• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Recent pawn shop finds

#41
A couple of years ago I found a nice blueburst L-2500 tribute in a pawnshop. It had a couple of little nicks and needed s9me work Ina addition to a good cleaning. But when I offered a lower price, I heard the manager say something to the effect of 'give it to him for whatever he wants, just get it out of here!' Got out within for 300$. According to the tag, it had been there quite a while. I just went in on a whim on the way home from the grocery store.
But, yes, I agree, not so manygood deals to be found these days.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Skullheadrac and tindrum
#42
Late 2021 I got this Nashville Tobias Gibson Growler for $295 NZ plus freight costs
CF703A81-9585-4729-B82F-C899F56665B3.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Squittolo, jplynx, Aqualung60 and 9 others
#47
I've only purchased 1 bass from a pawn shop and it was an amazing deal, however, the pawn shop was closing and had advertised the sale on kijiji (Canadian craig's list) so as soon as I saw it I drove about an hour to immediately purchase the bass. The bass was a 4 string stealth music man Bongo and the price was $750 CDN which is currently like $550 USD.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mikewalker and tindrum
#48
tindrum said:
Any time I go they are full of sad, El cheapo gear priced way over MSRP. It’s like the island of misfit toys….unloved and unwanted. It’s depressing to me actually.
Click to expand...
Ha ha totally my experience as well. The weirdest brand names I’ve ever seen for guitars and basses and it’s all crap. My question is why do they even keep that sort of stuff , it’ll never sell. I’ve seen stuff sit in the same spot for a decade, aren’t they losing money at some point, because they actually had to pay for those things.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tindrum
#52
Last Pawnshop find? A couple years ago I got my Yamaha REX50 for $20, at a pawnshop in Vernon, BC.
It was quite dusty, but was fully functional, and cleaned up well.
Link Removed
That pawnshop is defunct now, but there was another pawnshop in the same town that had an Ovation Magnum bass in the window for about a year... asking was $1200 CAD, I probably could have got it for 900 but was done with long-scales by that time
 
Last edited:
#53
I found one of my own guitars in a pawn shop. It had been stolen during a load-out a couple years before (this was pre-eBay). Crushed, rebuilt, stolen, hacked, recovered, bad-luck-greened, buried in storage, and, recently reborn.
FrankenTele

Killing time before a show in Reno (also pre-eBay), I wandered into a pawn shop with my singer. He pointed to an Alvarez ABG "Get it! We'll do acoustic gigs!"
I did get it. Never did any acoustic gigs, though...
It sat in a case for 20 years. Then, I defretted it, CA'ed the neck.
It gets played quite a bit now. It's often in the rotation (depending on the genre).

alvarez-abg-IG copy.jpg


Rick
 
  • Like
Reactions: TinIndian, Blueinred and mikewalker
#54
I got a banging deal on my second SWR Golight cabinet from a pawnshop up in Costa Mesa. American Jewelry and Loan. They have a guy on staff who is pretty damn good about choosing what they’ll take in, and he knows bass. Never bought anything from a pawnshop before.

Was during the pandemic and saw a sign on the door “all employees must wear masks” but it didn’t actually say that. My mind made up the last part. On looking again, it said “all employees must wear firearms”. And they were serious. They do a lot of gold business there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lardass5000 and mikewalker
#55
I came across a Taylor GS Mini bass about two months ago. Someone had drilled a small hole 2mm through the headstock. I got the bass for a whopping $100!!

I don’t play it much at all because I like my other basses much more, but the Taylor was just too good of a deal to pass up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mikewalker
#56
rickwrench said:
I found one of my own guitars in a pawn shop. It had been stolen during a load-out a couple years before (this was pre-eBay). Crushed, rebuilt, stolen, hacked, recovered, bad-luck-greened, buried in storage, and, recently reborn.
FrankenTele

Killing time before a show in Reno (also pre-eBay), I wandered into a pawn shop with my singer. He pointed to an Alvarez ABG "Get it! We'll do acoustic gigs!"
I did get it. Never did any acoustic gigs, though...
It sat in a case for 20 years. Then, I defretted it, CA'ed the neck.
It gets played quite a bit now. It's often in the rotation (depending on the genre).

View attachment 5014595

Rick
Click to expand...


I have that same Alvarez ABG! Mine still has the frets in it. I just played Gregg Allman's "Queen of Hearts" on it an hour ago. I bought it new in July 1997 for $635 including HSC, retailed for $1100 but supposedly had blemish and was marked as a "2nd". Never have found the blemish. Well made and holds tune great.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mikewalker and rickwrench
#57
The lone pawn shop in my small town is full stuff (visible through the windows) but has been shuttered since covid. I can only assume they started doing everything on Ebay. Before that, I found a 70's Ampeg V4 for $399 out the door (probably 10 years ago?). More recently, they had a 6-string Alembic in immaculate condition for $5000. The owner would show it, but was hard pressed to let anyone try it, or even touch it. He had it in the shop for like 7 years. Not sure if he sold it or not.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mikewalker
#58
Pawn shops have dried up.. Mostly.. Ebay.. Facebook market place, guitar center used, reverb. Are my main searches.. Brought korean sq. Anyway from a 100 - 300.. Wish I had a good story.. I paid $50.00 for a ss kay gutar amp.. At a shop last year.. Which is common.. Casio Sk-1 for 5 bucks at good will.. Radio shack Tape recorder for $10.00 at goodwill.. Levi's for a classic punk aesthetic.. For $8.. Cut out the knees.. I'd love to go the late 70's a pawn shop.. And just tour the brit/usa clubs..

I have issues with modern society.. lol

Heck I want to find a cheap big van.. and just go to shows..
 
Last edited:
#60
The pawn shops where I live are pitiful in terms of online presence, and the three brick n' mortar actual music stores aren't much better.

Sometimes I wanna go into these places and say "Geez, it's 2023...time to get up to speed on this 'Internet' thing, no??"

It's not that they aren't online at all. I was just on the FB page of one of 'em, and I might be interested in going down and checking out some of the basses they show hanging in there - or rather, showed - if the most recent pics of basses weren't from 2018...:meh:

I'm 48, I'm tired, and guess what, I don't always feel like making a special trip, or even a side trip, to hit all, or even one of, the pawn shops/music stores in town...but I would if I had a (**NOVEL CONCEPT ALERT**) quick and convenient way to view their up-to-date inventory (and saw something that appealed to me)! :wideyed:

I might've bought a dozen basses from some, or all, of these places over the years; I'm sure there's been plenty that've come and gone that I would have been interested in. Oh well...:whistle:

The most recent 'deal' that I missed out on was technically not a pawn shop score, but a private seller on FB Marketplace who'd posted a Yamaha BB414 in that metallic-orange finish, selling with a hardshell case for $100 - CANADIAN ($75-ish USD)...D'oh...:facepalm:
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ryan X Decent, cdwillis and Skullheadrac

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back