Thrift Store finds

[sbsugar]

I don't know about y'all, but every chance I get, I stop in and browse the vinyl racks in thrift shops. I was wondering, what is y'alls greatest find? In terms of A&M-related, mine are a brown-label vinyl copy of The Lonely Bull and a Deutches Gramaphone pressing of "For Animals Only" by BMB. Only 10 cents each, and the BMB record is in great condition, I don't think it's been played.

Un-A&M related, my luckiest find was a rare Canadian pressing of "Beggar's Banquet" by the Stones. I bought it for $2 (Canadian) and sold it for $150 (American) on ebay. Pretty cool.

 

[Rudy]

I admit that thrift shop buying hasn't been on my list of things I've tried yet, but I've heard of a lot of bargains in electronics too. With vinyl, a lot of it is completely trashed, but regulars who do this sort of thing find some incredible bargains.

One potential eBay moneymaker: if you ever come across any of those "CBS Mastersound" half-speed mastered LPs from the late 70's or early 80's, collectors pay a lot for those. (That was CBS's attempt to be like Mobile Fidelity...except they screwed it up royally.) Sonically they are awful (they engineered them incorrectly), but prices on eBay are $30 and up. I have a handful I've owned for years, and am getting ready to unload them.

 

[LPJim]

Thrift shop and flea market cruising have added more finds to my collection than I can name. It takes a little patience, sitting on floors and sifting through boxes of LPs/CDs, but the rewards can be enormous. People are careless about what they get rid of -- and are getting more cavalier about it everyday. Therein lies opportunity.
One neighborhood haunt has several boxes of dollar or two-dollar items on the floor. I try to dig through it as often as possible.
To "save up" for the occasion, I drink water with lunch. For the price of a medium drink, I can buy a used disc or two.
The pleasure lasts much longer.
JB

 

[Rudy]

One really good thing to look for is vintage audio gear. To the general public, a lot of that tubed equipment is just "old junk". But if it's an old Marantz, HH Scott, Dynaco, etc., those things, if they're in working order, sound excellent and can be worth a few bucks, especially if they're clean and functional. I've heard of a few people finding Large Advent loudspeakers for $25/pair or less at thrift shops (or even garage sales). These speakers were all the rage when they were new, so they are plentiful...and IMHO, sound better than any of the crap that the Best Buy and Circuit City sell these days. There are plenty of thrifts around the area here, including a couple in more "upscale" areas where there may be some tasty bargains to be found.

One REALLY good steal I read about is mind boggling. One thrift shop (may have been a Salivation Army store) had a couple pairs of Magneplanar speakers. These, even back in the 80's, were a few thousand bucks for a pair. They were either very tall single panel speakers about 6 feet high, or were also sold as three-section panels, cloth-covered. I guess they thought they were room dividers or something...the lucky buyer got them for $40/pair!!

 

[Harry]

Though I don't frequent thrift shops, I did, on one occasion, at a local fireman's carnival thrift shop, find a motherload of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass LPs, all in near-mint condition and all just 99 cents each. This was just before the CDs were issued, so it must've been in '87 or so. My old LPs were getting pretty ragged, and these nice clean 'new' ones were just the ticket. They also served well in the transfer to CD-R.

Harry
NP: radio at work

 

[Brasil_Nut]

I'm with LPJim on the Flea Market thing. Our new home is mere blocks from one of the largest Flea Markets in California and we frequent it often. Like Jim says, it takes a great deal of patience, sifting through hundreds of dusty CDs and albums, but the bargains are there. You just have to look for them.

Although not a thrift-shop find, I did locate a mint copy of the Brasil '86 CD in a Rasputin used record store for a mere $15 to $20 (can't recall which). That same week, a copy sold on eBay for close to $300!!

A local Goodwill store provided my most valuable find: a mint first-pressing copy of Walt Disney's Fantasia, booklet and all. I bought it for a mere two dollars. I've seen them sell of eBay for well into the hundreds.

Yeah, Jim has a point. If you're patient and willing to take time to look through everything, you can come up with some sensational bargains.

Jon

...thrifty and loving it, online...

 

[Rudy]

If anyone comes across a reasonably priced copy of Brasil '86 on CD, let me know. I know someone from the Yellowjackets forum who has been looking for one for awhile now. I've been keeping my eyes open...anywhere except eBay of course!

 

[DAN BOLTON]

One really good thing to look for is vintage audio gear. To the general public, a lot of that tubed equipment is just "old junk". But if it's an old Marantz, HH Scott, Dynaco, etc., those things, if they're in working order, sound excellent and can be worth a few bucks, especially if they're clean and functional. I've heard of a few people finding Large Advent loudspeakers for $25/pair or less at thrift shops (or even garage sales). These speakers were all the rage when they were new, so they are plentiful...and IMHO, sound better than any of the crap that the Best Buy and Circuit City sell these days. There are plenty of thrifts around the area here, including a couple in more "upscale" areas where there may be some tasty bargains to be found.

One REALLY good steal I read about is mind boggling. One thrift shop (may have been a Salivation Army store) had a couple pairs of Magneplanar speakers. These, even back in the 80's, were a few thousand bucks for a pair. They were either very tall single panel speakers about 6 feet high, or were also sold as three-section panels, cloth-covered. I guess they thought they were room dividers or something...the lucky buyer got them for $40/pair!!

A find like that would really make me "salivate"...was that a Freudian slip? Those were voice coil speakers or something like that, weren't they...I remember reading about them when they came out and I think they were about 3500 bucks a pair...


Dan

 

[Rudy]

Magneplanars are flat speakers...instead of having voice coils and cones, they use the signal to vibrate a plastic (mylar?) membrane, embedded with fine wire, between a pair of magnetic fields. Because they are not enclosed and radiate both front and back, they can have a very natural, uncolored sound to them. Similar to electrostatic speakers, in fact. Their website better describes the hows and whys:

http://www.magneplanar.com

My favorite speaker is actually an electrostatic made by Martin-Logan. Unfortunately I'd need to upgrade my equipment to get the most out of them....but the amount of detail you can hear in recordings is breathtaking. Electrostatics have two electrically charged grids (in excess of 10,000 volts), between which is suspended a very thin sheet of mylar that has something like conductive (like graphite) embedded in it. Because it is so lightweight (far lighter than any type of cone or dome tweeter), it can respond a lot faster to musical signals. The model I wanted way back in 1988 was the CLS-II...even then it was in the $3,000 range.

 

[Murray]

One really good thing to look for is vintage audio gear.

My greatest thrift store find was a mid-70s vintage Pioneer receiver, with hardwood cabinet. It puts out so much heat that I could probably toast marshmallows over it, but the sound is amazing. So much clearer than modern amps. I paid $25 for it. I also got a Pioneer direct drive turntable of the same vintage, with Grado cartridge for $5, and a high-end Technics quartz-lock, direct drive turntable for $18.

The most I've ever paid for a thrift store item was $50 for an all-metal, manual Canon SLR camera, in absolutely mint condition. I couldn't believe that someone would actually give this beauty away to charity! Of course, most people nowadays want plastic, battery hogging, idiot-proof digital cameras, and wouldn't know what to do with one of these.

Thrift stores are my favorite places to find old, but often superior stuff!

Murray
...who's house looks like an obsolete technology museum, online...

 

[Rudy]

I should check for some Canon FD-mount lenses...I have Dad's Canon AE1-Program, which works great. Looked at new cameras--incredible!

 

[DAN BOLTON]

I go to the local Goodwill store a lot...and I've picked up a few bargains there...like Tommy Hilfiger shirts for a buck, Eddie Bauer jeans for 2.50...everything looks good and wears good, and I can dress like a million for a little of nothing. They rarely have stereo equipment there, and I'd be wary of record albums and 8-tracks, but you can find them there...TJB sometimes...but you have to look a lot to find anything good...


Dan

 

[LPJim]

I guess the most recent thrilling thrift shop find was the CD of DESERT MOON by Dennis DeYoung. This was when copies on Ebay were going throught the roof -- near $100 anyway.
One day it turned up in the 95-cent box. Everything in perfect condition.
The hardest part was suppressing my joy after paying for it and waiting for the receipt. Surely this had to be a mistake, I thought. Total of $1.07, tax and all.
Only after I was back, safe in the car with the windows rolled up, could I slap myself on the back and yell, "Whooo, I'm 'da man!!!"
JB

 

[Rudy]

DeYoung's CD is still in demand, and still sits in A&M's vaults. I guess I was one of the few that bought it on CD when it was originally released.

 

[Brasil_Nut]

The Fantasia Lp was one in a million. It has a trademark of 1953, which makes it the first edition to be recorded in the long-playing format. The cardboard cover, booklet and vinyl are in absolute pristine condition. I took it to the Disneyana Convention in Anaheim shortly after I found it. "This thing is worth at least $300 to $500 in this condition," an expert on Disney Lps told me. "Where did you get your hands on this?" When I told him it was a Goodwill Store, he just about fell off his chair. "And how much did you pay for it?" he asked in disbelief. "Two dollars," and the guy turned white. "Lock this away somewhere!" he laughed, "you got yourself a hell of a bargain!!"

You know, I'm rather proud of it. In reality, it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

As for Thrift Store Clothing, I'm not really into that, but it did save my rear end once. A friend in college announced that he was flying to Vegas to elope, and he wanted me to be his best man. No problem, except I'd just moved to San Juan (my first base with Eastern Air Lines), and didn't anything other than shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops. We were in Miami at the time and I was dressed accordingly. "No problem!" my friend announced, "come on..." Off we went to Good Will. Sure enough, I was able to locate an Yves St Laurent suit that fit like a glove...for a mere six dollars! For another couple of bucks, I picked up a tie, shirt and sox. I wore my flying shoes with the suit and looked like a million bucks!

Just goes to show that, in a pinch, Thrift Stores can be wonderful things, and really quite helpful.

Jon

...who had not thought about that rushed wedding ceremony since reading this thread, online...