Pawn Shops

[Markus1]

So, still on my search for a decent SG in my budget, (I have decided to stick with either a Standard, or 61 reissue), I decided I'd hit up some pawn shops and see what kinda stock they had on guitars.

The only one that had any decent Gibsons was a place owned by a guy that primarily deals in guitars, that bought the place after his boss decided to retire. I've been going to this guy's shop since I was a teenager with my Dad on and off, so I thought this would be a great place to check. He had some nice Les Pauls, but said he rarely ever has any SGs come through his shop. Aside from this place every other shop had a very anemic choice of guitars, and most places had nothing but either no-name brand guitars or budget models. I hit up 7 pawn shops on the way home from work Friday and only saw one Gibson SG, which was a signature series, that I already knew the shop next door to my work had. I don't think I saw any other Gibsons unless they where acoustics I just wasn't paying attention to.

 

There's tons of Fender guitars out there though, which I don't know much about Fenders so I have no idea if any of them where good models, but I'm not looking for one anyway, so its kinda irrelevant. Most of what you find around here is either the cheap Fenders, or Epiphones etc... I can't comment on any other brands, as I have no idea how they are as far as budget models.

 

Now this is the Oklahoma City metro area, but I was curious, any of you out there ever come across an amazing find in a Pawn Shop these days? I haven't done much shopping in pawn shops since the internet got big, because nowadays it seems like pawn shops think everything they sell is made of gold, and are much less likely to come down on prices than they used to be. You also aren;t likely to find an incredible steal like you could in the old days because they don't know what they've got.

 

I'm curious to know if this is the same in other areas, or maybe its just the region? Also, if anyone else out there is from the OKC area and knows of a pawn shop (besides the one on 27th and May) that is known for a good selection of guitars and such please let me know.

[rct]

We don't have pawn shops here, so I hit them up when on the road with The Mrs or traveling for work. Everybody has a computer now, everybody looks everything up these days, everybody sees all the fanboys on the net cooing over everything, so they price stuff accordingly. I haven't seen any great bargains in a pawn shop in years.

 

There's a guy around here name Searcy, he rulez pawn buying.

 

rct

[Jeff-7]

'64 Gibson LG1 for $100 a year or two ago, mint MIM telecaster with HSC for $135 a week ago...

[capmaster]

Yes, there are prominent visitors:

http://www.fender.com/series/pawn-shop/

... or do they feed pawn shops?!??

 

All kidding aside, pawn shops became rare here, too, and those who are running one know quite well what they are doing as you already pointed out. I also assume that they may have customers inquries, especially when it goes around rare items, and so won't everything they acquire show to the public.

 

Basically, I think it can be a good idea to go for guitars there since they might get some in very good condition, too. I think the visitor or vendor mentioned above calls emulations of such items closet classic...

[dino_j]

 

All kidding aside, pawn shops became rare here, too, and those who are running one know quite well what they are doing as you already pointed out.

 

Wow...maybe the economy is just worse here in Lynchburg, but there have been several pawn shops that have opened here in the last couple of years. I can count 4 within a ten mile radius of me.

 

L. Oppelmans claims to be the oldest pawn shop in America (est. 1890). I don't know, but I like going in the store and checking out what they have. Sometimes in a small city the local music store(s) don't carry all the major brands, and as a matter of fact I don't think there's an authorized Gibson dealer in Lynchburg. I found a Dean Evo Special Select that was a real find, not because it was dirt cheap, but because there were no other Dean dealers in town!

[Markus1]

Wow...maybe the economy is just worse here in Lynchburg, but there have been several pawn shops that have opened here in the last couple of years. I can count 4 within a ten mile radius of me.

 

L. Oppelmans claims to be the oldest pawn shop in America (est. 1890). I don't know, but I like going in the store and checking out what they have. Sometimes in a small city the local music store(s) don't carry all the major brands, and as a matter of fact I don't think there's an authorized Gibson dealer in Lynchburg. I found a Dean Evo Special Select that was a real find, not because it was dirt cheap, but because there were no other Dean dealers in town!

 

I still see new pawnshops opening from time to time. Not a lot, but then again there are tons of pawn shops scattered across the metro area here. I haven't tried many pawn shops on the "ghetto" areas yet. I figure with sites like Ebay and CL, probably the only reason you're going to find guitars in pawn shops at all is from people that need money NOW and can't wait for someone to decide they want to buy it. Ebay in general seems to be almost as bad as pawn shops. Alot of people on there are asking the same high prices guitar center asks for used SGs. I do see some SG Standards that go for pretty cheap, and are right in my budget... but those are usually the ones that beat my bid by $10. I kinda miss the old days when you didn't give a max bid, letting Ebay automatically bid incrementally for you. You never know if you could have had it if you'd only bid another $20, or if you would have need to bid another $100.

[old mark]

I used to hunt pawn shops for guitars, but have not for some years now. I have not seen a Gibson of any kind in the big local pawn shop for 15 years or more...There was a pretty nice LP Model, along with a nice older Fender P bass...both were gone in a week or so. They had a nice all black Rick 6 string, too..also gone pretty shortly.

 

They generally know exactly what they have and get their info and pricing from the same internet we all use. The last interesting guitar I have seen in the local shop was an original Danelectro Convertible, which was about 5 years ago and about $300.

 

I just go with ebay or very occasionally one of the national chains used lists. I have bought several bad guitars online from the chains, but NEVER had any problem sending them back for a refund...which can sometimes be a problem on ebay.

 

Some ebay guitars are being sold by pawn shops...they get better prices and more potential buyers.

 

mark

[smabc01]

All I see in pawn shops are cheap guitars and amps too. In my mind there is a pawn shop out there somewhere filled with amazing finds at amazing prices, however most store owners these days know enough to find out the value of what they are selling.

 

No good luck on my end either

 

best of luck!

[LPDEN]

I think for the most part, I look at eBay for the majority of any used or obscure instrument I may be seeking . Even some Pawn Shops put items up on eBay too despite the expensixve selling costs as the exposure is so broad. I tend to avoid Craigslist, but have used it once or twice to sell an item that I didn't want to ship.