I love pawn shops

[bdbdbuck]

Anyone else afflicted with the pawnshop disease? I just can't help myself....I gotta stop and see what kind of deals I can pick up. Today, I got an Ovation celebrity A/E in OHSC for $210. That's a good deal anytime.


bd

[Badger]

Originally posted by bdbdbuck
Anyone else afflicted with the pawnshop disease? I just can't help myself....I gotta stop and see what kind of deals I can pick up. Today, I got an Ovation celebrity A/E in OHSC for $210. That's a good deal anytime.


bd

Yeah, I love em, but the deals arent what htey used to be.

[bdbdbuck]

I have to agree on the deals. I have narrowed the list of pawnshops down to just a couple. The one where I bought the ovation is the same one where I bought the Boss DR-5 for $155. They Always have some great deals. I guess I'm glad I'm buying instead of selling. The poor dude that sold that ovation probably only got $100 for it.


bd

[Badger]

Cash America is fun if you know the codes on their price tags....then you can see how much they paid for them.
BTW, its:
MARYLOUISE
1234567890

So AEEE means they paid 20.00 for it

[bdbdbuck]

I'm not sure I've seen a Cash America. I'm in Virginia, do you know if there are any around here?


bd

[Track Rat]

Very true that the deals aren't what they used to be but it's still possible to stumble in to deals from time to time. Back in 98 I bought a 98 American Standard Strat for $400. I didn't think that was too shabby.

[64Firebird]

A littler down the road from me there's a pawn/music store that has tons of ventage gear. I love that place.

[Pirateking]

Buck, where in VA are you? There are a ton of pawn shops in Norfolk/Newport News area, though I don't know how great the prices are. There's also a kickass record store called American Oldies, if you're into vinyl at all.

[Slackmaster2K]

It's the damn internet...ruined pawn shops for good. Nothing is rare anymore.

Slackmaster 2000

[philboyd studge]

Originally posted by Slackmaster2K
It's the damn internet...ruined pawn shops for good. Nothing is rare anymore.

Slackmaster 2000

True, more often than not pawn shops ask ridiculous prices for instruments.

There's still garage sales. My best garage sale finds were a '29 Dobro for $50 and a '64 Duo-Sonic for another $50.

[bdbdbuck]

Pirateking,
I'm northwest of you in the mountains close to Front Royal. I will be down that way when the weather breaks, rockhounding with my 7yr old son. I'll have to check them out, I just won't be able to help myself. My truck is trained.....if it sees a pawnshop sign, the wheel just whips out of my hands and the next thing I know, I'm walking out with someone else's junk.


bd

[acidrock]

We have a store called Music-go-round in our area that buys and sells used equipment.Not exactly a pawn shop but it has a huge selection rather than a just a few guitars.The people are knowledgeable too.
More than once I've sold and bought equipment there.Maybe I did'nt get as much as I would have wanted for my stuff but it was in and out in a matter of minutes and no haggleing.

My philosphy is if you've got something you never use it's not really worth that much anyhow.If your time is worth something do you want to spend weeks and months trying to get an extra fifty bucks for something you could just sell outright on the spot?

[dtb]

I bought my first banjo in a pawn shop. It lasted about a year. But I to love to go in pawn shops. There's none where I live but when I see one out of town it's a must to go look.

From another Virginia boy.

dtb

[Slackmaster2K]

I will admit that I still do love going to pawn shops...I got my bass at a pawn shop for < $100...a peavey fury that looks rough but plays great (aside from the garbage peavey electronics).

But hell, the deals you'd expect to find just aren't there anymore....like you'll see an old kinda beat up original tube screamer and you'll think, "woohoo, I can score this for a couple bucks!", and the price tag will be $150. Or I remember once an old Fender Bassman in pretty rough looking shape, with a price tag of almost $500!!! Who the hell are they kidding?

I'm going to start hitting garage sales this summer...that's something I've never done. Although one time I saw an advertisement in the local junk paper for a garage sale and one of the enticing items was an "old ephiphone guitar $50" and I called immediately....the lady who answered said she had been getting non-stop calls about it and it was already sold. Hehe, I think my competition is going to be tight.

Slackmaster 2000

[bdbdbuck]

Slack,
The action can get get pretty heated at those garage sales. But well worth the effort.

dtb,
Where in Virginia could you possibly be where there are no pawn shops?

bd

[Michael Jones]

Deals are there for sure, but they're few and far between.
Seems like 99% of it is crap.
Its like looking for a diamond in a coal mine.

This is kind of off topic, but, look for broken "Craftsman" tools. You can pick them up for next to nothing, and then take them back to Sears for a brand new one!

[Badger]

Well, Cash America is largely responsable for the demise of pawn shops. They started in Irving, Texas and are now the first Pawn shop on the stock exchange. they turned it into big buisiness. So now, they all have books that tell them what stuff is worth, and computers to keep track of it all...
And they are spreading like a virus across the country, they go into a town and buy all the existing pawn shops, or open up right their competitor and put them out of business.

[bdbdbuck]

OIC. Believe me there are a few here I wouldn't mind seeing go out of business. I frankly don't know how they stay in business, some of the junk they try to sell for way more than it's worth. For example, this one shop has an Ibanez grx-45 that looks fairly new, but he's got a $249 price tag on it. GC sells em all day long for $199. WTF?


bd

[Slackmaster2K]

After reading this thread I got all psyched up and went to the pawn shop. I scored this cool old Award-Session Matchbox MB10 DI Box & Speaker Simulator...it's an old analog unit...pre pod and all the digital stuff. It sounds really cool! Pretty rare too, only found one link to one on the net. Grabbed it for 20 bucks

Slackmaster 2000

[LWatford]

I've had some great luck with pawn shops lately...I got a '68 Deluxe Reverb for $200, and a couple of boss delays for $150.

I've also seen three different Sennheiser 421's for $150...though I don't have the cash to go get them...

[bdbdbuck]

Slack,
Even if you never use it, hang on to it. That stuff has a way of turning up on the "vintage" list right after you let it go for some rediculous price. Hell for all I know, it could already be vintage.


bd

[MightyPOOsticK]

I got inspired by this thread to go out today and look around. I found:

Ephiphone Les Paul Std. - 400 bucks (good shape too)

Boss EQ-20 Advanced Equalizer - 100 bucks http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../base_id/51371 (ohhhh if I had an extra 100 bucks....)

and an oooooold drum machine. I'm about to go back out and buy it (didnt have enough money at the time). It's some german brand. $39.99. I found it at goodwill.

i've bought all three of my guitars at pawn shops and they are the best place to buy guitars. and it seems like they sell some sweet guitars you just don't see in the shops or hear about much and in the long run they're allways the perfect guitar at least for me they are. i hate it when i see one i want and it's gone when i can get it.

[MightyPOOsticK]

Yeah dude there was some weird strat copy at one of the pawn shops here. I can't remember the name but it had a built in kill switch and it played awesome. The only problem with it was its nut was busted (tee hee) and I wasn't sure how much that'll cost to get it fixed. It was 150 for the guitar though.

[bdbdbuck]

Oh wow Mightypoo,
Nuts are super cheap, and something you can do yourself. I used to check into the salvation army and goodwill stores, but I haven't in a long time...thanks for reminding me!

bd