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Cashing in your Holy Grails: Crazy Talk or No-brainer?

drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts
edited March 2015 in Strut Central
It's been a good minute since I've posted here, but there is no better place to ask this question than my old favorite stomping grounds that has helped me amass an amazing collection.

Let's talk about cashing in Grails for quick cash to fund other interests.

A new Guitar Center opened yesterday around the corner and I went to check it out. I've been taking piano lessons lately and am looking to upgrade my keyboard. What I didn't expect is to find the piano of my dreams hanging on the wall, a Korg SV-1, that specializes in electric piano (Rhodes, Wurlitzer) sounds with a $1,500 price tag. I have to have it.

So, I'm flipping through my collection to see what I might be able to get rid of quickly to help make this purchase as painless as possible. Lee Moses "Time & Place"? Whatnauts "On The Rocks"? Montgomery Movement "S/T"? All in good shape, plus a grip of other stuff with more or less value.

Don't get me wrong--I still LOVE these records, but how much will I regret cashing in on a small lot of things I listen to (maybe) once a year, to get something that will give me joy on a daily basis?

I'm sure many of you have been faced with similar question as things pop up. How have you handled them? Any regrets??

  Comments

  • fishmongerfunkfishmongerfunk 4,154 Posts
    absolute no brainer: sell the records stat and get that keyboard. rare records are nice to have but a wicked instrument will make you want to play even more so you'll improve as a musician and a person.

    b/w

    now for some bad advice: go buy that keyboard today on credit with the knowledge that you will be selling your records.
  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    Never had a moment of regret on selling grails that I'd had for decades. It's all about the reason.
    If it's about cashing in because the market's hot or some other bullshit, regret is on its way.
    If it's about changing the story you tell yourself, no pang will darken your door.

    In your case, you move from hoarding bits of plastic to creating and expressing art.
    So sell them fuckers.
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,960 Posts
    skel said:
    you move from hoarding bits of plastic to creating and expressing art.
    So sell them fuckers.

    Can't argue widdat.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    No Brainer.

    When you want the records back you can sell the keyboard to pay for them.
  • kitchenknightkitchenknight 4,922 Posts
    I'll holler at Lee Moses...
    And great to see DrewN up in here. Love the alumni week going on right now.

  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,782 Posts
    Drew... You got J.R. Bailey for sale too?

    :bizzo:

    But for real...

    I did a purge about 5 years a go and bought guitars and cameras with the money and I'm glad I did. My bigger regrets was selling raers like Bosco to buy an iMac.... which is now in a landfill.

    Do not buy drugs, food, or technology with raer proceeds...

    Honestly, as I get back into buying, I'm re-buying stuff I used to have. Sometimes at inflated prices than when i was "digging".
  • drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts
    Good perspective about not buying trendy stuff with the dough.

    Nah... Bailey is still in the keeper pile. I NEED that record several times a year.

    My focus is sniping at valuables I don't have a strong attachment to. Feels good to go through everything and trim down to the essentials.
  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    Sell, Sell, Sell. You can hear that music in other ways whenever you want and enjoy it just as much. Having a great instrument will bring you a very different kind of happiness that you cannot find elsewhere.
  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,332 Posts
    BUY THE KEYBOARD. KEEP YOUR RAERS SOMEHOW.
  • discos_almadiscos_alma discos_alma 2,164 Posts
    yuichi said:
    BUY THE KEYBOARD. KEEP YOUR RAERS.

    SELL SOME AVERAGE RECORDS.
  • skelskel You can't cheat karma 5,033 Posts
    discos_alma said:
    yuichi said:
    BUY THE KEYBOARD. KEEP YOUR RAERS.

    SELL SOME AVERAGE RECORDS.

    SELL THAT SPARE COPY KIDNEY SON
  • LoopDreamsLoopDreams 1,195 Posts
    Don't sell that Montgomery movement.... shits got soul.

    I trim the raer once a year or so. Do I regret selling them? I hardly ever even think of the ones that have flown the coop: outta sight outta mind. The only one that grinds my gear was a Ray and His Court I sold on E-bay for way too much. I should have seen the red flag when dude didn't want to spring for registered mail. He then forced a chargeback and ebay stripped me of the entire 400+ bones. WTF.
    So the only recommendation is do a SS, never had problems that way, and we'll all be sure to help you buy them keys
  • BallzDeepBallzDeep 612 Posts
    Totally agree with selling,
    so much that I kinda wish I was in your shoes,
    wish I had something I really wanted.

    But ya, sell those bastards, get your keyboard, and enjoy.
  • parallaxparallax no-style-having mf'er 1,266 Posts
    Sell them all to me.

    Problem solved.
  • KineticKinetic 3,739 Posts
    I will holla at the Whatnautts for sure!
  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Over the years, I've lost almost all of my patience for selling records online. Of course, that's where a grail would need to go. But I'd almost rather be shot in the face instead.
  • pcmrpcmr 5,591 Posts
    i am in a similar conondrum with my baller classical
    the worst is when you get valueable records for cheap

    I WANT/NEED lee moses stat

    Ive bought a GRAIL from Skel in a similar circumstance
  • CBearCBear 902 Posts
    So many records are getting reissued lately. I've seen the price of a lot of my higher dollar records get cut in half when the reissue drops.

    There are a few I regret selling in hindsight. I would never pay as much as I sold them for though.
  • shawnald_reaganshawnald_reagan 318 Posts
    I sold my og Zerfas to pay the rent and billz back between jobs and have not regretted it.
    Buy that Korg and make your soul sing.
  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,793 Posts
    Anyone after Trifle? Or a Hal Singer & Jef Gilson soul of africa? I need to sell my records as they're gathering dust in storage.
    :whycry:
  • BeatsoupBeatsoup 511 Posts
    Archive the records on digital or tape and sellll. Some good keys will inspire and make your musicianship grow. No brainer to me. Here some other keyboard options you may or may not have considered.

    -Buy the Sv-1 used on craiglist/ kijiji. Save several hundred and no taxes. Play and test thoroughly in person.

    -Try some Nord keyboards too if you haven't. You can change their sounds from a library that keeps growing.

    -Get a wurlitzer, I sold my wurli to buy a Nord electro... Couple years later got a wurli again along side the Nord.
    The wurli cost 900 and I put about 100 into it with refurb/ repairs. Wurlitzers feel pretty close to pianos with their action, which is awesome! Most rhodes have terrible action. Also the sound has a lot of variation the digital ones can't account for. Sometimes you can skip a step by buying the real deal... That is if you just want one awesome sound compared to 5 good ones.
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