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Keep your old recording gear long enough, and it becomes a collectable worth Dollars
Much of the recording gear I purchased in the 70's & early 80's became a collectable, or still has some value. Selling that gear has brought me enough funds to purchase all of my newer recording equipment. Otherwise, I would have never been able to do so on my low monthly retired salary.
So if you are lusting for new gear, search your old inventory that you are not using and post it up for sale on Ebay, AGF classifieds or other formats. it all adds up and is just sitting around anyway. Much of the money came from selling my old Guitars. I was a photographer for Schector Research back during their closing year. Before they sold out to a Texas company. The Guitars I had gotten from them for nearly nothing...became very valuable and when I sold one of them a few years back. I got enough money from that one sale alone to buy my Schoeps mics, interface and more. The rest of the money has come from selling my old recording gear. And you just never know what still has value. As an example, I researched in 2016 about my old Studio Clover stereo Spring reverb (bought in 1980's). Basically came back as valueless. After all, would a hardware stereo spring reverb be of much use standing among the giants of today's digital reverbs and plugins? I saw a listing on ebay where someone had put one up for $500 on a buy it now. But it had sat there unsold for a long, long time. Just last week I decided to put it up at auction with a starting bid of $60. I did not expect it to sell. But, I thought, why not take a chance and list it. To my great surprised, it gathered all kinds of interest. It sold at auction closing just a few days ago for $157.50. I also listed a powerful SCS MosFet amplifier that I purchased from Demeter back in the 80's. It was an amp that went hand in hand with his bass preamp. All the research said it really had no value. But again, it did gather a tiny bit of interest and I sold it for $100 just yesterday. Add up all those little recording gear sales and it can add up to thousands toward your desired new gear. Warning, it can be a lot of work to research it's true value, photograph it, and then Pack it off for shipment. I mean a lot of work. Maybe the biggest win is getting this stuff out of the house from just laying around and taking up valuable space. Last edited by AcousticDreams; 04-17-2024 at 12:12 PM. |
#2
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Some gear will retain or even improve it's value over time, but not all gear. Our interfaces are not likely to increase in value, and it's unlikely that the cheap gear around today that has saturated the market is likely to increase in value either (Warm, is the first brand that comes to mind but there are others).
The most likely gear to increase in value is vintage gear. Yes, the vintage stuff is expensive upfront but you're not likely to lose money on a U47 or a LA2A. Fifteen years ago, you could pick up a U47 for under $15k, today you're going to pay double that, meaning that even if you had to replace the tube and get some repair work done on it, you're still going to make money. Which modern gear will increase in price is going to come down to demand vs market saturation. Some of the well-thought of boutique gear has a chance. I know I can sell my Flea 47 for more money today than I paid for it. But that might be the only piece of my gear for which I can make that claim. It's hard to know now what is going to sought after later other than what's already iconic today. The only "sure bet" gear is the sought after vintage stuff we already know of. For those that have the money, those investments will net a profit but I don't think you can count on anything else doing the same.
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Jim 2023 Iris ND-200 maple/adi 2017 Circle Strings 00 bastogne walnut/sinker redwood 2015 Circle Strings Parlor shedua/western red cedar 2009 Bamburg JSB Signature Baritone macassar ebony/carpathian spruce 2004 Taylor XXX-RS indian rosewood/sitka spruce 1988 Martin D-16 mahogany/sitka spruce along with some electrics, zouks, dulcimers, and banjos. YouTube |
#3
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Posted this thread to encourage those of us with old gear just sitting around (not being used) to sell it and gather extra funds. Not as an investment strategy. I have been delightfully surprised at the interest of my old gear has received. Some for much more money than I paid for it...and some for 1/4 of what I paid for it. It is equipment I am not using anymore and just taking up space. So happy to get rid of it and use the funds for other gear. Actually using much of the additional funds for moving my recording are from livingroom to my playroom. Will need additional modeling & electrical work. |
#4
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I can't imagine my Peavey powered mixing board from the early 80's (affectionately known as the 'widow maker' due to the weight) would be sought after by anyone other than a boat owner in need of an anchor!
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"I go for a lotta things that's a little too strong" J.L. Hooker |
#5
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I HAVE ONE AND ARE GETTING READY TO SELL IT... I will be happy to get a hundred bucks for it. Probably will have to take it to the junk yard. Here is one that was listed on Reverb 5 years ago and sold for $200. https://reverb.com/item/16584258-pea...g-silver-black No way am I dealing with shipping though...Local ebay pickup only. This is one of the last pieces of recording gear that I will be trying...to sell next week. hey, A hundred bucks is better than nothing. We shall see. Interesting enough this does have some special features. A pre and post for every channel. That was quite something for its day. |
#6
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I wish that were the case… I “invested” in the Roland VS1680 years ago. Hard disc home studio stand alone unit. Paid about $3,000 for the whole system including a CD burner. What’s it worth now? Maybe $300. I can’t even imagine recording an album on that thing now. Some stuff just becomes antiquated.
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1959 Martin 00018 1998 Martin OM28V 1918 Gibson L1 1972 Gibson SJ Deluxe 2019 Gibson J-45 Standard 2022 Gibson 1960 Hummingbird Fixed Bridge …don’t even get me started on electrics - too many to list. |
#7
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On the other hand, I wish I had bought several of the Lowden 023s when I purchased one new. I never really bonded with it, kept for a bunch of years and sold for twice what I paid for it. |
#8
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It happens with other equipment, too. I never sell stuff. I have pedals dating back to the ‘70s, and some of them are just old pedals, but others are worth hundreds more than I paid for them. Certain guitars, too. Most guitars just slowly lose value, but again, some gain: Rickenbackers like mine that I had in a Beatles cover band back in the day are selling for about 50% more than I bought it for new back then. Crazy how that works.
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#9
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Except for the possible exception of some vintage microphones ( because some indeed have extraordinary sound). It's often a mystery why some old stuff is considered "collectible" or "vintage" and some is just old junk
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Enjoy the Journey.... Kev... KevWind at Soundcloud KevWind at YouYube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...EZxkPKyieOTgRD System : Studio system Avid Carbon interface , PT Ultimate 2023.12 -Mid 2020 iMac 27" 3.8GHz 8-core i7 10th Gen ,, Ventura 13.2.1 Mobile MBP M1 Pro , PT Ultimate 2024.3 Sonoma 14.4 |
#10
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My parents ran an antique business for over 30 years and my mom explained to me that age does not equal value. She explained to me that the items with the highest current value most likely were expensive to begin with, and that was often a factor of how well something was made or how complex the process was to produce it.
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#11
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"I go for a lotta things that's a little too strong" J.L. Hooker |