The DJ Groove - Pawn Shops a Steal? You Bet! 2 meanings

Little message board blurb I found about Pawn Shops on the Bottom Line website. A little inside scoop about getting music equipment or anything at Pawn Shops....

Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 09:35:07 -0500
From: "JP"
Subject: pawn this/but why bother?

Re Pawn shops:
Here in my little city state of Chicago (pop: 10m+) the only "deals" at pawn shops happen like this here: A guy that has a deal with one of the shops gets first crack at anything that comes in, including all hot stuff (as in stolen). This person "helps" the owner by telling him what the piece is worth on the street, and hooking him oup with various "alternative" ways to ditch a piece..someone he knows is looking for it, or one of the various dealers he knows can move it sideways. You, MR CONSUMER, will never see this piece "on display". This is the norm for doing biz in cities these days. And despite the effort to clean up the image of shops..there be a lot of stolen stuff that goes through these places. You think it's going to be displayed so you can have a lucky find? Might as well cut out the middle man and pay a crack head to steal something for you. Much cheaper.

There are also the semi legit chain store pawn shops hooked into networks who use the Orion blue book for values. The book is usually hideously off. I was having a little chat with a friend who works at a store yesterday re the value of a 40's L-4 someone had for sale. The Orion book lists 12-15K. Walk into a store unsuspecting of the value, or try to pawn it and you'd be lucky to see $500. You might be able to find something good, but there are too many guitar pimps who make their living hustling.

But with the big manufacturers remaking all the crappy things they couldn't give away 15 years ago, why bother going to a pawn shop? want an ebo in gold sparkle? Guitar Center..Epiphone.."cheap" too. This of course has nothing to do with tone or sound or innovation or craftsmanship, merely with musical instruments as a commodity. It's been said time and again here, and it's true, especially in regards to bass guitars, the newer things from people who have dedicated their lives to the art and science of luthiery are the best instruments ever. If you know where to look, and have the ears to hear it when you get there, you'll also find these instruments are great deals compared to the over inflated prices for 70's vintage crap.

I am starting to really feel sorry for the younger guys on this list who think that $1000 for a 78 p bass is a real find, and that these things sound great..when for a little bit more they could be playing a real bass that blows away a piece of shit like that. Sometimes the older folks (and I include myself in this, as my rantings on danos were in this cat, though I have changed my tune) perpetuate this nonsense.

I know the great attraction to stuff that you couldn't have when you was14 will always be there, but before you offer an opinion of how great these things are, and go building the great mystique wall of voodoo around them, please consider our "younger, more sensitive viewers", who may take what you say about a piece of garbage at face value. jp