 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ruben
Date: 2020-01-12 17:51
In the old days, you could make real finds in pawn shops in the US. Is this still the case? I, of course, mean instruments and mouthpieces. Not guns.
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: kilo
Date: 2020-01-12 20:42
I don't know the answer to your question but from what I've been hearing, estate sales seem to be a pretty good source of real finds these days.
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Author: DougR
Date: 2020-01-14 02:30
I'm going to venture a guess (and that's all it is) that 2 things have led to the demise of pawn shops (and here I draw on observations along 8th Ave. NYC, where there used to be 4 or 5 pawnshops between 34th St. and 59th St. and now there's ... none). One is the rise of internet sales, and "that site" in particular, which (like Amazon in terms of book sales) has perhaps driven brick-and-mortar shops out of business; the second (and this maybe only applies to urban areas) is a skyrocketing in real estate prices and retail rents, that have driven not only pawn shops, but dry cleaners, bodegas, cobblers, tailors and other kinds of non-chain mom & pop stores out of business or sent them far off the beaten track.
There may be other factors as well; to the extent that pawn shops depended on a certain amount of traffic in stolen merchandise, and burglary rates in urban areas having declined somewhat, there may be less merchandise available; also obviously pawnshop owners may have counted on people not knowing the value of their own merchandise, and with online stores available to use as price-checkers, that's no longer the case either.
That's my best guess. Yard/estate sales and the local Goodwill or Salvation Army seem like better bets.
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Author: Fuzzy
Date: 2020-01-14 02:55
I'm very curious why we act like "ebay" is a dirty word on this bboard.
To the topic at hand: In my general area, all the pawn shops which existed when I was a kid are still here. Flea markets are a big deal too - everything is growing, so I'm not sure a downward trend in pawn shops is national. It defies logic since most of us seem happier to shop the various auctions/thrift stores online. Having said that, I found the pawn shops in my area to normally only carry over-priced student models of a few instruments at any given time.
I take slight issue in the characterization that "...pawn shops depended on a certain amount of traffic in stolen merchandise..." - around here, the pawn shops are held to a very high standard and work with the police if anything fishy is going on. The last thing our local pawn shops want to deal with is stolen property - because in the end, it is the pawn shop which is commonly caught short in such a deal.
Fuzzy
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Author: nellsonic
Date: 2020-01-14 04:39
Pawn shops routinely look up the items coming in on ebay to get a much more accurate idea of the value than they were able to in past decades. In the 80's my friend picked up one of the best R13's I've ever played for $40 at a pawn shop. Those days are probably over.
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Author: oian
Date: 2020-01-14 22:54
Nellsonic has it right. With almost everyone from the simple flea market seller to the largest Pawn Shop or Thrift Store having instant access to the internet, the likelihood of finding that underpriced "gem" is not as easy as it was in the past. Actually it may lead to overpricing. As an example; when a person with little or no knowledge of clarinets looks up the value of an instrument marked Buffet, Selmer etc. on the "net" and assumes that all clarinets from that maker regardless of model or condition are of equal value.
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2020-01-16 04:35
When my clarinets were stolen they were sold for a song at a local flea market (we found out later). Yes, deals are out there...but remember that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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Author: oldreedguy
Date: 2020-01-17 12:01
I found two in a pawn shop in Atascadero California...I was tempted with the yamaha I found...$450...but my tech in Morro Bay said no way...this place had 50 or so clarinets...what a mess...ha, I was in a Budapest hostel in 2002 and hung out with two French girls...we went to a flea market outside Budapest because one of the French girls was looking for a Clarinet in the key of A...LOL...
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