Best Yard Sale Find - Ever! Ever?

[journeybear]

At a yard sale today I found a Pignose Hog amp - 8" speaker, 30 watts - that is battery-powered but also functions as a plug-in via the charger. The sellers said someone left it with them and they just use it for "karoke," and said it works fine. They offered to let me plug it in on their porch and use a mike to show it worked. It did, though it seemed a bit quiet. Then I toggled a switch that said "funk bass" and squeal! I guess that is a trade-off between volume and EQ. Well, they were asking only #20, and I was sold already as my battery-powered Peavey Audition 20 has some problems, mostly the input jack. Maybe I seemed a bit hesitant, so they said they would throw in the mike and cord too. OK, fine. Done.

As I was putting the mike and wires in the milk crate cum luggage carrier on my bike in advance of bungeeing the nearly 30 pound amp on top, I happened to peek under the foam windscreen on the mike - Shure SM58. I just checked Musician's Friend, and their price for the amp is $160, mike and cord $110. MSRP puts the value of my purchase more in the $400 range. I almost feel bad for the sellers; they really didn't know what they had. But they didn't care, just wanted to get rid something they hadn't much use for. This is one of the best yard scale scores I've ever made. Well, there was that Beatles two-on-a-side single, but collectibles are a completely different category and can't be judged the same way.

Anyone else have stories of yard sale finds they would like to share?

[F-2 Dave]

Great score on the Pignose! It wasn't a garage sale find, but years ago I worked with a guy that said that he had an old fender speaker cabinet that he used for stereo speakers in his garage. I mentioned to him that I might be interested in buying it and he said to come on over after work. It was an old white Fender 2X12 cabinet with old blown speakers that kinda worked. Got it for $20. Put some new bass speakers in the cabinet and still have the old Utahs.

Then, he told me that a buddy of his had the head that went with it, and he'd try to get it back from him sometime if I was interested in it. I told him that I was, and sure enough about 3 months later, he brought it to work. It had been outside under the guys deck for quite a while and had leaves, sticks and acorns in the back. Since it was smaller than the speaker cabinet and we didn't know the extent of the damage, I got it for $15. I took the whole works to my amp guy and got it going for about $100. I've had to get new power tubes a couple of times, but other than that, I've never had to do anything to it.

Yeah, I felt kinda bad for a little while, but I got over it.

[barrangatan]

Congrats! No such story from here, but I still dream about finding a long lost Loar signed F5 in a yard sale some day....

[sunburst]

...I still dream about finding a long lost Loar signed F5 in a yard sale some day....

Naturally, that's what I assumed this thread was about. When you see a topic, on a mandolin forum, title; "Best Yard Sale Find - Ever! Ever?", anything less than a mint condition, original case, July 9, still in tune with original strings, maybe even in a double case with a musical saw, is a bit of a let down! Unless maybe it's the second A5...
Congrats anyway, though it's just a lowly amp and stuff.

[journeybear]

Hey! At least it works and is a great bargain - and is real! Finding a Loar F5 at a yard sale, or a barber shop, would top this, of course, but those finds are more in the pie-in-the-sky realm.

I suppose my OP is lacking in MC. Ummm ... perhaps I should have mentioned that this will be used to amplify a mandolin or two, possibly a mandola. Does that help?

[Markus]

Nice score!

Tomorrow morning my fishing buddy is bringing me a couple of mics he had sitting around his basement from `back in the day' a decade ago when he did sound. He says he's got a Shure SM57 or SM58 at least ... I'm praying he finds a nice condensor in there too, but beggars can't be choosers.

It's nice when things go your way, the last 6 weeks for my wife and I have been remarkable with how blessed we've been across the board in life. Then again, these 6 weeks also contain both of our 40th birthdays, so it feels more like a consolation prize.

[Ed Goist]

JB Great Find! Enjoy the amp & gear. My best finds...I have two (not huge, and pretty understandable), and they are non-music related:
* Original Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses in hard case: paid $1 (retail ~$90)
* Riedel Vinum Bordeaux wine tasting glasses (4 pack - never used): paid $3 (retail ~$94)

[Jim]

Congrats on the score , I don't much care for Pignose amps ( i haven't played the "Hog" though ) but $20 for an sm58 is a screami' deal all by itself.

[Charles E.]

Journybear, you should crank it up and play "Wild Hog in The Wood's", bones of a thousand men and all that.

[Nick Triesch]

23 years ago when my wife worked in an insurance office a co-worker asked my wife if I still played mandolin? (me) My wife said yes and her friend said that her Grandfather was a junk collector and he found an old mandolin. My wife asked her to call him to see what it was . Turns out it was a very nice shape 1923 Gibson snake-head! He changed his asking price from $150.00 to $175.00. I bought it on the spot! Still have it. Nick

[journeybear]

... I don't much care for Pignose amps ( i haven't played the "Hog" though ) but $20 for an sm58 is a screamin' deal all by itself.

I never would have gone out of my way to get one, but since it came my way, so to speak ... I've always been a big fan of the objet trouvé way - not art so much as a way of life - so when something like this presents itself, I go for it. And yes - I would have been happy with the mike itself at this price; for it to be thrown in to sweeten the deal - well, yes, it was sweet. The amp sounds OK; hope its battery lasts longer than the Peavey's two 9-volt set-up. This augurs a return to playing on the street for me. Look out!

And Ed - $1 for Wayfarers? I think you've got me beat!

Oh, and yes, I didn't mean to limit this to musical purchases. Great yard sale finds seldom are.

[Willie]

I saw and took a chance on a 4 track reel to reel recorder about 10 years ago at a yard sale in Florida and as I paid the lady 20 bucks for it she asked if I would be interested in some reel to reel tapes that was with it for another 5 bucks so I took them also, there was 12 tapes and 7 of them where unopened and some of the others had recordings of some great performers like Elvis, and Hank Williams and a few more...I got the recorder to play but never did get it to record but I figure for $25 I got more than enough tapes to last me for a while....These aren`t cheap tapes either....Good to see and hear of good bargains from yard sales now and then....Willie

[Rroyd]

A friend of mine was approached by a lady who had purchased a metal, engraved National tri-cone at a yard sale for $5. She was thinking about converting it to a planter and wanted his opinion. He convinced her that she shouldn't do that, and helped her sell it for four figures. Then there was the fellow who picked up a couple of old mikes at a college surplus sale, along with the gear that went with them, for $50 each. They were Neumann tube condensor mikes, and I was told he sold them for somewhere in the vicinity of $10000 each.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Well done JB ! - They're super amps. I used a friend's Pig Nose for quite a while a few years back before i got my own Roland Blues Cube & was very impressed with it.They distort beautifully & smoothly,so much so that in the past (& maybe even now), many rock musicians used them as pre-amps.Of course the distortion thing is only if you want to use it for Rock,otherwise they can be as smooth as silk & clear as crystal,
Ivan

[lenf12]

One Friday afternoon about 10 years ago, I had gotten off work early and while driving home through my neighborhood, spotted some folks preparing for a weekend yard sale. As I drove by, I saw what appeared to be an amplifier out of the the corner of my eye. I quickly stopped and asked to see the amp. Mr. Yardsale said it was a Fender Trem-O-Lux he used when he was in a high school band. I asked how much he was asking for it and he replied $150 but it wouldn't be sold until the next day in the "official" yard sale. I offered to pay his asking price there on the spot but he declined saying "no, the yard sale is tomorrow". I offered again asking what difference it made if he got his $150 tomorrow or today, he would still get his asking price. Thankfully, the voice of reason, Mrs. Yardsale intervened saying "Bob, take the man's money". After paying him, he even put the amp in my car for me.

My prize yard sale score was a '65 blackface Fender Trem-O-Lux head and 2 x 10" cabinet in very nice condition which I sold for $600 a couple of weeks later. I have not been near as lucky since then.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Willie]

I also bought a 5 channel Shure Mic Mixer for 10 bucks, I tried to get it for 5 because I wasn`t sure it would work but the seller gave me his address and said if I wasn`t happy with it he would give me back my 10 bucks, it worked great and still does , I use it every now and then when I need more mics hooked up....willie

[sunburst]

OK, OK, here's a story.
I think I was wearing one of my pairs of yard sale Ray-Bans (I've grabbed about 3 pair at prices from $2 to $4) when a friend bought an old Martin guitar from someone at a festival. He started looking through the case and asked me (knowing I play banjo) if I could use some finger picks. He then handed me two pair of old National finger picks (the kind that sell for $80 and up on ebay).

[Michael Nelson]

Heck, the cable on the SM58 is probably worth 20 bucks!

[Jill McAuley]

I was walking my dog in San Francisco once and happened across a sidewalk sale where a gal was selling a lovely little old blue Italian accordion (student sized piano accordion) for $5. All the keys worked and it was in great shape, so I thought, for 5 bux, why not, and bought it. A few minutes later the gal's boyfriend came out and asked her how much she sold it for, when she replied "Five bucks..." he went "WHAT??!?", to which she replied "Oh, I thought that was too much to ask...." and then turned around and gave me $2 back - so I got it for the grand total of $3!

Cheers,
Jill

[billkilpatrick]

i'm here ... i'm waiting ... it may happen yet ...

[journeybear]

These are some great stories! I knew going in my deal was a good one but surely no world record - hence the question in the thread title. Figuring by cost vs value (MSRP) I spent about 5%. Ed got his Wayfarers at about 1%. But Willie's friend has us all beat at .5% for the Neumanns, plus the return on investment is just staggering. Reminds me of the stories you hear now and them about people finding paintings worth millions, or the recent one about the guy who found a bunch of Ansel Adams glass negatives.

Jill - That is too funny! I had something similar happen to me. A friend of mine collects vinyl, and every now and then he has to sell CDs to make room for more LPs. One time I had found a few I was mildly interested in, sort of sitting on the fence, and we were working out a price. I noticed he had an autoharp (no strings), and he saw that glint in my eye. So he said if I would take the autoharp he would knock a couple of dollars off the CDs. So he essentially paid me to take it off his hands! The downside is that I searched on the internet for strings, and they are expensive, too much to bother with.

Bill - I'm sure there is a Stradivarius in somebody's closet somewhere ...