Cool used gear story . . .

[MickeyKeys]

At least the ending is cool. Especially for a weekend warrior. Here goes:

 

A few months ago I upgraded my keyboard rig (again). Since December of '07 I'd been playing a Roland RD700SX. Still in excellent shape.

 

But one fine spring day I gave in and played the NX. I was actually able to A/B/and C it, because against all logic this GC still had an SX, GX, and NX on display. Despite all my better financial judgment I genuinely began GASsing after the NX.

 

(gee, I bet that's never happened to anyone on this forum, right?)

 

Suddenly, a chance popped up to acquire one privately at a ridiculously low price. I was able to squeeze out the money and pulled the trigger. And I'm loving it.

 

So, to replenish the bank account somewhat I listed the old SX on eB*y after succesfully transferring most of my setups to the NX and gigging with it. Ran the auction three times, got zero action despite a very fair price. And of course I got nothing but the usual scammers and time-wasters when I tried Craigslist.

 

So I decided to wait a couple of weeks and try again. But it was not to be.

 

Monday I get an eB*y PM :

 

"Do you still have the RD700SX, and if so would you still be interested in selling it?"

 

Now as we know, it's pretty much axiomatic that such approaches are scams - fake money orders, all that crap . . .

 

. . . so I brushed the guy off saying I would re-list if I changed my mind. He wrote back three times in ten minutes practically begging.

 

"The company I work for HAS to have that piano and no other. You can pretty much name your price and we'll send a carrier to pick it up at your place."

 

I asked him to email me at my normal email address because I hate eB*y's messaging system. Besides, I don't need them giving me a hard time over a private sale, right? It was about three weeks since the last listing expired.

 

Now all the red flags are flapping mightily in the breeze and I am super-suspicious - until I see the signature on his fourth email.

 

I decide to Google the guy to debunk the story he's told me . . . and I am completely flaggerbastard . I check it out six ways from Sunday, and I cannot poke a hole in his story no matter how I try. He simply IS who and what he says he is and all the connections are totally legit.

 

We haggle a little bit and agree on a fair number; only slightly higher than my listing price, but now that I don't have to worry about eB*y's pound of flesh or shipping headaches I'm much better off than I would have been. Within 4 hours the money is in my PayPal account. The freight company picked it up today.

Destination - Nashville TN.

 

Why my old piano and no other? Well, I asked, and his response made perfect sense:

 

"unfortunately my production manager has me under the gun so I couldn't really beat around the bush, he's put it on me to make this happen and this particular unit is hard to source since it is an older model. The reason we need the SX instead of the newer GX or NX is that Amy has a piano shell that only fits the older model, the new ones are too long to fit."

 

That's Amy . . . as in Lee.

 

As in . . . starting 8/17 in Nashville, MY old stage piano is going on tour without ME -

 

but with Evanescence.

 

And, in case I miss the piano and feel the need for a farewell visit,

tickets and backstage passes for an Atlantic City show have been thrown in.

 

Holy crap! I'm still pinching myself.

[Hexeract]

I think they'd have to pay me extra to sit through an Evanescence show. A lot extra...

[DJ RAZZ]

Awesome story dude!

[BonsoWonderDog]

Cool story. I saw Evanescence in concert......it was great.

[ivorycj]

Very cool! Reminds me of a few years ago when I got a call from a backline company I do work with from time to time that David Bryan from Bon Jovi needed a dual manual orgran that would transpose for a show in Cheyenne.

 

I happened to be like the only guy in Denver with a nord C1.

 

Great show, too - nice guys, and a HUGE crowd!

[BonsoWonderDog]

This thread is hereby renamed the "Name Dropping Thread".

 

EP can you please rename.

 

OKTHXBYEBBQ

[BonsoWonderDog]

(I'm kidding of course.......i only posted that because I'm jealous :-))

[ChristianRock]

Very, very cool story

 

I think that's why Michael W. Smith (allegedly) still tours with his S80, not only does it still sound good, but it fits his piano frame...

[Unfed]

cool!

 

i had a local promoter call me to ask if Richie Hawtin could borrow my SH-101 when he came through town on his 'Decks, FX, 909' tour. had dinner with him and his tour manager, pretty nice guy.

 

also, years ago i sold a Sequential Drum-Traks to David Vincent, who is the bassist/founder of Morbid Angel (if anyone knows who they are).

[pogo97]

I once talked to Raffi.

[evildragon]

[Plink Floyd]

I think I've told this one before, but I was once on stage with Crosby, Stills & Nash... fixing their B3 before a concert. I didn't talk to them, but I chatted with the keyboard player they were touring with, he was a nice guy. The mgr gave me two good tkts & said if the organ crapped out during the concert I should run up & fix it again. But it held.

 

I was also in a band with a local chick who went on to sing backup for John Cougar Mellencamp. I know, that's reaching pretty far for a brush with greatness, but, hey, I'm in Indiana. Gimme a break.

[Plink Floyd]

Oh yeah... I met Benji. No {censored}. And another little white froofroo dog that played his girlfriend. The owner/trainer lived in LA but visited relatives across the street from my mom's house. He was a cool guy, with all the cool stories you'd expect. The trainer, that is. Benji was cool, too. Not a bit of that "oh, I'm a big star" attitude about him. Got a pic somewhere of us playing fetch the stick. He had a pretty good throwing arm.

[Gribs]

I never saw Evanescence but I have heard from a friend at work who saw them here in town (at First Ave in Minneapolis I think) that they are actually really good in concert and that Amy Lee actually does play the piano herself and sing at the same time. So it is pretty cool she will be playing your board.

 

Several years ago when I was at the annual SPIE Optics and Photonics conference in San Diego, I took a side trip to the Carvin factory store. I was playing some guitars and messing around with the amps, going back and forth taking various guitar off the wall to try in the amp room. A pickup truck pulled up to the store and a few guys got out and went to the counter, then into the back with the guys at the counter, and started bringing out carts of gear - basically a large PA system's worth of gear - so I was curious. It turned out to be Frank Gambale and some other guys, including a guy who supposedly played bass for Joni Mitchell. I was pretty hopeful that maybe Frank was giving a concert in town when I was there, and I told him I was visiting for an optics conference from MN but had a rental car and would go, but he said no the gear was for their church. He lives nearby and they were giving a sound system to his church. He said something about the congregation getting a loud surprise on Sunday. I chatted a little with them about the guitars and what we liked about them for a few minutes, and then they got in the truck and drove away.

 

Another time (I think I told these stories before) I was at Willy's Guitars in St Paul and a tall, pretty blond lady came in and all the workers there said hi to her (they say hi to me too so what do I know?). She went into the acoustic guitar room to talk with one of the luthiers there who happens to also be a lady (and who sold me my Koa Martin previously). I wandered around and eventually into the acoustics room to look at the Martins and whatnot and the two ladies were checking out this gorgeous but small ("parlor" sized) custom Martin Koa that was like 3X the price of mine due to its custom features. The tall blond was playing it and was saying it sounding so great, and I agreed. Then I learned that the luthier had actually designed the guitar for Martin, so I congratulated her on that. The blond asked if I wanted to try it, and I said yes so she handed it over and I strummed a few chords then handed it back. We agreed again about the wonderful guitar and I moved on to look at some other stuff and eventually left the store. I couldn't stop thinking about the blond lady though - she had very pretty eyes and a big wide friendly smile and was very attractive. It wasn't until I got to my car that I realized the blond lady was Aimee Mann. She is from MN and supposedly comes to visit occasionally. Either she is just really friendly in person or she was really nice to me because she realized I didn't recognize her and was basically just treating her like any other person.