I was in New York probably 10 years ago, went into a pawn shop that was full of gear. They had an old beat up silverface bassman 50, the guy swore up and down it was blown, couldnt be fixed he said. I asked him if I could have a look at it - he said, "sure," we plugged it in, the light came on, I looked at it for a second and said, "Yea, you're probably right, its shot - I wouldnt mind buying it for parts though," I said. "Sure buddy, $100 bucks, its yours," in a snide NY attitude voice. Out the door I go with my new amp.

I get back to WV a few days later, take the back off, have a closer look, push the tubes back down into the sockets, after a few seconds they start to light up, walla!! Great sounding amp!

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"Wait a minute, somethings wrong here!"

Local nutter (really is a nice kid, no joke at all) turned up at my house with a acoustic the other day. He'd ran into some 2nd hand shop screaming and shouting till told the owner was going to call the police. Then ran out with this acoustic. Now he wants me to do some open mic night with him.

Haven't seen him in a few days, hope he didnt get caught.

I find that looting story a little hard to swallow. If it had been round here they'd have got a van and cleared the place.

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No no and no

I remembered a couple more

A '61 Strat bought from the local hippie back in '68 for $100.
A '73 Strat bought in a local pawn shop for $150 back in '85
A '81 Gibson Les Paul Custom in Silverburst back in 2001 for $500
A Tweed Fender Bassman 2X12 Piggy Back- traded a Peavy 115 Bass amp for it in 1987.
Man, if I still had that gear today..

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Life is like a sh*t sandwich. The more bread you have, the less sh*t you have to eat.

I love these pawnshop surprise stories. But in all my years I never found anything special. I have a friend that drives a tow truck so he is all over the place and I started teaching him some basic chords,and he would pop up with all these guitars he would find in pawn shops.He turned up with a three humbucker Les Paul and one of the best sounding custom Strats I ever heard in my life. I mean the minute you plugged this thing in it would feedback, but with that nice feedback that sounds like it is in tune. Sin is the he decides to get heavy into drugs at 35 and wound up selling everything for nothing to get high.The ultimate score I have seen was this 19 year old kid comes into my friend Timmies music store with a 60s 335 and a 60s Strat that his neighbors wife gave to him because her husband died. So my friend is asking him if he wants to sell them as the kid said he did not play and he goes" no way there was a Tele too that my friend put on ebay and I got 15 grand for it."Now thats a score a vintage Tele,Strat and 335 for nothing. I bet he gave the guys wife nothing.

Back in the 70s I got several great deals:'65 Mustang $150,'65 Jaguar $150,Vox Mk VI Acoustic $90,Vox Astro IV Bass $150,Hagstrom II $60,Hagstrom Corvette $85,Vox Phantom XII traded Electro-Harminix Crying Tone Wah a set of headphones and $20.I'm sorry I let the wah go but I still think I came out ahead and I still have all these guitars.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I can't believe someone would come on a public forum and admit that.

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Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

A couple of years ago I picked up a Left Handed 1986 MIJ Fender '72RI Strat on Craigslist for $300.00.

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Chet Feathers

Authorized TonePros Dealer
Authorized WD Music Products Dealer
F/A Official Southpaw Compliance Certification Tester http://faamps.com/

http://www.facebook.com/cafeathers


I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Chet, you always find the nicest MIJ's. Our MIJ guru!!

Back around 1990'ish, after all my gear was stolen, a friend of mine at my work sold me a MIJ Squier Strat for $250. I didn't have an amp yet. However, that same day I was walking past the dumpster carrying that new guitar when I spotted an old Rickenbacher amp someone had tossed in the trash.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic I was actually able to start playing again right away.

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Calling an illegal alien an undocumented immigrant is like calling a drug dealer an undocumented pharmicist.

'Sounds like you were living clean, Warpfield.

Back when Line 6 had just-ish introduced their basses, 'went to an early morning sale at local GC. All the donuts and coffee were gone and the place was jammed, but 'asked a salesman if he had a bass at a special price. He said $599 (this is when they were 1600).

'Wanted sunburst, he had black. Wanted 5-strng, he had 4. They could not find the bag or power supply or foot pedal.

'Bought it on the spot. AND L6 sent to GC within a couple days, a brand new bag and power supply and switch and cord.

Great bass and great deal and great GC service.

Bought my Firebire3 (non reversed) in a pawn shop in 1969 for $250.00. Still have te guitar and I grin every time I Play it.

John.E

the cp 60 (new) for 588 eur (list price 729 eur)

cheers

mine has two fenders,... a 351 windsor bored .030 over, mild cam, a 4 barrel holley, and dual exhausts... $3,200 i paid (but lots of time and money since... well worth it though).

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I found a 1975 K. Yairi Alvarez Anniversary CY-120 for $40 @ a garage sale.
The CY-120's are a pretty rare bird, I even asked the guys @ Alvarez about it. They took down my info in case they need to do a reissue. I don't play classical so I gave it to my Mom for her birthday. She plays it damn near everyday. I figure I'm safe with the karma thing....lol

My dad found a Gibson Les Paul at a garage sale for $50 bucks. He said the lady was selling it because it had a bolt screwed into the body for a strap and it looked tacky to her and that she didn't like the way it looked. The bad thing is my dad didn't buy it because he doesn't play and didn't know what it was worth. I could've choked him for not getting it for me.