I hate pawn shops

I've about given up on pawn shops. I used to really love sifting through them. Since the growth of the interweb, it seems most pawn shops only really get crappy musical gear anymore and they want retail price for it. Not nearly as much fun as it once was.

 

You just need to find the right shops.

I found one shop with a mint condition '94 US peavey fury marked at $130 CAD, that's the same price they had all of their import fury basses marked at. This bass was minty too, like it hadn't been out of a case in 20 years.

The same shop also had a Way Huge Swollen Pickle in their case, marked at $65. I guess they didn't realize how much they could get for it.

Two great deals I'm glad I jumped on. For the most part though, pawn shops are generally loaded with garbage, garbage with a huge mark up.

 

Yeah, I hear you......in Los Angeles it's even worse. When I was living in the semi-rural east coast a few years ago, there were still some nice deals and interesting stuff: but here in LA, even an old, messed up Chinese Squier is apparently worth $250.

On the other hand, some of it here has to do with the people who are buying: I also love old audio gear and vinyl records, but if you go to a Goodwill store, everything gets bought up in bulk by people re-selling on the internet. They don't even know what they're buying, they have no interest in anything but the $$.

 

The pawn shops here have nothing but crap. They all make their money from guns, gold, and car title pawns. It's really sad, and compounded by the fact that to use our local CL you must be mentally ill.

 

I've gotten a couple of good deals but most of the time you see stuff waaaaaayyyy over priced. A Squier P-bass (used) listed for 299.99. I hate how they don't make any attempt to clean items up!

 

Here in Austin you can still occasionally find something worth buying but it's like mining. You have to process a few tons of useless rock to find an ounce of gold.

 

If you spend enough time looking, there are still deals to be had.
Few and far between, but they are there.
I saw an E series Squier Jazz for a hundred and a half.
Didn't have any money.
Same place had a PV Patriot guitar with EMG 81 & 85 pickups in it
for $75.
Didn't need it, but scored it because the pickups are worth more than that.

 

All I ever see at them anymore is total garbage.

 

You cry less at garage sales and estate sales. That is where the goodies are, but they are few and far between.

 

The pawn shops around here suck, too, but for different reasons. They won't haggle on prices of pawned items, nor will they haggle on the prices they just things at. They also put everything up for well above the going rates...and then it sits there for years. They're to the point now where they have garbage gear that nobody wants but they can't move and they won't take even the slightest hit on their profit to move it.

 

It is like going to the pet store and seeing the puppies and kittens

 

something told me to pop into a pawn shop last week. They had a beat up Yamaha bass for $200, that was all. Asked if they had any pedals and saw a brand new MXR Phase 90 ,when I asked the price I discovered it was 20% off day! got it for $70, I was happy to have found something worth buying hehe

 

WOW, all the pawn shops I go to in Portland have the instruments neatly on the wall behind the counter, the only things jumbled together are the amps.

 

Agreed. Beat to hell crap at full price or more. I'll pass.

The local Craig's List is pretty great, though.

 

Last week I picked up a Gordy Blueshift II. They were hand made in the UK 30 years back.

Priced at £170 my offer of £140 was accepted.

Made my day as I haven't owned a British built bass for over 25 years. Was number 59 and built by
Andy Evans when he was an apprentice. Makes it a bit better when you can trace the history.

Only deal I've had in a pawn for years.

 

Yeah, it is sad. They're more interested in Xboxes, controllers and crap like that. And I find with the pawns around my area, that they're asking as much for their second hand basses and guitars as you'd pay for a brand new one with a warranty! I've pointed this out to them on a few occasions and their response is usually: "Well, go buy it somewhere else then!". I think that either they're idiots (or they think their customers are), or they just don't care. I pretty much avoid the pawn shops these days.

 

It is still worth looking once and a while. Last May, I got my MIA Cirrus four at a pawn shop for $432 after taxes with the OHSC.

 

It seems like a lot of pawn shops aren't the gold-mines they used to be (or that I've heard they were) but there's still deals to be had. I got an Alamo Jet guitar amp (early 60s hand-wired American made tube amp) for $150, or rather a friend did and passed it on to me for the price he paid. That thing is the closest thing to a real tweed deluxe that I've ever heard in person, with a ss peavey price tag.

I'm still waiting for a mint left handed sunburst pre-CBS Precision to show up for that price.

 

I avoid pawn shops because I think they trade on human misfortune.