[sdiy] Old Age and Synth-DIYers

[Scott Gravenhorst]

Hmm.  Well, when I die, I don't believe I will care what happens to any of my
earthly "stuff".  I imagine my son will get it all and probably sell the
guitars (he's not musical, at least not yet) and junk (maybe sell) the
FatMen.  Too much will have fallen into disrepair to fix, and may be too
expensive due to unobtainium by then to repair.

It's not a really happy thought...

"nN AAt     e     e" <timexheater at comcast.net> 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 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?
>
>    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.
>
>    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.
>
>

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-- Scott Gravenhorst | LegoManiac / Lego Trains / RIS 1.5
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