Posted by fiddlepogo on Friday, February 20, 2015
...helped along by a slightly increased insurance premium from the slightly newer, and much larger vehicle.
And maybe I overbought a little on some music stuff... so it's been time to do the ritual poor musicians do everywhere and cull the herd... or herds (drums, fiddle and electric guitar have been big enough interests to have gone a bit overboard at times... heh), and head down to local pawn shops or music stores and see what I can sell. Stuff I don't use anymore.
First to go- spare drum hardware.... I thought if I was going to play out, it would be nice to have an extra set of hardware all folded down and ready to go.... moving a set of drums makes taking anything else to a gig or jam seem EASY (well, except maybe a Hammond B3, but I don't HAVE one of those!)... but realistically... at 62, am I going to start gigging with drums? Not really.... for me, it's really just a fun exercise machine that gets the blood circulating enough to the brain so that I can THEN actually THINK about driving, or practicing fiddle, or whatever. It's not leaving home.
But I didn't get much for the hardware. Ouch. But that's the way it is when you need to sell music gear quickly. If I could afford to do it slowly.... I could afford to KEEP it!
Then.... I have three fiddles..... one almost never gets played... "Stinky".
I changed out the chinrest and took the expensive Lisa E off it, put on a fairly nice Pirastro E, but not my favorite. Picked a bow to go with it, dug out it's little fiddle blanket I never used. One pawn shop offered me $25!!!! I HOPE I can get a little more than that! But Stinky has gotta go if I have to GIVE it away!
Amps. How did I get four electric guitar amps??? Well, the last one was only $50!!! How could I resist? Yeah, it's an old off-brand, but it's got a 10 inch speaker and closed back cab, not a practice amp like you'd expect to get for $50. My $110 off-brand lespauloid sounds GREAT through it! One's an old Japanese tube amp with radio tubes. It's probably worth all of $60 but has it's own funky charm and sound. But two are FENDER amps, and that means they are more saleable... nothing too fancy mind you, but two of their lower end tube offerings.... and I don't use them enough anymore, and I confirmed that a local dealer who isn't a Fender dealer might like to have some used Fender amps. So they need to go bye-bye!
Why is it so easy to BUY music gear, and so hard to part with it? The two Fender amps... well something inside wants to justify keeping them and say.... "the little one is my most portable amp, and the bigger one is my most portable decent sized amp for playing out." But I have foldable hand trucks now and a VAN. No more excuses!
I'm 62.... I need to pare things down!
4 comments on “Too much month left at the end of money...”
robinja Says:
Friday, February 20, 2015 @7:59:24 AM
I'll bet you could go out and busk with Stinky and make more than $25. Just a thought.
ChickenMan Says:
Friday, February 20, 2015 @2:35:57 PM
The Japanese tube amp likely is worth more that that. Tube amps have plenty of fans. The Fenders - all tube or just preamp? Makes a difference. You could try greg's list (that what my bass player friend mistakenly calls craig's list) and maybe get more for 'stinky'. I would NOT however, refer to it as "stinky" when talking to potential buyers though. :-D Or busk for even more cash.
Rene Says:
Saturday, February 21, 2015 @1:02:42 PM
Get rid of stinky??? Oh how could you, we here at FHO feel like he is part of the Hangout family :)
fiddlepogo Says:
Saturday, February 21, 2015 @10:52:49 PM
I finally realized that for me at 62, busking is WAY too much uncertainty and too much time for too little money. The best place to play is the Farmer's Market, but in some ways it's the most hostile. A lot of vendors are burnt out on buskers, and the manager has never been positive about it, and may have soured on it totally. Also, one time I thought I would take two fiddles to the Market.... one sure thing and Stinky as an experiment... well, I forgot to put the other one in the case, and Stinky wasn't sounding good that day, and I was busking near the manager's desk and I don't think she enjoyed it.
I also met some VERY strange people my last few times out busking, and I'm kind of burnt out on that... that's part of the uncertainty. And sometimes fiddle enthusiasts in the crowd are not a plus.... they want to talk to you when you should be playing, or worse, JAM with you and possibly lower the quality of the music... which drops the income.
Right now I'm leaning towards loaning Stinky to someone who wants to give fiddle a try.
The Fenders are all tube, but with a solid state rectifier.
Well, who knows.... if Stinky goes, it may eventually get replaced by an even MORE colorful character. Like maybe a German Trade fiddle. Also, my allergies are bad enough (they've kicked in early due to the warm weather) that Stinky could irritate them even more. You may not remember, but I had an Eastman VL100 that outstunk Stinky after I had already named Stinky! And one winter with allergy season approaching I decided it just had to go. Well, it's kind of the same thing with Stinky. People with allergies as bad as mine should stick to fiddles made of spruce and maple! And what's the use having a fiddle that you feel you can't play 5 or 6 months out of the year?
Selling stuff on Craigslist doesn't work for me. If something were as uncertain and possibly long term as that, I might change my mind! I get attached to stuff, and I have to fight hard against those attachments to sell the stuff. Something sudden and final just works.
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