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Where did all the used gear go??????

#21
All the used stuff goes on Ebay and CL these days. Most of the shops also sell online.

I find that Ebay is good for guitars, but bad for amps... shipping for amps tends to be pretty high. If there's a GC near you, I'd try looking at their used gear section online. If you see something you like you can have them ship it to your local store from wherever it is, and then pick it up locally. It's a lot cheaper than shipping from a seller on Ebay and it gives you the opportunity to try it before you take it home.
 
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#22
franvarin said:
WOW, you nailed that! The GC near me has a few basses, maybe 10, not much to really stop and take a look at. Pretty "run of the mill". Absolutely no used stuff and only a couple of bass amps.
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The GC near me usually has 10 used basses and then 40 or more new ones ranging from sterling mm to richenbacker 4003. The amp selection has varied, but its your standard GK, fender, markbass and acoustic combos, heads and cabs. They dont have anyone that knows anything, but the selection is there. GC is a business if people in your area are buying basses they will stock them.
 
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#26
I find a lot if interesting stuff on our local CL... Someone just posted two Tech21 4x10s for around 400 the other day, there's been a Schroeder cab on there for awhile, a Berg nv610, a bunch of really interesting stuff. I just bought a Bass VI today from CL in fact, with a sealed set of la Bella flats included!

I do miss Daddy's. GC isn't nearly as good.

There's always reverb... I dunno if I agree with you, I feel like I could get a good practice amp in a day on WM CL.

edit: Here we go [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#28
western ma CL is usually awesome. I am moving out there soon and can't wait to stop missing out on cool deals because of the hike. This week though has been dry almost everywhere. I think the buyers market + xxxmas money = gear drought
 
#33
Saratogacv60 said:
GC is a business if people in your area are buying basses they will stock them.
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If bass players go into GC (like I have) and see a tiny selection relative to everything else in the store, and what's there is of little interest to anyone but a newb - I'll leave without buying anything. And when asked by other bass players if I saw anything interesting in GC recently, I have to tell them "no."

Eventually word gets around (like it has around where I live) and the area bass players stop bothering to drop by GC.

At which point GC decides there's no market for basses - and further reduces their bass equipment inventories around where I am.

So who's to blame - and who's really getting hurt by GC's "analysis" and conclusion regarding bass gear?

If it's not there to buy, nobody buys it.

This is an example of what's known in IT circles as The Railroad Paradox.

The way the story is told, there was a commuter rail line which ran their service on the hour - and the trains were always completely packed such that it was standing room only after the first few stops heading into the big city. So the commuters got together and asked if the railroad could run additional trains on the half hour during the morning and evening rush in order to eliminate some of the crowding.

The railroad took the request seriously and hired some consultants to look into it. Which the consultants did. After a few months, these consultants furnished the railroad with a very detailed report and collected a fat check. At which point, after looking at the study, the railroad declined to add the extra trains, citing there was "insufficient need" to run them on the half hour. Why? Because the observations of train platforms at the half hour mark showed virtually no commuters were standing on the platforms waiting for trains at those times.

Sound familiar?
 
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#34
RyanJD said:
I've been noticing a decline in the used section of the GC website as well. A couple months ago it was around 1900 basses, and that number held for quite a while. Now it's less than 1500. And I have no idea why.
Can't comment on used amps, as I haven't been paying attention to their numbers.
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Same here. My local store has got -nothing- used, except for 1 or 2 odd pieces every now and then. What's really kind of disappointing is the last time I was there, the best thing around was a used Ibanez ATK for $400 bucks. Even their new stuff didn't hold a candle to that. They've got almost an entire wall of backline/SUB stingrays but not an EBMM one anywhere!

Don't get me wrong, the ATK is a cool bass...but I'd like to see some other stuff too.
 
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#37
Plutonium244 said:
Oddly enough, the pawn shops near me always seem to want a premium for their used crap. Not just guitars and basses-- stereo equipment, drill press, you name it. It's weird.
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Come in with cash, and on line ads showing what it is selling for elsewhere. Sometimes the truth will help (or maybe the stores are just fronts ;)).
 
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#38
Papalampraina said:
It's a city in the books of Terry Pratchett.
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...which therefore lacks a point on a map of Western Massachusetts. Which can be a very frustrating CL (though less so now that there's the "miles from zip-code function") due to the Mass-holistic perception that Western Mass starts at the midline of the Charles river, so crud from Concord will show up in "western" mass... There is now a Worcester CL as well as all the Bahstan CLs, but plenty of wildly not Western stuff continues on WM. Being so far west that I can walk into NY, this is irritating. If lurker had listed a real location, I could sort the CL based on it - lurker can of course remain locationally mysterious and sort it personally.

The Lurker said:
I hear you about the internet part.... But I'm loath to pay $100 shipping on a $200 amp!
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One (with any brains) does not pay anything to ship an amp found on CL, because you only do CL deals in person, unless you are a fhoool. Which is why the "how far do I gotta drive" filter is important in sorting a CL, especially one that spreads as far as WM does when the "Bahstan is central Mass" folks post on it, or even when you're legitimately in Western Mass, but at an inconveniently opposite corner of it than the object for sale. If you happen to be close to NY, the Albany list is also good, usually. And right now gas is cheap, anyway (it's the time that puts me off driving, mostly, these days, not the actual gas cost.)
 
#39
I think a lot of it has to do with people not wanting to get taken for a ride by places like GC. Unless I'm desperate for cash why would I go trade something in and maybe get $200 for it, when they're gonna turn around and sell it for $450, where if I just wait a little bit I know I can get close to that.
 
#40
japhy4529 said:
That's because all of those used basses are located at physical GC stores and GC has been reducing the footprint of the "bass section" in their stores for the past couple of years. At some point, they'll probably just get rid of it altogether and just have 10 or 12 basses (all low-end with one US Fender thrown in) and a few combos lined up in a corner of the guitar section.
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This is a good thing. Less bass equipment sold, fewer bass players, more demand for bass players.
 
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