Schundog
December 20th, 2014, 08:55 AM
Yesterday while working in Springfield, IL, I went by a store that had been a large thrift store called "Buy Sell Trade." It went bankrupt a couple years ago, and the chain link fence around it had been locked. Yesterday, though, the "OPEN" sign was on, and the parking lot was open. I went inside, and nearly turned back around, as it was a shell of it's former self, very little merchandise, and operated by a lone seemingly Turkish immigrant. Still, I walked around the large lot of purple Hannah Montana guitars, no-name motor oil and off-brand thermal shirts to the back, where he had several of the usual suspects of guitars and amps with prices well above reasonable. He didn't even have the guitars hanging on the wall or on stands, they were just laid on the shelves. He came over to me, as I was one of the only customers in there, and was trying to help. There was a Jay Turdster, er, Turser Strat type that was kind of a cool color turquoise, but he pointed out to me that the high E saddle was missing. I moved down the row. Wait, what do we have here?! A Don Grosh Electra-Jet, limited edition 3 out of 4, was sitting there. "How Much for this?" I asked, trying to act disinterested. "$100" he replied. I had the stones to offer him $80, and he defiantly stood firm at $90 out the door. I paid him and left.
Well, you know where I went next, haha. Monster Pawn, baby! I walked in with it (no case) and Tommy just looked at me like "What the #$&$ is this guy bringing in now?!" I set it proudly in front of him, not saying a word. He scoffed a bit, until he saw the look on my face. "What's this?!" he said. "Lemme guess, you're going to tell me it's some $3000 guitar..." Close, I said. He took it and plugged it into a Mesa Nomad while his henchman, Boe, got right onto the web to check out prices. Tommy was trying not to like it, saying it definitely needed a setup, new strings, etc, but he was digging it, I could tell.
OK, moment of truth; "So what do you want, Schuny?!" Boe pipes up and says, "Oh, let ME guess what he's going to ask; $1000." I looked at him and smiled, saying "Would that really be unreasonable for it??" "No..." he stammered. Still, I have done a ton of deals with Tommy, and I got the vibe that he wasn't real keen on giving me a Grand for a guitar he'd never heard of, boutique builder or not. So I said "Let's make this work so everybody's happy. How about $500 cash, and that 55" Phillips flatscreen TV?" Tommy hemmed and hawed, but agreed. I went home to get the van and the 15 year old to help me. As the Monster tradition on Friday nights is to end the week with a good beer, I stopped by the liquor store and bought a 6 pack of Bell's Two Hearted to share with the boys. We packed up the TV, had a brew, laughed, but I wasn't able to get out of there before my daughter conned me into buying her a $40 Uke. Flush with my ill-gotten gains, I couldn't resist her sweet request, haha. I'd better stop going into these places now; there's now way I'll ever top this deal!!
http://vid840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/schundog/FC0E47D4-1ABC-4E0D-A049-44E45FA0E039_zpswlb0z5df.mp4
Well, you know where I went next, haha. Monster Pawn, baby! I walked in with it (no case) and Tommy just looked at me like "What the #$&$ is this guy bringing in now?!" I set it proudly in front of him, not saying a word. He scoffed a bit, until he saw the look on my face. "What's this?!" he said. "Lemme guess, you're going to tell me it's some $3000 guitar..." Close, I said. He took it and plugged it into a Mesa Nomad while his henchman, Boe, got right onto the web to check out prices. Tommy was trying not to like it, saying it definitely needed a setup, new strings, etc, but he was digging it, I could tell.
OK, moment of truth; "So what do you want, Schuny?!" Boe pipes up and says, "Oh, let ME guess what he's going to ask; $1000." I looked at him and smiled, saying "Would that really be unreasonable for it??" "No..." he stammered. Still, I have done a ton of deals with Tommy, and I got the vibe that he wasn't real keen on giving me a Grand for a guitar he'd never heard of, boutique builder or not. So I said "Let's make this work so everybody's happy. How about $500 cash, and that 55" Phillips flatscreen TV?" Tommy hemmed and hawed, but agreed. I went home to get the van and the 15 year old to help me. As the Monster tradition on Friday nights is to end the week with a good beer, I stopped by the liquor store and bought a 6 pack of Bell's Two Hearted to share with the boys. We packed up the TV, had a brew, laughed, but I wasn't able to get out of there before my daughter conned me into buying her a $40 Uke. Flush with my ill-gotten gains, I couldn't resist her sweet request, haha. I'd better stop going into these places now; there's now way I'll ever top this deal!!
http://vid840.photobucket.com/albums/zz327/schundog/FC0E47D4-1ABC-4E0D-A049-44E45FA0E039_zpswlb0z5df.mp4