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Are old Keyboard Magazines worth anything?


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I was cleaning out one of my storage rooms today, and came across the entire first couple of years of Keyboard Magazine (Contemporary Keyboard, it was then), all issues, including Vol 1 #1 (1975) with Chick Corea on the cover.

 

Looks like I've got the entire set of 75, 76, 77, (no 78), 79, and 80.

 

Anybody know if these are worth anything? ;)

 

Wow, talk about nostalgia!

Stephen Kay - KARMA Developer: www.karma-lab.com

KARMA OASYS page: www.karma-lab.com/oasys

Disclaimer: all opinions are my own, and not those of Korg.

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Stephen,

 

I'm the informal "Keyboard Mag Librarian" for the forum, owning every single issue from 1975 to present. In terms of nostalgic value and availability, the early issues could be considered priceless. There just aren't that many of these around anymore and much of the content remains relevant to this day. Even if it is a bit outdated, it is really cool to read those old articles and see the vintage synth ads.

 

Back when I was building the earlier portion of my collection (I started subscribing in 1985 and bought them from the news stand for about a year prior to this), it was hard to find the 70's issues. I was lucky to find a couple of semi collections and then had to hunt for them one by one on eBay and other places. Until last year, there were still 3 or 4 issues that eluded me and I finally completed the collection!

 

The issues with mega heroes on the cover, like Emerson and Wakeman, could fetch some good money (maybe $35+ each) on eBay these days. Some others may be nearly impossible to sell because it is a niche magazine and the demand is not really that great (aside from folks on this forum that might want them).

 

I had a bunch of duplicate copies from the 80's and 90's that I tried to sell on eBay and it just was not worth the time and hassle for $3-4 per magazine. I ended up giving them away to a couple of folks on this forum and was happy to pass them on!

 

I plan to keep my collection forever and will continue subscribing forever as well. I frequently take in requests from forum members for old articles which I'll scan and email to them. I have helped out a lot of people this way (though my queue is currently backlogged due to bandwidth constraints and a slow scanner).

 

If you have the room for the mags, I would say just keep them and enjoy them!

 

Regards,

Eric

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Hi Eric,

 

Thanks for the response - too bad I didn't find these a few years ago when you needed them. ;)

 

Maybe I'll just put them in protective sleeves, and hang onto them for awhile - maybe in 20 years, they'll really be worth something. Some of the covers are pretty funny. And yes, there's Emerson on one, Wakeman on another - all the heavies, looking quite a bit younger (and thinner). ;)

Stephen Kay - KARMA Developer: www.karma-lab.com

KARMA OASYS page: www.karma-lab.com/oasys

Disclaimer: all opinions are my own, and not those of Korg.

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I have been a subscriber from the 2nd issue (after buying the first one with Chick on the cover), and I also don't know what to do with them all either. I used to have each issue in order, but now I have the last few years' combined with my Electronic Musician issues (I have been a subscriber of that mag since they were known as "Polyphony"). When I look back at all those years, I feel more vintage than the keyboards reviews!
PC3X, PC1se, NE2 61, DSI P08, ARP Odyssey MkII 2810, ARP Little Brother, Moog Slim Phatty, Doepfer Dark Energy, Arturia MiniBrute, Microkorg, Motion Sound KP200S,
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While we're on the note of keyboard mags, I used to suscribe to KB and EM when I was starting years ago, and now that I'm fully back in the keyboard world, I'm considering subscribing again. Does EM still cover plenty of keyboard/synth/piano material, and does Sound On Sound deliver to the US (aren't they based in England)?
A picture may paint a thousand words, but a melody can paint a thousand pictures.
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Originally posted by jimtheswede:

I have been a subscriber from the 2nd issue (after buying the first one with Chick on the cover), and I also don't know what to do with them all either. I used to have each issue in order, but now I have the last few years' combined with my Electronic Musician issues (I have been a subscriber of that mag since they were known as "Polyphony"). When I look back at all those years, I feel more vintage than the keyboards reviews!

Hey Old-Fart-Jim-the-Swede! :wave:

 

I'm right there witya. I hate throwing out good magazines that provide the kind of information that Polyphony had. I learned a lot from those mags.

 

I think that you would be surprised to find that many of us on the forums subscribed to Polyphony Magazine and built kits from PAiA Electronics. It was a great introduction to electronic theory and kit-building.

 

I finally got rid of my PC Magazines and, sadly, my collection of MIX Magazines. However, I couldn't toss my Keyboard or Electronic Musician mags. I hope to find a kid who would treasure them, like I did... and read them cover-to-cover.

 

But, I kinda doubt that's going to happen. :rolleyes:

"Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent." - Victor Hugo
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I have KB and EM back from the 70s and they are the only mags I kept around. However I quit renewing since 2001, there is nothing worth reading in the new issues and I have all the gear I need. Threw out PC mags and other stuff though, those aren't worth keeping around.

 

But back issues of KB/EM can be hard to sell. I've heard of AHers who tried to give their collections to libraries and colleges - nobody wanted them.

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I have really grown to love reading Sound On Sound as an eSub, no need to store any magazines, and I can reference anything at once from my laptop. I still have Keyboard going back about ten years, though....
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Does your house have a fire place?

 

We will be moving to a new home in six months or so and my wife and I are throwing away all kinds of shit. Any magazine older than one year gets tossed. Any book that has been read gets tossed.

 

I'm sure in 100 years those magazines will be worth something, I'm just not sure it's worth the effort to store them.

No guitarists were harmed during the making of this message.

 

In general, harmonic complexity is inversely proportional to the ratio between chording and non-chording instruments.

 

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Nowadays, I think I get more and better info. from EM - Keyboard seems to have degenerated to promoting the latest pop pinup artist of the month. But, I am an old fart now and tastes may have changed just a bit over 30 years, but I wish Keyboard would cover more indepth articles about some players that I care about - DeFransisco, Marcia Ball, Hornsby, Stevie Wonder, Fagan, etc., etc. There are also so many jazz & blues players out there that I would like to discover and find out more about. Sorry, but I am not the least bit interested in DJs and remixers. I think EM covers more technical subjects that I feel the need to skim thru at least. I feel that I learn something from reading EM, while reading Keyboard just gives me more gear lust!
PC3X, PC1se, NE2 61, DSI P08, ARP Odyssey MkII 2810, ARP Little Brother, Moog Slim Phatty, Doepfer Dark Energy, Arturia MiniBrute, Microkorg, Motion Sound KP200S,
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Originally posted by Stephen Kay:

I was cleaning out one of my storage rooms today, and came across the entire first couple of years of Keyboard Magazine (Contemporary Keyboard, it was then), all issues, including Vol 1 #1 (1975) with Chick Corea on the cover.

 

Looks like I've got the entire set of 75, 76, 77, (no 78), 79, and 80.

 

Anybody know if these are worth anything? ;)

 

Wow, talk about nostalgia!

Hi Stephen,

 

If you do decide to sell, PM me and we can negotiate a price. I'm on an endless quest to match eric's feat of a full set... :thu:

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  • 14 years later...

I buy and sell all sorts of "thrift store finds".

Magazines can be collectable but mostly are not valuable in a strictly monetary sense.

 

Condition is paramount for colletables.

 

Bottom line, if there are more buyers than sellers the price will increase.

 

The suggestion of offering them on ebay is good but take one important step first. Search SOLD items and see if any of these magazines have sold recently and what the selling prices were.

Also check Reverb.com for the same information.

 

If you find any information then you will know how to proceed. Good luck!!!!

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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As a longtime Porsche enthusiast I had saved every issue of Excellence magazine going back to 1982 when I was a 15 year old kid with dreams. I moved boxes and boxes of them each time we changed apartments. Then I got married and had an entire garage shelf dedicated to them.

 

I never looked at them. And then the Internet age happened and I could find so much more information online. One day my wife and I were talking and I said "It's time. They have to go." I ended up giving all of them away. Somebody else now has boxes and boxes of them.

 

I've never saved another magazine since then and I feel extremely unburdened by their removal.

 

And Happy Halloween to all of you!

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I got rid of mine long ago, but I kept all of the Genesis issues. The only one I'm missing, unfortunately, is July 1978 with Tony Banks on the cover.

Korg Kronos 61 (2); Kurzweil PC4, Roland Fantom-06, Casio PX-350M; 2015 Macbook Pro and 2012 Mac Mini (Logic Pro X and Mainstage), GigPerformer 4.

 

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I was very close to having all of the hard copies, but when the publisher stopped making them available anywhere but in music stores, the supply became unreliable. I did subscribe for a couple of years, but delivery was spotty. Nevertheless, I still have all but a few of the issues of the 40 someting year run. Unlike Mcgoo, I am considering ways to get rid of them in the next few years when I downsize. Seeing what people are asking and getting for them on EBay, maybe I won't just give them away. I wonder if I sold the nearly 500 issues at a lower than average price if I could sell the lot and make enough dough to buy some nice recording gear....I am probably dreaming and it would probably take forever to sell it all piece by piece.

 

I don't care about re-reading old gear reviews and 1980 tips about how to land playing jobs in piano lounges, etc, but there are still many good ideas and chunks of information to re-mine. It is always amazing that whenever I open an old issue, I can recall my state of mind from the first time I read that issue - sort of like an emotional time machine, if that makes any sense. I can't imagine how long it would take to scan even just the articles that are still relevant to me.

 

Now, what is it that the Buddhists have to say about letting go?

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Happy Halloween... beware of zombies!

I just watched the new "Zombieland" movie last night. A sequel 10 years after the original.

 

I was impressed by the gap between flicks, but this resurrection has it beaten by a mile.

 

FWIW, I enjoyed the film immensely, as did my wife and 19 year old son.

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I have a couple of hundred of the things, and built on them over the years after being inspired by Eric. That said I'm thinking also of selling them as it's a room issue :(
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Like Eric I too have every issue and would never part with them. I just love the articles and photos and the ads are great fun too.

I particularly like the Mellotron giveaway in the first issue.

 

I started subscribing in 1977 after picking up some issues at the local bookstore (my first was the Brian Auger issue, April 1977). Then I ordered all the back issues and had been a subscriber ever since (until the print version ceased publication).

 

It opened up a world for me with all these great artists and all these cool keyboards! At the time in 1977 I was turning 19 and using a Univox Compac electric piano and Korg Mini-Korg (branded Univox) in my band. Oh how I wanted a Freeman String Synth after reading the Brian Auger issue.Or ANY string synth at that time. But I did have a cool Yamaha D3 Electone organ in my bedroom at the time and my Baldwin Acrosonic in the living room. So i was a budding multi-keyboardist.

"The devil take the poets who dare to sing the pleasures of an artist's life." - Gottschalk

 

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Aethellis

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To me, the primary value of old issues is their excellent transcriptions by Jim Aiken and others, along with the how-to-play columns (B3, solo piano etc). I would love to see a KB compilation of transcriptions, barring that, some kind of KB transcription exchange between members here would be cool IMO. I have several already but have lost some also. Am I the only one?
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I have hundreds of old CDs, some of which are pretty rare, and I've found they're worth next to nothing. Lucky if I can get $3 a piece for them. I think that past editions of Keyboard Magazine would be worth even less, unless you find an unlikely collector that really needs them to fill out their collection.
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I was cleaning out one of my storage rooms today, and came across the entire first couple of years of Keyboard Magazine (Contemporary Keyboard, it was then), all issues, including Vol 1 #1 (1975) with Chick Corea on the cover.

Looks like I've got the entire set of 75, 76, 77, (no 78), 79, and 80.

Anybody know if these are worth anything? ;)

Wow, talk about nostalgia!

Nope. Zero. It's all about rarity. These were published by the multi hundred thousands.

So Zero.

 

To give you some perspective, the archives of the ARRL Ham Radio Magazine, QST, are orders of magnitude more valuable than Keyboard, and they are worth zero as well.

 

So Zero times Zero is Zero.

 

J a z z  P i a n o 8 8

--

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