Reel Person Story...
I'd dropped this on one of sweetbeats' threads, but as it's mostly off-topic there I just decided to pull it off and put it here:
[RECAP]:
I sold my M312, $250 cash/carry, a good value and the buyer was very happy! Maybe I should have held out for $300? I'd paid $500 for it originally many years ago, and took a huge loss on it just to move it onward. It was a tough decision, but seems to have worked out well.
I sold 3 of my 4 388s: Sold one previously in 2011 in perfect working order; more recently sold one that had a bad Channel 1 preamp and ultimately just needed the card reseated & was fixed by the buyer,... (anyway I should have caught that); and one that has some sort of power rectifier issue caus it flickers the LED but otherwise seems to work ok (needs bench tech). I got good money ($420) for the first one, (in 2011). I threw in a new reel of 457 and a head demag wand, so was an outstanding deal for the buyer. The 2 other 388s I sold (both) for $600 (inclusive) so was not top dollar but I didn't shed too many tears over it. I needed to move some fixit gear off my table. I still have one 388 in good condition for personal use.
OT: I have another M520 I'm trying to sell that's missing the wooden side panels and rubber feet, plus needs a #1 Pan pot replaced, that was discovered as defective upon testing for sale. I've gotten the part, and have yet to replace it. I also now have an M30 with 3 different problems on 3 different cards, awaiting disposition ATM but my original intent is to fix it DIY style. I've sold all my other (3) working M30s and without one on hand I kinda feel naked. I have a very clean M35 that awaits replacement of the #1 VU meter, part in hand. It's possible after replacing the M35 meter I'll hang onto it for personal use, vs originally when I discovered the problem it was up for sale. I think there's a tipping or break even point when you're working on gear, as to how much parts expense and effort is put in vs how much you can get in resale. On the downside, I believe after all this selling and testing, that I bought some gear that had problems passed onto me undisclosed by previous sellers, that I didn't catch at first. I'll fix stuff & sell it or hang on to it, but I won't sell a piece of gear with known problems, unless the buyer is fully aware he's buying a fixer. I wasn't always given the same courtesty.
OT: I've sold 2 Fostex Model 80s, both in top condition, as I went thoroughly thru alignments for one & sold the other working as-is. I've also sold a Fostex Model 20, did alignments on that one too. I aligned and sold my Tascam 32. That one was very hard to let go, the buyer was determined to have the Tascam 32 vs the Fostex E2 I was trying to sell instead. He'd previously bought one of my M520's and he wanted to stay all Tascam in his recording chain, which is understandable. I miss the 32, (it looked and worked great & sounded phenomenal). About 20 minutes after the guy left, I was looking at the E2 manual & realized I'd mistakenly aligned the 32 for 0=185 (instead of the spec 250)! I texted him that I could quickly correct it if he'd drive it back, but he declined. I explained that his new 0Vu would actually be +3Vu on the meter for 456, and he could dance the needle in the red comfortably with no issue, peak over the red with 3dB headroom beyond +3 on the meter, & that to get to MOL on the tape he'd have to hit the needle on the right side of the meter. He seemed to be jazzed about that, actually, and I shortly rationalized to see it as a "feature" more than a flaw. In some strange way, riding the needles in the red all day sounds adventurous and exciting! I think it's easy to dance in the red a lot and not hit the right side of the meter, so all's good. He could have it properly reset by me or another tech anytime if he had a problem with it. He was agreeable enough to just make note of the level difference and carry on! I had momentarily forgotten my cal tape is 185, not 250, a really basic thing at the outset. Maybe worth mentioning but not a huge deal in the big scheme of things, just to remember the spec and compensate & not repeat a really blatant gaff.
OT: I've sold a boatload of Tascam rackmount gear, incl. MX-80s, PE-40s, RS-20, MH-40, M-1B. The rackmount stuff sold like hotcakes!
OT: I recently sold the NOS 14" reel of 2" BASF 468, an outstanding deal for $60. The buyer was very happy, as was I. I'd given up my dream long ago about getting a 2" recorder, so all's well that ends well. I have yet to sell some of my gently used 996/1".
OT: I have a 38 that took a pretty good beating in shipping, but tho the chassis is pretty much toast, there's a wealth of parts in there including a pretty nice headstack, not to mention I got it working anyway. I've not yet decided to part anything out, but I'll be putting more working gear up on CL soon. There's some good deals still to come for locals here in the LA & surrounding areas.
Sorry if this post is redundant of any previous posts.
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