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Ever think the gear your buying is stolen?


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Found a really good deal on craigslist today, and I called to make sure the item was legit. But the person didn't even really know what it was... I asked a simple question (how many keys is the keyboard workstation)... and he had to look at the keyboard and read the specs... Then he replied and said "It's the workstation." Then I asked again the number of keys... then he said "I think it's 60."

 

Sounds iffy huh? I'm probably just being dumb and paranoid, but I'd never buy stolen gear, even if it's near free.

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I wouldn't assume it was stolen just because he's clueless. He might be selling it for a friend without computer access. It might belong to his wife or kid. He might be someone who goes around buying stuff at garage sales, auctions etc. dirt cheap and then resells it, even if he really doesn't know what it was. Or he got it on trade for something else even though he's not a musician. Of course if one of these reasons is correct I'd still be leery about wasting time on it, since it could be screwed up in any of a dozen ways and Mr. Clueless wouldn't have a clue it was.

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I thought an S90-ES was stolen once, listed on eBay. Very low price, "too good to be true" situation. I asked for the serial number so I could verify it's sale with the original dealer, for my own peace of mind, and the seller got very abusive :p

 

He probably thought I was just being an asshole, but hey... glad I didn't bid.

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I wouldn't assume it was stolen just because he's clueless. He might be selling it for a friend without computer access. It might belong to his wife or kid. He might be someone who goes around buying stuff at garage sales, auctions etc. dirt cheap and then resells it, even if he really doesn't know what it was. Or he got it on trade for something else even though he's not a musician. Of course if one of these reasons is correct I'd still be leery about wasting time on it, since it could be screwed up in any of a dozen ways and Mr. Clueless wouldn't have a clue it was.

 

 

EXACTLY ... I feel much more comfortable buying gear from musicians who know what they're talking about (especially vintage analog)

 

... Also, I think fellow musicians at times tend to give better deals because they know the value of the time they've gotten with a piece of gear (even if it's still in great shape ...

 

and I tend to think many musicians

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A salesman at our local GC said he has a buddy who bought a Mini Moog for 300 bucks at a church yard sale from the old lady who was cleaning out her grown-up son's stuff. I don't know if he was BS-ing me, though, or if it was an urban legend, but stuff like that probably does happen sometimes. If I was in a situation like that I would probably tell the old lady that the instrument was worth 7 or more times that much, depending on the condition. The guitar player's dream is to find a mint pre-CBS strat or tele or a pre-war (WWII) Martin closet special at a sale like that.

 

You never know really. There are plenty of old organs and spinet pianos on Craig's list that are free to someone who will haul them away or priced under $100. My mom sold all my old 12" GI Joe stuff at a garage sale for next to nothing and also gave away a shelf of about 100 children's books that I have been re-buying for my kids now (the books, not the GI Joe, heh). People move when their kids grown up and leave and some kids leave stuff behind that they don't care about anymore and the parents just want to get rid of it all.

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Even if Mr. Clueless was a legitimate owner, I wouldn't bother buying. Because chances are that person wouldn't know how to use the gear properly, and is more liable to not take good care of it, thus increasing the chance that there might be something wrong with it.

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haha, some people say they found stuff from 'yard sales' for way cheap.

 

like a guy selling a vintage moog on ebay, his description went something like this:" Came across this "moog" at a yard sale, it seems to be in good condition. it powers up but NO SOUND COMES OUT, maybe you have to hook it to something else or something."

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haha, some people say they found stuff from 'yard sales' for way cheap.


like a guy selling a vintage moog on ebay, his description went something like this:" Came across this "moog" at a yard sale, it seems to be in good condition. it powers up but NO SOUND COMES OUT, maybe you have to hook it to something else or something."

 

 

My favorite is the Craigslist ad for a Fender Rhodes Stage - with a missing pedal:

 

"Missing sustain pedal but u can easily find one on e-bay for cheap"

 

Yeah {censored}ing right. Cheap my ass. If it were that cheap they would have bought one and had it on the Rhodes they're selling.

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My favorite is when you find something that says "Almost mint.." and there's actually something that'll make it far from mint... like a broken ke,y.

 

And yeah.. the "missing parts" make me laugh too. How many times have I see a Juno 106 for sale that was a either busted or has a broken chip, but can be "fixed for really cheap," and yet their asking price is more than fully working ones.

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