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jimmiJAMM

By jimmiJAMM
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jimmiJAMM

jimmiJAMM

Posted
Posted

Anyone ever bought a guitar or anything cool in a pawn shop?

 

I picked up my '65 Harmony Rocket (pictured below) in a pawn shop that used to be on 7th Avenue in the Chelsea, New York City about twelve or so years ago. There she was, hanging on the wall amidst many others but all those crazy knobs really caught my eye. Was looking for a semi-hollow something and the guy made me a good deal on it. Even threw in a hard shell case. Kinda strange buying something that someone had to part with due to a lack of funds but one man's loss is another man's gain. Still one of my rarest and coolest guitars.

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Blackie

Blackie

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I got my EPI G-400 from a pawn shop..............it was marked $500.......yeah...........I was like ......man a new one of these is only like $300......

I offed um $200 and walked out with it.........But pawn shops are crooks mostly.

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grampa

grampa

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I have a few pawn shop guitars. My Gibson F-25 was a steal at one hundred and a half because of the non-original finish. Back in '82 300 was the going price for most Gibsons in the pawn shop. These days there are many fewer good guitars in them, the internet and eBay took care of that. But good things can be found especially if it's not a name that's in demand.

A good thing about them is that you can bargain for a good price. These guys know the value of their items but they do "overprice" them knowing if you think you're getting a real good deal yiu're more likely to buy.

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KL

KL

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I think it's a lot harder to find any hidden gems in those shops these days. Because of the internet and ebay etc they are becoming very knowledgeable about what they have and what they can get for it. Wish I could travel back in time a few years . . . .

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NeoConMan

NeoConMan

Posted
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I've never found a "deal" in a pawn shop.

 

Either the price was right but it was a piece of crap, or it was nice but priced double.

I have seen first hand some smoking pawn shop deals years ago, just never got that lucky myself.

 

I made the acquaintance of an old guy in Texas in the 90's - he had two shops in Houston.

The guy had done pretty damned good for himself in 30 years - his son had taken the stores over.

 

Don't know how the biz is now.

Some things never change though...

 

If you'll accept pennies on the dollar for something, somebody else will do OK with it.

 

:-)

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dleth

dleth

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Yeah, I bought an acoustic in a pawn shop about 20 some odd years ago for $75.00. I t was a Giannini six string Brazilian guitar that still resonates much better than it should. I t has never had a case of any sort and just kinda hung around. The sticker inside the hole is still there and it is a 1974.

Surpisingly it is a pretty easy guitar to play for what I paid. Very well made guitar with nice binding front and back and I assume mostly mahogany construction.

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tazzboy

tazzboy

Posted
Posted
Yea Pawn Shops seem to think they are selling retail' date=' much like 90% of the people

on Craigslist.

 

BTW. Pawn Stars is one of the only TV shows I look forward to watching[/quote']

 

I too watch it and I have learn a lot about items are bought and sold more so then in person or the Antique Road Show.

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jaxson50

jaxson50

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I knew a guy who operate a pawn shop, he had a customer who was a party DJ, had a large PA system and a bunch of hard to store equipment, so every Monday morning the guy would show up at the pawn shop, pawn his equipment for $50.00, and return for it when he had a gig. Never had to pay storage and never had to worry about his gear being stolen....pretty cool idea.

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pohatu771

pohatu771

Posted
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Yeah' date=' I bought an acoustic in a pawn shop about 20 some odd years ago for $75.00. I t was a Giannini six string Brazilian guitar that still resonates much better than it should. I t has never had a case of any sort and just kinda hung around. The sticker inside the hole is still there and it is a 1974.

Surpisingly it is a pretty easy guitar to play for what I paid. Very well made guitar with nice binding front and back and I assume mostly mahogany construction.

[/quote']

I used to use a Giannini classical... I liked it quite a bit. Someone had strung it with steel strings (and it wasn't mine to change), but it still sounded nice enough. The strings probably ruined it, structurally, however. I wouldn't mind picking up another to keep as a backup classical.

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pippy

pippy

Posted
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Not in a pawn shop, no, but about 30 years ago I saw this in a junk shop. I got it for less than £10.00 (about $14.00). It didn't have a bridge and, once I bought a make-do temporary effort and strung it up I found it to be almost unplayable!

 

AidiMaurallfour-1.jpg

 

Having only recently brought it home with me a couple of years ago (it was left in my parents house when I moved to London in '87) I decided to find out something about it and, largely through the detective work of a couple of people here, found it to be an 'Antoine Di Mauro' "Chorus" model from the late 1940's. Django Reinhardt's brother (and DR's some-time rhythym player in the Quintet de Hot Club de France) played one exactly the same.

 

There is a specialist dealer I've found who repairs, buys and sells these types of 'Gipsy' guitar and he could get it set-up properly for me but I'd have to get it to Paris. Hmm.

 

Co-incidentally, here's a link to a couple of slightly later examples that very dealer has for sale right now, if anyone else fancies one.

 

http://www.gypsyguitars.com/makers.php?id=27&status_id=

 

More than $14.00 nowadays, though, you'll notice...

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daveinspain

daveinspain

Posted
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Not in a pawn shop' date=' no, but about 30 years ago I saw this in a junk shop. I got it for less than £10.00 (about $14.00). It didn't have a bridge and, once I bought a make-do temporary effort and strung it up I found it to be almost unplayable!

[/quote']

 

 

I'd say you did very well with that! Get it set up and playing well, you have a gem there...

 

BTW... I know some good Luthiers here in Spain that could get it in order as well... :-)

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pippy

pippy

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I'd say you did very well with that! Get it set up and playing well' date=' you have a gem there...[/quote']

 

Just as long as I don't have to chop off two of my fingers to play it properly!

 

Yes; I know. I really should get it sorted. Unfortunately, what with one thing and another, it's not terribly high up on the list of 'Things-To-Do'...

 

On the up-side is that it's my wife's favourite out of my guitars.

 

Hang on, though. Perhaps that's because it doesn't get played...what should I read into that, I wonder? [bored]

 

BTW... I know some good Luthiers here in Spain that could get it in order as well... :-)

 

And could you do us all a good deal for B+B?

 

LOL!

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pippy

pippy

Posted
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:) ..... B+B??? I'm not the luthier but I do know some good ones... [bored]

 

Yeah I was J/K.

 

Paris isn't such a difficult option for me at all. My wife's French (and also part Spanish, as it happens) so we can 'speaka-da-lingo' and, living in London, we can just hop onto the Eurostar and be there, door-to-door, in less than 3 hours.

 

We should make a long week-end of it.

 

:-k

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