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Tube TV,
Sad as we TV collectors might find it, TV tubes are literally "a dime a dozen" most of the time. Lots of exceptions to be sure, but at least over here in NJ, we're literally drowning in tubes.
Join a club if you have one anywhere nearby. Our club receives donations of hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of tubes every year. These tubes, cleaned and tested by volunteer tube chaplains, are available to members at bargain-basement prices. We now have several locations, including a two-car garage, literally stacked wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling with tubes, including many of the "good" ones (along with mountains of 6AL5s and 3BZ6s!)
And even if you have to operate on your own, I've lost count of how many times people at yard sales and estate sales have given me boxes of tubes. Except for stuff like WD-11s, 2A3s, 50s or the popular audio tubes, even knowledgable people are usually desperate to get rid of their recently-departed dad's collection of old, dirty, smelly, useless, dangerous tubes, especially TV tubes!
Conversely, a lot of people seem to think they're going to retire on this "old" "valuable" stuff (and on a crate of NOS Audions or even 300Bs maybe they could!) I've seen people offering tube-carriers full of Compactrons for $250 on Craigslist; I have to wonder if they even got any offers? (Is anyone looking for Compactrons?)
$20 or $30 was not too high an offer if there was stuff in there you needed, but at one of our club auctions or at the fabulous Kutztown swapmeet, you can regularly see flats of miniature and Compactron tubes go for a buck!
--Dave
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