[sdiy] Old Age and Synth-DIYers

Mon Jun 7 09:15:01 CEST 2004

Guess I earn a gold star...if you look at the picture, the three signetics 
linear books are right behind a small stack of paper backs (which happen to 
be DUNE, DUNE MESSIAH, and CHILDREN of DUNE), on the third shelf from the 
top in the center....

It will take more than a Richter 3.7....we just had a 4.6 here in the last 
month, and so far, so good....

At 11:53 PM 6/6/2004 -0700, phillip m gallo wrote:
>Jim,
>
>As a fellow old geezer, i can defend some of the more subtle implications of
>your work area.  What may be lost on some is the "potention mess" you've
>very compactly included:
>
>Example #1:
>Looks like a Richter 3.7 potential on the top of the book shelves, not books
>but front-panelled equipment, ideal for a big ticket ah sh..t.  The nice
>touch is that they seemed aimed at the chair in front of the bench. Big
>League stuff like this is lost on those with more stable ground.
>
>Also the Dog-eared National Linear next to the old PMI data book certainly
>should earn you a silver star in the old geezers club, gold star if there's
>a Signetics Linear book on those shelves somewhere.
>
>regards,
>p
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>[mailto:owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl]On Behalf Of James Patchell
>Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2004 11:22 PM
>To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>Subject: Re: [sdiy] Old Age and Synth-DIYers
>
>
>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
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>
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         -Jim
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