Gear Quests!

[The Scarecrow]

Somewhat inspired by the dredge on Optical's Mesa Mark III thread (and the documented trip to bring home from Japan), was thinking about the biggest quest I had to bring something home/get a piece of gear.

Living in the USA in 2008 and was planning a trip home. Stopped by a Guitar Centre in Pasadena a few days before the flight to grab some strings for the acoustic I was playing where I lived and ended up trying a few guitars, walked out with an '07 Explorer after spending 2 hours doing A/B runs between a few few. Hadn't intended to buy a guitar but YOLO as the kids say. Figured I'd try my luck getting it back to NZ as they'd packaged it in massive Gibson box I could repurpose.

Took it to check at the Air NZ terminal and got a few dicey looks from the attending staff initially, but started chatting to very helpful Polynesian girl, who turned out to be from Rarotonga near where my mum's family hails from and lived a few villages away and realising we had a distant relative by marriage. Helped immensely to get the "cuzzie assist" as she told me she'd chat to the freight guys about getting it stowed safely. I'd boxed the hell out of it but still fretted immensely on the 8 hour flight home until I landed back at Aucks International the following day.

Waited by the baggage area to wait for my guitar... only to be told it had been misplaced in the terminal and not put on my flight however, my 'cuz' at the LAX terminal had discovered this after I'd boarded and taken off, and had arranged for it be brought through by a member of crew on the next flight which had left a few hours later. Got told it would be a few hours behind me and I opted to wait for it at the airport (much to the chagrin of my brother who was picking me up), but it arrived about two hours after I did and was cleared through customs within 20 mins. When I think of all the people who's luggage gets lost annually, I think I did okay to only have to wait a few hours!

Locally, my lengthiest quest in terms of distance was driving Auckland > Taupo to pick up a 5150 block letter head I snagged on a $1 reserve for around $500 to use for a gig the same day, but I was in my 20's at the time, so fueled by Red Bulls, Big Ben pies and Dunhill Blues on that 7 hour round trip

[Reg18]

One of my favourite purchases was my 2550 Marshall head.
I was in Nelson for New years eve around 2003, popped into Cash Converters and they had a Marshall 2550 head and JCM800 4x12 for $1000, offered them $900 for the head and cab, then had to figure out how to fit it in the boot of my 1986 Honda Accord with me and my 2 other mates and get back to chch. It was a tight fit but ultimately worth the hassle!

[The Scarecrow]

One of my favourite purchases was my 2550 Marshall head.
I was in Nelson for New years eve around 2003, popped into Cash Converters and they had a Marshall 2550 head and JCM800 4x12 for $1000, offered them $900 for the head and cab, then had to figure out how to fit it in the boot of my 1986 Honda Accord with me and my 2 other mates and get back to chch. It was a tight fit but ultimately worth the hassle!

Cashies scores in the early 00's, before the TM boom were rather epic.

My best to date was an Ibanez lawsuit Thinline Tele and a Peavey Classic 30 combo for $800 from CC in Panmure around then.

I remember the days of picking up a stack for under 1k - remember getting a JCM900 50w & Crate 4x12 from a Trade & Exchange listing for $800 around '04.

[Capt. Black]

Same here. Spotted a JCM800 and 1960A cab at cashies in Henderson back in the mid 2000s. About $800 from memory.
Good Score.

Most distant one was an overnight road trip to wellington to pick up the vintage Soundtracs desk that became the centrepiece of the recording setup in the Manor.

[Mr Bungle]

I've just had one fall over. Jan '65 Jazzmaster. and for a great price. Had the seller in Utah convinced to ship to Montana, to a client of mine who lives 2 months of the year in lower SI NZ. He's a guitar guy and has worked in timber CNC's supplying gear and setting up factories for Taylor and Gibson. Personal friend of Bob Taylor's. So he was happy to carry it over the border for me. After a few months negotiating seller backed out. He was a good guy, just overly cautious about shipping even to Montana from Utah. Dream guitar gooooooooooone...

[vintage52]

Back in the 90's saw a 1975 Strat - three colour sunburst, maple neck, 3 way switch - listed in Trade and Exchange - dude lived in Woodville.

Was selling for $650.00

Rang him and told him I'd take it but would not be up that way for a month.
He says that's fine see you then.

Rang him weekly just to stay in touch.....he'd had plenty of higher offers etc etc but he told people he'd sold it and buyer coming soon.

On pick up, he says if I was ever to sell it, would I offer it to him first?
Told him to keep it - no dramas but he said a deal's a deal so I give him $650 and walk away with the Strat.

[robthemac]

I've just had one fall over. Jan '65 Jazzmaster. and for a great price.

I'm sorry for your loss.

[Mr Bungle]

I've just had one fall over. Jan '65 Jazzmaster. and for a great price.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I've been pretty philosophical about it. No point getting too down about it. Already eyeing up adding 3 guitars to fill the void.

[The Scarecrow]

Back in the 90's saw a 1975 Strat - three colour sunburst, maple neck, 3 way switch - listed in Trade and Exchange - dude lived in Woodville.

Was selling for $650.00

Rang him and told him I'd take it but would not be up that way for a month.
He says that's fine see you then.

Rang him weekly just to stay in touch.....he'd had plenty of higher offers etc etc but he told people he'd sold it and buyer coming soon.

On pick up, he says if I was ever to sell it, would I offer it to him first?
Told him to keep it - no dramas but he said a deals a deal so I give him $650 and walk away with the Strat.

My first really decent guitar was a '79 strat with same specs that I bought off my music teacher in '96 for $600 in 6th form/age 17. His dad bought it new in '79 in the US and later gave it to my music teacher in the early 90's when he was a teenager. He left to do his OE in his early 20's and offered it to me for a low price on the basis I kept playing and gigged with it.

That was a lot of money to fork over for a teenager on a $50 weekly supermarket job and I had to hide it/lie about the price to my mum for a long time so she didn't confiscate my ATM card

Sold it in early 2000 to fund my own OE, got $1500 from memory, saw it crop up on TM around 2012ish for 5k

[Reg18]

One of my favourite purchases was my 2550 Marshall head.
I was in Nelson for New years eve around 2003, popped into Cash Converters and they had a Marshall 2550 head and JCM800 4x12 for $1000, offered them $900 for the head and cab, then had to figure out how to fit it in the boot of my 1986 Honda Accord with me and my 2 other mates and get back to chch. It was a tight fit but ultimately worth the hassle!

Cashies scores in the early 00's, before the TM boom were rather epic.

My best to date was an Ibanez lawsuit Thinline Tele and a Peavey Classic 30 combo for $800 from CC in Panmure around then.

I remember the days of picking up a stack for under 1k - remember getting a JCM900 50w & Crate 4x12 from a Trade & Exchange listing for $800 around '04.

I’m still holding out hope for all this talk about big tube amps being obsolete and worthless shortly! Current prices don’t seem to match the online predictions chatter though!

[The Scarecrow]

One of my favourite purchases was my 2550 Marshall head.
I was in Nelson for New years eve around 2003, popped into Cash Converters and they had a Marshall 2550 head and JCM800 4x12 for $1000, offered them $900 for the head and cab, then had to figure out how to fit it in the boot of my 1986 Honda Accord with me and my 2 other mates and get back to chch. It was a tight fit but ultimately worth the hassle!

Cashies scores in the early 00's, before the TM boom were rather epic.

My best to date was an Ibanez lawsuit Thinline Tele and a Peavey Classic 30 combo for $800 from CC in Panmure around then.

I remember the days of picking up a stack for under 1k - remember getting a JCM900 50w & Crate 4x12 from a Trade & Exchange listing for $800 around '04.

I’m still holding out hope for all this talk about big tube amps being obsolete and worthless shortly! Current prices don’t seem to match the online predictions chatter though!

I'm a digital convert for sure; my AX8 changed the game for me.

But part of me will instinctively visit a pawn shop if I spot one, looking for just that - they can still be found out there. Just prior to Covid, a mate of mine was out South Auckland getting his car serviced at the dealership he purchased it from and he stumbled across a Dollar Dealers selling a Rivera Knucklehead Tre going for something silly under a grand. I was half tempted to go and get it, but it lacked the mandatory (and expensive) footswitch.

[robthemac]

I’m still holding out hope for all this talk about big tube amps being obsolete and worthless shortly! Current prices don’t seem to match the online predictions chatter though!

I dunno, Vox amps look to be largely unsellable these days.

[NippleWrestler]

I've just had one fall over. Jan '65 Jazzmaster. and for a great price.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I've been pretty philosophical about it. No point getting too down about it. Already eyeing up adding 3 guitars to fill the void.

Small world. I used to live in Billings, MT.

[Reg18]

I’m still holding out hope for all this talk about big tube amps being obsolete and worthless shortly! Current prices don’t seem to match the online predictions chatter though!

I dunno, Vox amps look to be largely unsellable these days.

I would agree large combos don’t have much appeal, but 100watt heads which are largely unusable as well don’t seem to be dropping as quick as you would expect given the chat online, well certainly not the major brand ones.

[Mr Bungle]

I'm sorry for your loss.

I've been pretty philosophical about it. No point getting too down about it. Already eyeing up adding 3 guitars to fill the void.

Small world. I used to live in Billings, MT.

Didn’t make it past the very western coast myself. My client lives in a tiny place called Willow Creek. Not too far from Bozeman.