Uninformed Pawn Shop owners (was: A word of warning!)

[jason]

>Chris Crosskey has an amusing story about going into a pawn shop afterseeing
>an
>alphajuno at a stupid price (50quid), the guy said it didnt work and he
>couldnt
>sell. Chris asked for a set of headphones and powered it on, sure enough
>Midi Local was turned OFF. chris sort of played a bit makeing it look like
>he
>was trying. He took off the headphones and told the shop keeper he'd take it
>as he could probably use it for spares! and walked out the shop with it for
>50quid.



I've heard similar stories about people picking up vintage microphones
(Neumann) for cheap, because the shop owner didn't even know what Phantom
Power meant. They thought the mics were broken because they wouldn't put
out any sound when plugged in. (without Phantom Power)

My own, similar story is about how I bought my very first analog synth.
This was just a few years ago, so the "vintage craze" had already hit, and
most people knew what things were worth.
I found a Roland Juno 60 in a pawn shop for $80. It was in great condition
- absolutely nothing wrong with it besides two missing sliders. When I
asked to play it, the guy in the shop offered his opinion: "Well, it's
kinda crappy sounding - it can make some string sounds, but I messed with
that thing for over an hour and I couldn't get anything that resembled a
piano out of it. And it doesn't have a sustain pedal."
I laughed to myself about the "sustain pedal" comment, and told him I would
buy it. He still tried to sell me a Yamaha PSR-somthing....I said "No, I
think I'll tkae the Juno"

-jason