[sdiy] what have I been taking?

[harrybissell]

Well thank God.... there's the old Eric back...
just when I thought he had been cast for a role in
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers"....

I can't speak for the audio market... but I saw more vintage synths
in a store in Tokyo than in all the music stores I've been in in the
USA combined.

I saw an ad in the phone book, left my hotel (sans interpreter of guide) and
went in search
of it (map in the phone book).... after passing several times what I would
have considered
"alley" instead of street... I turned and walked down the tiny road... and
suddenly on my
left was a picture window with a Moog IIIc prominently displayed.

It was the guitars that really floored me... there was a Mosrite guitar /
octave guitar combo
(I know of only one made for some C&W performer... but maybe there were
more...) and at
the current exchange rates... it was listed for about $400,000 (usa)

can you say "woah' ???

OTOH... no one put a gun to anyone's head to buy the vintage audio gear.  I'm
not willing
to pay the kind of money they are... I also can't help thinking that the
market for that sort of
thing may one day go 'poof'

(perhaps along with a substantial number of cities around the world....
remember the
dinosaurs !!!)

Now everyone can say "what's Harry been taking"....

(same stuff as Eric, perhaps ???)

H^) harry

metasonix wrote:

> >> Ha hahahaha!  You smart boy!
> >Hmm, Eric, what have you been taking?
>
> It's a subtle joke, son. See, there are Asian dealers in
> vintage synths watching this list. They are not interested
> in supporting your DIY community, they are only interested in
> buying vintage gear cheap from stupid white persons!!
>
> (That means you and me! We are stupid white smelly pigs! Hahaha!)
>
> So they can resell it for big money in Tokyo or Hong Kong.
>
> "Hahahaha! We screw Caucasian!! Hahahaha!"
>
> I've dealt with some of those hi-fi dealers. The ones in Hong Kong
> are the worst. Most have offices in the notorious Prosperity Building in
> Mong Kok district. Others are in Sham Shui Po, the electronics flea
> market area. (Bill Gates once stood in front of that place
> and complained to reporters that it was the worst software piracy
> haven in the world. A friend bought a CDROM copy of Microsoft
> Visual C++ in there---for $4. He wrote about it in VTV, too.)
>
> Those audio dealers are famous for not paying bills and lying incessantly.
> One of them screwed Svetlana out of $2000 worth of audio tubes.
> I warned them not to deal with Mr. Liu, but they shipped to him anyway.
> No payment was ever received.
>
> You folks will be shocked to find out how much of that happens
> in the background. It started with vintage guitars and amps,
> went on to old tube hi-fi and Altec speakers, and is now
> drilling into old Moogs, ARPs and Buchlas. The dealers burn out
> one category of obsessive collectors, and go on to the next group.
>
> I hear that a 30-module vintage Moog, WITHOUT KEYBOARD,
> can sell for 4 million yen in Tokyo. That's about $40,000.
> And Buchlas are so scarce, the sky's the limit on pricing.
>
> "Must be vintage!! We hate Doepfer, not vintage! Quality inferior!"
>
> If Paul took his 200 series Buchla to Japan, he could
> maybe trade it for a new Lexus. But of course,
> this would not happen--the dealers would try to cheat him.
> He might get at best $5k for it, if he negotiates well.
> "Hahahahaha! You are not stupid!!! We hate you!!"
>
> Does that help?
>
> I swear I'm not making any of this up. VTV ran an article about
> some Hong Kong hifi dealers 7 years ago. They regard Americans
> generally as a bunch of stupid hicks. And they seem to be right,
> especially when it comes to old hifi or music equipment.
>
> And this is nothing, you should see the trade in Western Electric
> tube amps and theatre speakers...."we get 2.5 million yen for old
> junk tube amp! Hahahaha!"