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Buying a broken vintage synth just to get a good deal


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With vintage synth prices through the roof, and out of most peoples budgets. I have seen, broken or non function synths on eBay, and people bidding on them like crazy, just so they can get a deal on a synth, without spending too much money.

 

I have learned, that doing this, is not really saving money, unless you do the repairs yourself. After paying for the instrument plus shipping, and the cost of repairing, is this really the best way to buy a vintage synth?

 

By the way, I had paid $250 for an ARP Omni then paid another $250.00 to have it repaired, only to turn around and sell it for $25.00. I lost money on that one. Buying a broken or non functioning synth is not a good Idea.

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Most likely, they are buying them for parts. Some might have chips or other parts that are no longer available.

Dan

 

Acoustic/Electric stringed instruments ranging from 4 to 230 strings, hammered, picked, fingered, slapped, and plucked. Analog and Digital Electronic instruments, reeds, and throat/mouth.

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I don't recommend buying fixer-uppers unless you know what you are doing.

 

Expect cost of repairs to exceed the purchase price.

 

If you can't afford cost of repairs, do not attempt DIY repairs unless you are experienced. Especially analog polysynths, this is no place for a novice.

 

"As is" is exactly that - most likely malfunctioning, no returns.

 

The auction/classified websites are littered with broken gear. Sellers often don't disclose the malfunction. Some gear bounce from buyer to buyer because they didn't want to put up the cost of repair.

 

Required reading: Want to own vintage synths?

 

The vintage synth market is crazy - I have seen too many malfunctioning synths listed for the value of a working one!

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Also beware of sellers claiming "fully restored" without listing pictures of the insides. I have seen "fully restored" synths with the original defective components (like original capacitors/trimpots) still intact!

 

"Fully serviced" seems to be abused too.

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I've successfully sold a number of "dead" keyboards to buyers who tell me they'll be able to repair them and have a working model. Good luck to them - I don't want an non-operating keyboard, they get a bargain, I get a few beer tokens.

 

Cheers, Mike.

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Believe me, i would not do my own repairs, because I dont know what I am doing?

 

Same - I would LOVE to develop the skills to be able to do stuff like this, but don't have the 2 years of time to pick up the skills :(

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As a trained electronics engineer I would not want to have synth repair as my source of income - inevitably there are no accurate diagrams and many of these things were handbuilt.

They invariably look like a rats nest inside and the truth is that if you find the part that needs to be replaced - often power supplies - something else blows that was on the way out.

I DID manage to buy a box of bits a fews years back for ARP synths and there was enough to repair a broken ProSoloist I had, plus sell the remaining spares.

I didn't do the repair myself and it took the guy A YEAR to get round to getting it done - a small profit was made but that must be unusual.

Yamaha CP70B;Roland XP30/AXSynth/Fantom/FA76/XR;Hammond XK3C SK2; Korg Kronos 73;ProSoloist Rack+; ARP ProSoloist; Mellotron M4000D; GEM Promega2; Hohner Pianet N, Roland V-Grand,Voyager XL, RMI
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As a trained electronics engineer I would not want to have synth repair as my source of income - inevitably there are no accurate diagrams and many of these things were handbuilt.

They invariably look like a rats nest inside

 

Yes indeed!

 

385641510_e87db22d4a.jpg

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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As a trained electronics engineer I would not want to have synth repair as my source of income - inevitably there are no accurate diagrams and many of these things were handbuilt.

They invariably look like a rats nest inside

 

Yes indeed!

 

385641510_e87db22d4a.jpg

 

 

That is EXACTLY why, I would not repair a broken synth.

 

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As a trained electronics engineer I would not want to have synth repair as my source of income - inevitably there are no accurate diagrams and many of these things were handbuilt.

They invariably look like a rats nest inside

 

Yes indeed!

 

385641510_e87db22d4a.jpg

 

And that is a TIDY one!

Yamaha CP70B;Roland XP30/AXSynth/Fantom/FA76/XR;Hammond XK3C SK2; Korg Kronos 73;ProSoloist Rack+; ARP ProSoloist; Mellotron M4000D; GEM Promega2; Hohner Pianet N, Roland V-Grand,Voyager XL, RMI
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As someone that has inherited a ton of bad Leslie speakers let me tell you taking vintage gear on is a huge money loosing business. Every console or speaker always needs some amount of work. True they were over engineered but years of neglect and misuse adds up quickly.

"Danny, ci manchi a tutti. La E-Street Band non e' la stessa senza di te. Riposa in pace, fratello"

 

 

noblevibes.com

 

 

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On Craig's List musical instrument lists, the flashing yellow light is the word "Project."

 

A perennial on the Pittsburgh CL:

 

[font:Times New Roman]Vintage Farfisa VIP 400 organ project - $600[/font]

NON Working Farfisa VIP 400 Organ lights but no sound

missing swell pedal and legs

will trade for Gibson Or Fender or other USA or vintage guitar or $600

-Tom Williams

{First Name} {at} AirNetworking {dot} com

PC4-7, PX-5S, AX-Edge, PC361

 

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It's a bit like classic car restoration - the parts may be the small part but the countless hours spent firkling are what causes them to not be financially sensible projects
Yamaha CP70B;Roland XP30/AXSynth/Fantom/FA76/XR;Hammond XK3C SK2; Korg Kronos 73;ProSoloist Rack+; ARP ProSoloist; Mellotron M4000D; GEM Promega2; Hohner Pianet N, Roland V-Grand,Voyager XL, RMI
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Recently I bought a dysfunctioning Poly 800 for 100 bucks. Thorough cleaning and soldering in a new battery brought it back to live. Now it's as good as new. I had forgotten how good this cheapo piece of an eighties analog synth can sound.

LIFE IS SHORT, GO GET THE GEAR YOU WANT ;-)

 

 

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Recently I bought a dysfunctioning Poly 800 for 100 bucks. Thorough cleaning and soldering in a new battery brought it back to live. Now it's as good as new. I had forgotten how good this cheapo piece of an eighties analog synth can sound.

 

Oh my. I couldn't get rid of mine fast enough back in the 80's.

 

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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Recently I bought a dysfunctioning Poly 800 for 100 bucks. Thorough cleaning and soldering in a new battery brought it back to live. Now it's as good as new. I had forgotten how good this cheapo piece of an eighties analog synth can sound.

 

Once I a won an ebay auction for a Oberheim XK masterkeyboard ...

It was 39 bucks plus shipping.

The previous owner sold as "defect",- so there were not many bidders.

1st we found out he already socketed all the chips which was great.

Cleaning levers, slider and the other was easy as pie, re-seating aftertouch strip too.

After performing the reset/calibration procedure, which was just only a few button presses, it worked perfect.

Then I decided for replacing all the tact switches which, with help of the web, were easy to find and cheap too and now I´ve found a much better PSU which fit´s inside the enclosure ... wow.

A friend (service tech) did all the soldering jobs,- I paid for and that was o.k..

This thing is now better than new and is a perfect keyboard for the Oberheim Xpander which,- since the XK has 3 zones,- I can layer w/ software emulations like OP-X Pro II and freeware DiscoDSP Obx-d.

 

Just an example for it´s not urgently a nitemare buying occasions and invest some time and money.

I´m often happy with it.

 

Restoring a Yammi CS80 is for sure a different story !

 

A.C.

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