[Findm-Keepm]

Nice haul.

I used to love going through old shops, getting stuff. Lately though, all I seem to be offered are "Vacation" parts - parts taken out of the package, soldered in a circuit, de-soldered, and returned to the open package. Sorting the good from the chaff took too much time, so I started passing on offers.

Latest was a gun shop that also did TV repair - the owner had progressive MS - and closed in the late 90s. I was the "first" called by the owners son (we both grew up in TV shops and know each other) and was offered 3 bankers boxes of transistors and chips for free - just come get them. I couldn't pass it up, but just more of the same - can't really use it, can't offload it on eBay (folks want new-in-the-sealed package parts...), and really have no use for 40 or 50 questionable chips, or even NIB vertical chips for old 70's Bohsei/Sears sets. Lots of GE stuff, but nothing useful. I found a .38 bullet in one Zenith box, and I did get his soldering iron/soldering gun tips, so my time wasn't entirely wasted. The son is keeping his test equipment for himself.

I passed on all the tubes, much to their delight - there is a local tube cherry picker wanting a few audiophile tubes, so maybe they can make a buck.
As to sets, he had only a couple of 19" SS black and white sets missing knobs and with broken antenna rods. Those are headed for the dumpster.

It's always sad to me to see an older shop fold - there are but two remaining old-school shops here in the area, and one is a ripoff that has been around for about 50 years. To me, 3 pages of Yellow Pages advertising=ripoff, as just one column inch ads used to sell for $200 / year.