american pickers

[pucho812]

on a recent episode I caught, they went to a place where the owner had a museum dedicated to old telephone and the subsequent related equipment. There were all kinds of switch boards and you name it.

The kicker was when one of the guys purchased a fairly o.k. condition western electric bird cage ribbon mic for 50.00 dollars.

 

[MartyMart]

AARRRRGGHHHH !!!!!!!

Why is it those things NEVER happen to me ???

.... I must have been REALLY bad in a former life !! ..... perhaps I was "Atilla the hun"

 

[Kingston]

AARRRRGGHHHH !!!!!!!

Why is it those things NEVER happen to me ???

.... I must have been REALLY bad in a former life !! ..... perhaps I was "Atilla the hun"

Nothing is about luck. You have the wack the weeds and dive dumpsters far more to increase your chances statistically. For example, I landed on 9 outdated ATX PSU's just the other week going in the bin. For one hour of dismantling I got 18 big heat sinks etc. IEC connectors. That's several years DIY supply worth at least €50-100.

 

[sahib]

I mentioned this before but I have a terrible habit of what we call here "midgy raking". I can't help glancing at every skip I pass by or ramaging through the domestic appliances bit in our local civic amenity (AKA the dump). Like Kingston I have my rewards.

But I must admit the guy who got that ribbon for 50 bucks must have been such a jammy bastard.

 

[tv]

AARRRRGGHHHH !!!!!!!

Why is it those things NEVER happen to me ???

.... I must have been REALLY bad in a former life !! ..... perhaps I was "Atilla the hun"

Nothing is about luck. You have the wack the weeds and dive dumpsters far more to increase your chances statistically. For example, I landed on 9 outdated ATX PSU's just the other week going in the bin. For one hour of dismantling I got 18 big heat sinks etc. IEC connectors. That's several years DIY supply worth at least €50-100.

Dumpster dive, yeah.. atx's and old crt's, the ultimate source of inspiration!

But can you imagine Marty shakin' it onstage with some homebrew dumpster-dived mojo-boxes ...

 

[MartyMart]

AARRRRGGHHHH !!!!!!!

Why is it those things NEVER happen to me ???

.... I must have been REALLY bad in a former life !! ..... perhaps I was "Atilla the hun"

Nothing is about luck. You have the wack the weeds and dive dumpsters far more to increase your chances statistically. For example, I landed on 9 outdated ATX PSU's just the other week going in the bin. For one hour of dismantling I got 18 big heat sinks etc. IEC connectors. That's several years DIY supply worth at least €50-100.

Dumpster dive, yeah.. atx's and old crt's, the ultimate source of inspiration!

But can you imagine Marty shakin' it onstage with some homebrew dumpster-dived mojo-boxes ...

The only thing that shakes on stage are my keyboard stands from me jumpin around !!

;D

 

[MartyMart]

You should have been "dumpster diving" when I moved out of London to come to Berlin.

I threw away so much stuff, I couldn't even give it away, local schools need to PAT test everything with a mains plug.

Shortened list so I don't get too depressed :

Yamaha DX7 MKII - needed new PSU and general fix up.
Peavey DPM-3 synth - was also dead / PSU  ( both flightcased too )
Enough Behringer, Zoom, Peavey, ART etc rack gear to build a complete studio !! ( some not working but most OK )
Mac G4 tower - working, went to a mate.

.... list goes on, just couldn't bring all that sh*t with me.... however, having a "Life Laundry" is very good for the soul

Well, it would have cost 3 x what it was worth to ship over, volume was a factor and we were really pushing it !!

MM.

 

[dmp]

A lot of these 'reality' shows have some amount of staging, to make them interesting.
So it could be fake - makes me feel better to think so

 

[okgb]

It's true you have to dig allot of dirt to get gold , definitely a numbers game
But what's your time worth ?  at some point spending an hour to drive across town
to save 20.00 ain't worth it ,  and in the case of the hard to obtain,  sometimes easier
to just pay the guy who did find it  [ not for the 100k les paul or Fairchild  .......... ]
The local Kijiji always has people  " willing " to haul away your unwanted tube amps
and microphones , Free !

 

[pucho812]

A lot of these 'reality' shows have some amount of staging, to make them interesting.
So it could be fake - makes me feel better to think so

I know. a lot of it is staged. But still the bird cage mic was in decent shape and it was cool to see all the old telephone equipment.

 

[okgb]

I wonder how many buttons they try to push when put those shows together ?
the one that gets me is where they buyers are complaining when the price is " too high "
and there's no profit in it for them  , but they're always expecting to double their money
in the end .

 

[mrphotodude]

-always been on the search with the old guy that has a barn with random stuff in it....
i happend to come across lots of old tube gear in norcal at garage sales and one day....the former head of RCA tubes who sold me a whole ton of stuff dirt cheap.
location has alot to do with it...some areas have all kinds of goodies you can dumpster dive for or find at electronic surplus/recycling places