My new A-hole wanted ad
 

OK, so, the nice "WANTED" ad placed locally was only getting me a bunch of flakes and people wanting insane prices for their junk. So, I came up with this very smartassy ad:

"WANTED: Working or not, radio's, record player's, and stereo's that were made between the 1930's and the 1960's. Also interested in older TV's made between the 1940's and the 1970's. Here's a general guideline for what I'll generally pay for this stuff: Old radios, $5 to $100 depending on exactly what you have, how old it is and what kind of condition it's in. Record players: $5 to $40 and price depends on what you have, how old it is, and it's overall condition. Cabinet model stereo's, $5 - $50 and price depends on what brand it is, how old it is, how good of condition it's in, and the amount of particleboard and/or plastic used in the construction of the cabinet. Particleboard/plastic is not a good thing and neither is the presence of an 8-track tape player and such stereo's rank at the bottom on the "how much I'll pay" ladder. TV's, $5-$25, depending on condition and what you have. Oh, and I don't buy "sentimental value", either. I'm happy that you have fond memories of Grandma playing Lawrence Welk and Andy Williams records on it; but, I'm not buying your memories. Sorry if I sound like a horse's butt; but, far too many people have been watching too much "American Pickers" or they see some clown on ebay or CL ASKING $5K for a console stereo and they suddenly think this stuff is worth more than what it actually is. So, if you have something that you think I may be interested in and are willing to be reasonable with the price; then, I'd love to hear from you."

I doubt it will get me many results and may even get me banned from the facebook page I placed it on; but, maybe it will get some of these flakes to see the light.

Hehehehehe..I LOVE it !

hahaha.. I dont think the majority of people have the time nowadays to read your wanted ad anyways !
They should so they can become informed !

At least eight too many apostrophes.

That's why I don't place want ads. I may miss out on some stuff, but I avoid a lot of screwballs who would try to soak me. Also what's wrong with the presence of an 8-track player?

8 Track players in console stereo's usually indicate cheaply built plasticated stuff that's not worth a tinkers damn, Well built Magnivox's and such have gone way down hill by then and are worth practically zilch.

I've seen a few consoles from Magnavox, Zenith, and RCA that used 8-track players that were somewhat decent; but, 8-track players in consoles didn't become widespread until around '70 or so. By that time, the quality of consoles had sharply declined and by the early '70's, most consoles were nothing more than particleboard/plastic jobs that contained the cheapest electronics from Taiwan or Korea that they could stick in there. The few particleboard consoles that I've brought home in recent years usually left a trail of sawdust when the stereo was moved.

Particle board, one thing I like to avoid. I removed a few bolts from a water-damaged particle board desk very recently and the rest broke apart for disposal with very little effort. The vanity in the bathroom here is partly particle board and is rotting and cracking from humidity. Fortunately repairs to that are at the expense of the building owners.

One of the furniture stores in this area advertises: " You wouldn't dive from a particle board, diving board, why would you sleep on a particle board bed".
I thought it was pretty clever! :yes:

There are some people around here that run ads on CL for old tv's with round screens, old radios, and record players. He puts pictures of the stuff he is interested in, I think pictures would kinda give not too smart people a better idea of what yer lookin for....

I'm not sure yer going to get much out of facebook either.... I think of facebook as just a giant chat room.... Not too much different than this board, your only advertising to the people who already know about your "things" may already have them, are not interested in selling them to you for $5. for you to restore and resell....

My wife tries to sell her Avon on FB, but the only people who look at her page are her friends, and they already know she sells Avon.... FB is almost a complete waste of time for business, even small business.... Just my observation....

I often wonder how smart people in general are when it comes to buying or selling stuff on CL anyway.... I use the search when looking for an old tv, or tv in general.... Often typing in "free tv" getting lots of results, what I find strange is that in that list of lots of people just looking to give away a free tv, is often someone with an ad asking for a tv for free..... Do they not think about looking in the free section....? or typing in "free tv" Just how dumb are people....?

And yes its easy to see how saying "no 8-tracks" in a way of dating a piece...

How do ya like this goober.....

http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/ele/3980340150.html

Got a message from a lady wanting to sell the stereo pictured below. She said it didn't have an 8-track; but, she was born in '71 and her parents had it before she was born. Then, she told me that it only needed a needle and the cabinet was in overall good shape with only a few minor nicks and scratches (that's what they all say). Then, she said it had not been used in years. I told her that this was probably from the '69-'71 era, was a photofinished particleboard cabinet, and the only thing I'd do with it was use it for parts. I told her I might go as high as $15 for it and she said she'd get back in touch with me if she decided to let it go for that.

I can't tell what brand it is; but, it's likely a store brand and it looks to have a BSR record changer. Looking at the picture, the cabinet looks pretty ragged to me and parts of the cabinet look to be warped.

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...pse382ef60.jpg

Man, what a piece of crap. Never saw warping like that before.
Ha, gotta love it. :D I have a particle board bookshelf on which I placed a couple of old car stereos. A support pin started coming up through the "wood" on that side. I used pliers to put in a push pin under that corner. Still, no more car stereos on that. Some particle board is actually pretty strong though, my old TV stands come to mind. The one holding my Trinitron, VCR, DVD player and two cassette decks is a trash pick from around 2001 I think. It's been used for my main TV ever since.
Who here said anything about reselling? What we're after isn't just "high-end" audio gear for the brainwashed.

After you scavenged whatever parts you could offa it, you could build yrself a DANDY Bon-type Fire w/the fuggin' thing.. Don't know if I'd wanna roast Weinies over it-Who knows what kind of "Particles" are in that particle board, not to mention what glues they used...The early Seventies ? Yeah, that was B4 the environmental laws kicked in, for the most part, who knows WHAT horrible concoctions were/are in it..

If that thing was sitting in my garage, I'd pay $15 (or more) for someone to come and haul it off. :D

I wonder if that's a Curtis-Mathes? As big and fugly as it is, I wouldn't be surprised.

Who wants to place bets on that one?

Just kidding.

It's a Capehart. I junked one just like it a few months ago.

Curtis-Mathes and Capehart of that vintage, same dif.
One could probably get high off the fumes coming off that thing.

From what I've seen of Capehart, they had Electrophonic, Soundesign, and Morse beat in terms of junk. What a shame because Capehart used to be a high end brand.

BSR record changers aren't all bad. I had a Zenith integrated stereo system which used such a changer; it lasted as long as I owned the unit, and was still working when I left it at my former home when I moved 13 years ago. Don't know what became of that system, but my best guess is it still works, BSR changer and all. Goodness knows it gave me 17 years of good service, but then again I never used the changer for much other than dubbing records onto cassettes.

I scrapped a console like that a while ago. For some reason the particle board would hardly burn. I had to get a roaring fire going with real wood and feed small pieces of that console in to get it to burn. Pain in the arse.

I have a blonde Capehart Console from "54 and it's a very nice one. Very well-made. It was in the mid to late 50's that their quality began the long downhill slide.

Had a guy offer me a '72 Truetone particleboard monster that I think was made by Interstate Industries. He said that it had been in the barn for 5+ years and from the pictures, it looks like it. I offered $10 (mainly for the BSR changer) and he said to come get it.

Loved your ad.

But the presence of an 8 track does not always mean junk. Granted, they became almost standard in most cheap consoles by 1972, but Zenith offered one as
extra cost
in their top of the line 960 series starting 1967 (Best console ever in my opinion)
as did Seeburg in their very expensive HSC1 Audiomation console.

RCA offered matching top of set players starting in 1966, but I don't think
they offered a built in until 1969.