were on sale for $30 each. Dockers slacks for work $9. Timex watch retail $60 on sale for $12.

[slasner]

Many yrs ago I was playing in a small neighborhood bar and this old drunk guy came in and wanted to sell an Alkir Eharp (10 string lap steel) with a 1950s National amp. He wanted $50 but all I had was $30 in my pocket he happily accepted the $30 and proceeded to by himself a beer. This was a treasure and I'm angry with myself for ever getting rid of it!!

I buy Behringer pedals because of the low price ($30) some of them suck and get returned after one night but Their Hell Babe wah, phaser, digital delay, digital reverb, tuner and blues overdrive managed to avoid return! Pretty good pedals and at a fraction of the cost of many other brands!!

It doesn't hurt playing them through my Mesa Boogie Mark 2C+ that I purchased used at a music store for $350 Check out the Harmony Central reviews of this amp and see it sells for up to and over $2000 I'd call that a bargain buy!

My Fender Deluxe Reverb (1972) that I bought from a friend in need was priced at $300 check it out at HC for over $1000

My 70s Fender Quad Reverb was $150 (ridiculous bargain)

My Crate VC 120 was $500 used but had only 20 hrs use on it.

I live a modest lifestyle and cost is always a concern, I set a limit of $600 for guitars my most expensive guitar I've bought was my American Tele Standard for $600 used

My favorite deals are when I'm given gear by fans or in endorsement type situations! I'm lucky that way! Last yr I received 3 guitars, a speakertone speaker cabinet that I showed off on one of my shows, this is an awesome cabinet that Speakertone donated to me and Ted Weber custom designed the speaker for me, Speakertone also donated a Weber 12" British Ceramic Blue Dog for my Deluxe. This yr I received another Strat and with the Beta testing for Vox guitars I will get to keep at least one guitar and these are killer high end guitars! Check them out at www.voxvirage.com

[gadlaw]

Once had a girlfriend who would take me to all manner of garage sales and the occasional 'Estate Sale' - those Estate Sales especially were creepy affairs to my mind. Folks had died and their stuff, their lives in fact - was for sale. Walk through a house and there's a price tag on everything, from pillows to frames and that really creeped me out. So I'm not a big fan of taking up something that someone lost because of death or misfortune. That's one of the reasons I'm not going to walk into a Pawn Shop anytime soon although I 'hear' that you can get a hidden gem of a guitar there on occasion. It's that bad mojo I try to avoid.

Now retail, well I picked up a couple of leather jackets at twenty bucks each at a retailer in the area and I remember when those jackets were two hundred each. So I'm like the Beboy with my eyes open for those can't pass up deals. I'm all for that. And I probably would buy the alcoholic's guitar for a steal if I had that event happen. Dude will sell it to the next guy in the bar anyways and at least he'll see the money before his liver totally floats away.

[Goerman]

I just finished a post in the Roll Call/Introductory thread on this very topic. Rather than repeat myself (check it out), I will go on record as a Massive Advocate of Off (Retail) Market deals. I have made some great buys including my '72 Les Paul Custom in this fashion. Don't be afraid, embrace it!

Others' misfortunes notwithstanding, perhaps we all have a duty to provide loving, caring homes to some of these unfortunate instruments and other pieces of gear!

[gadlaw]

I did see that post indeed. I guess it's good to be aware of all the opportunities that are available. You never can tell when opportunity is going to knock with a nice guitar in a price range you thought you'd never see.

[slasner]

Interestintg to look at this from two different but righteous and logical views.
I agree it would be wrong (at least to me) to take advantage of a person when they are in need and can bring bad mojo, I would rather lend a helping hand if I can, but then there are times when it's our own good karma that brings these special opportunities to us! Is it just chance that this opportunity happened to fall into our lap? or was it our own good karma that attracted it to us? I believe (at least for me) the latter of the two!

[Goerman]

Interestintg to look at this from two different but righteous and logical views.
I agree it would be wrong (at least to me) to take advantage of a person when they are in need and can bring bad mojo, I would rather lend a helping hand if I can, but then there are times when it's our own good karma that brings these special opportunities to us! Is it just chance that this opportunity happened to fall into our lap? or was it our own good karma that attracted it to us? I believe (at least for me) the latter of the two!

Well Said! We are no doubt going into a tumultuous period in our collective experiences which will see some real good folks get hurt. I hope I will always be there to offer a helping hand! Trying economic times notwithstanding however I think Steve that you are on the same wave length as me with respect to "bargain hunting". If I have a motive in this regard it is to help others get off the full service, chain store nipple and explore other "supply chains".

[Wolfboy1]

I have bought my last 2 guitars off ebay, got great deals and extremely nice instruments. It took me quite a while to match up price, guitar and seller but it was worth it plus I got to look at 1000s of cool guitars over the months I was searching. In large part ebay has killed the pawnshop bargains. I've gone in several times to differnet pawnshops in the last 5 years and many times the prices are as high as Guitar Center. If you want to barter they just pull up whatever on ebay and say "this is what it's worth." As times get tough maybe there will be some bargains but who knows....it is kind of fun browsing though.

[generaladm]

IMO, pawn shops stopped being the go to place for bargains when ebay blew up. Most big pawn shops have their own ebay operations, and now set their prices based on the maximum that they will get on ebay. I'll use ebay for electronics, and there are some great deals if you take your time (70's Fender Bassman $300, Crybaby Q135 $70, Ibanez TS-7 $30), but I would never buy and instrument without playing it first.

The best place for bargains right now is craigslist.com . For those unaware, it's like an online classified ad listing. Each major city has it's own site, and it's mostly for private sellers to advertise locally. I've been looking for a bargain on an acoustic guitar for a while (post on that forthcoming), and there tend to be good bargains on the usual starter guitars that never got played, as well as top end brands (lots of Taylors), and some unique items. Yes, there are a lot of listings from people who are desperate for money. I don't see that as taking advantage of the situation, those people would much rather have the money they need for essentials than have a stranger feel sorry for them. Plus, they will get a much better price than from a pawn shop, and it's on their terms. One thing about craigslist, things go very fast. If you see something you like, don't say "I'll wait a day and see if it's still there", most things sell within a couple of days. Just send them an email thru the site expressing interest. I had several experiences where I sent an email as soon as I saw the listing, only to get a reply that it was sold. It's definitely a buyer's market right now.

[wvgman]

Well, I am tighter than the bark on a tree when it comes to most things financial, so I always look for a bargain (and I have three kids). Yard sales, pawn shops, e-Bay (the world's biggest cyber yard sale), or the proverbial scratch and dent deals. I also never thought I would buy an instrument on-line (and there are numerous reasons for that), but I did: I bought an American Fender SSH Stratocaster for a dirt cheap price. The seller had injured his shoulder and decided to stop playing. Ironically at the time, I had a hand injury that prevented me from playing, but not from buying. The guitar arrived in perfect shape and was better than it was described. As far as Karma, well I respect other views and you can call it what you wish, but I have been truly blessed with some great guitar/equipment deals. I once gave away some really nice stuff too, so maybe it is a "reap what you sow' sort of thing. Anyway, you can find deals, but remember the old Roman guy screaming "Caveat Emptor" or let the buyer beware.

[slasner]

Well Said! We are no doubt going into a tumultuous period in our collective experiences which will see some real good folks get hurt. I hope I will always be there to offer a helping hand! Trying economic times notwithstanding however I think Steve that you are on the same wave length as me with respect to "bargain hunting". If I have a motive in this regard it is to help others get off the full service, chain store nipple and explore other "supply chains".

I call it Walmart Syndrome! I try to do business with independent businesses whenever possible! Gotta help the little guy cause I am the little guy too!