[sdiy] Old Age and Synth-DIYers

[James Patchell]

At 01:38 AM 6/7/2004 -0700, nN AAt     e     e wrote:
>     a little over a month ago, i turned eighteen. so relative to me, some of
>the regulars on this list [while i wouldn't say too old], are getting to be
>[or are] for the most part, over the hill... admit it, you know you are :P

         I think it was about a week or so ago, I mentioned something about 
having a Geezer contest...to see who was the top Geezer...since I seem to 
have lost the Messiest Workroom contest....maybe I can win the Geezer 
competition....alright you young whipper snappers....I'm ready for ya'....


>     i was curious... have anyone here ever thought about what you would want
>your family to do with all of your synthesizers and equipment after you have
>passed away?

         As old as I am, I hope that is going to be a while now...actually 
several people I know probably hope so as well....


>     i know my older brother said that if anything had ever happened to him,
>he would want his more valuable comic books [full Marvel Secret Wars run and
>full set of figures, some Uncanny X-Men origin issues... all good
>condition], to go to his boss [who is also a good friend of his] at the
>comic book store he works at, and then sold or given to someone who would
>appreciate them like he did, not an overly serious collector that would lock
>everything up. the person should be a fan, not someone who just wants to
>trade and trade until he has the rarest item.
>
>     i think i probably feel the same way about my synthesizers and
>guitars... while i own far from highly valuable equipment, for some of my
>gear there is just too much sentimental value to let my family ever sell
>them to a collector. i am almost afraid that if something ever happened to
>me, my family would bring things of mine to a source i would find
>detestable, or just throw them away...
>     the same which has happened to many synthesizers, the same reason why
>people will occasionally find something such as an ARP2600 or minimoog in
>the garbage. my father does estate sales as part of his business, and pretty
>frequently the children of the deceased houseowner will tell him to throw
>away something that he quickly recognizes as valuable, and sometimes there
>will be property not in the will that is still highly valuable but never
>mentioned.

         Recognizing the Value of things is difficult....

         Just two years ago now, my Dad was getting ready to send this 
piano to the county dump:

http://www.oldcrows.net/~patchell/piano.html

         Although, at that time, it didn't look like that, it was just a 
collection of piano parts.  I thought it was far too good of a piano to 
toss, and it turns out, I was right.

         How other people perceive the value of something is 
unpredictable.  I suspect most of the stuff I have built will be only 
considered as junk by others, which makes me sad...but, nothing I can do 
about it.  Hopefully, I will be able to find somebody that can appreciate 
it when the time comes....

         Trouble is, I can remember when I was in my teens, and all of that 
cool old tube tech stuff that I scrapped because it seemed to be nothing 
but JUNK at the time....now I am sorry for every radio that is gone 
forever.  But, that is life.


>     would you feel safe leaving to you kids your homebuilt synthesizers,
>which almost like your kids in themselves! me and my father have very
>different interests, his are woodworking, while mine are synthworking, but i
>still appreciate and understand woodworking and its terms enough to carry on
>his bussiness after a few classes if he ever left it to me. on the other
>hand, i don't think anyone in my family would be able to tell you what any
>of my instruments are possibly worth. my own mother, the one who the credit
>card that ordered my Akai MPC-1000 belongs to, wouldn't be able to point it
>out in a lineup. i doubt even my uncle who is the over serious/bluegrass
>purist/instrument collector archetype would even bother with them, and he
>got upset over a lost battery compartment door for a twelve dollar tuner.
>
>     so i guess the real question is, how would you TRUST leaving the
>synthesizers you have built with? if you don't have family that would
>appreciate them as you do, would you have them sent to someone who could be
>considered a peer, such as one of the other seasoned members of the list
>that you trust? or even someone who could be considered an 'up and comer',
>someone who could actually use them to gain knowledge to follow in your [as
>well as many other designers] footsteps? or would you just have them be sold
>off to the highest bidder?
>
>but i really don't want anyone here to die.
>maybe certain types of people on AH and The Garage [i mean, who doesn't?],
>but definitely none here.
>
>- nate
>... and like everyone else, wouldn't mind a long lost distant uncle to leave
>him a large sum of money... and possibly an ARP2600 or Serge system for good
>measure.

         -Jim
***************************************************************
http://www.oldcrows.net/~patchell

***************************************************************