Steve B wrote:

I go to a LOT of yard sales. I've seen them for $5, and for that,
they would be a great wall piece. I've also seen $500 pieces of this
and that where the people only want $5. You just need to know what
you're looking at, whether it's a coin, a gun, a woodworking tool, a
router set, a really nice set of Forstners, whatever.

Yard sale story: International pickup bed with trailer tongue on
side of highway with "FREE" sign on it. It has a spare. Tires are
flat. Hitch doesn't have ball clasp, so I have to chain it on and
tow it five miles to my house. Go pump up the tires and drag it
home. Plan is, I'm going to use it for hauling around my ranch
property. SWMBO rolls eyes, seeing it as another one of my pointless
endless worthless projects. I see hubcaps and chrome wheel rings. Average
condition Put a set of three hubcaps and three rings on
Ebay. Get $148. Advertise the trailer on Craigslist, get $35.
I guess there are people who would have told me the trailer was
useless. I don't always listen to people. My Daddy could swear to
that.

Yep. My son found a new CORVETTE SUN ROOF (or hard top or something to do
with the roof on a Corvette) on the curb that was put out for heavy trash
pickup. Sold the sumbitch on Ebay for over $400 !

"Steve B" wrote in message ...


"sam" wrote in message
...
Found an old Stradivarius knockoff with some
cracks that need gluing. I'm not looking to
make some kind of profit on this. I just want
it to play. Is it some kind of sacrilege to
use old fashioned epoxy resin to fix it?

It's one of the many that says
Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis
Faciebat Anno 17(40 written in)


Thanks,

Sam

I'd take it to a reputable shop before I even dusted it off. They can be
worth money, unless screwed up by an amateur restorer. They may not be the
million dollar ones, but they still can command good dough if not screwed up
with some drywall screws and Gorilla Glue. Some of the copies are worth
thousands. As mentioned before, a good shop will give you an itemized list
of the work they will do, and what they will charge. They will also, (If
you are a good talker) tell you how much it will be worth AFTER restoration.
Anyone with a room temperature IQ can do the math and see which is the
bigger number. And then, if it is just a break even deal, you might want to
play around with it, and try to DIY. But I'd know for sure before I'd start
hacking on it.

Steve

Heart surgery pending?
Read up and prepare.
Learn how to care for a friend.
Download the book.
http://cabgbypasssurgery.com

I mentioned this to my wife's cousin who plays first violin for the NJ
Symphony and owns a Strad. According to him there are Strads and Cremonies
that aren't worth crap as players. All there value is in the builders mark.
On the other hand there are Yamahas that are tremendous players but only
cost a few hundred bucks.
The only thing to do is to get the violin appraised and a repair estimate.
There is a good chance that if there is one crack, there is something else
that needs regluing.

On Feb 5, 11:05*pm, "Steve B" wrote:


And P.T. Barnum was right. *All day, they get a parade of morons who pay
more than retail.


I quote a friend:

"Robbie, God gave us gentiles, because SOMEbody has to pay retail.."

On Feb 4, 8:54*am, basilisk wrote:
On Fri, 4 Feb 2011 05:25:03 -0800 (PST), Robatoy wrote:
On Feb 4, 8:00 am, "HeyBub" wrote:

I had no idea violins could be had so cheaply.

Heck, they're cheap enough to use for DECORATION, even if one can't play it!

Unless played expertly (there aren't many), violins should only be
used as decoration.
Bag pipes are in the same class of instruments with the notable
distinction that there are no expert bag-pipe players. Bag-pipes can
not be used as decoration unless mounted like a deer's head with a lot
of bullet holes.
Tambourines and bongos belong on that list, decorative at best and
never to be played.

Notable exceptions to the 'no violin' rule are fiddles in Irish pubs,
where the fiddle players are back-up for singers like myself once we
are over-served. Same thing goes for the Maritimes-style pubs.
In limited doses, Alison Krauss can be entertaining... as is old
footage of Henny Youngman.

I like bagpipe music(is that the right term?), but I don't want to make a
steady diet of it.

When I got hitched, the wedding was in a field alongside a large lake
pretty much in the middle of nowhere, we hired a piper to play the wedding.
Not too expensive and easier to move around than a grand piano.

When the piper arrived, he told me he needed a place to warm up and
and to get the pipes limbered up, I took him over a little rise and
into a scope of trees, thinking he would be somewhat unobtrusive
and less annoying while trying to get the damn thing started.

This is where the fun starts, in a bush nearby there was possibly one of
the
largest red wasp nest known to mankind, further more, red wasp take great
exception to bagpipe music (it is now only moments from time to walk the
plank) we are engulfed in a cloud of wasp, the piper in full dress is
having a fit, slinging pipes losing valuable articles of clothing and
bagpipe pieces and generally running in circles. Meanwhile in an effort
to keep this guy from fleeing the premises, I'm trying to fight the wasp
off of him and manage to get stung all over the hands and arms.
We managed to escape and gather all his equipment and only ran a few
minutes late with the wedding.

I was in great pain and somewhat dizzy from the excitement and toxins,
but the real swelling didn't start until later that evening.

That is a great story. God, I've been to so many weddings at so many
bland and boring places. Nobody at your wedding will be forgetting it
anytime soon.

I agree with you on the bagpipes. I like the music just fine - in
moderation and with appreciable breathing space between listenings.

Roba, how do you feel about Natalie McMasters? I caught her at the
Newport Folk Festival some years back and she totally kicked ass. And
looked damn fine doing it.
Here's her accompanied by bagpipes, just for you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9r1VEoSZ4I
and here she's step dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HuwuZG_HFo
At the Newport show she danced while playing the fiddle. If she's not
a good reason to clone people, I don't know what is.

R

On Feb 6, 2:41*pm, RicodJour wrote:


Roba, how do you feel about Natalie McMasters? *

She's a one woman wrecking crew. Ashlie McIsaac's cousin, another Cape
Bretoner.

Angela and I love that kind of music when live, and preferably in
smaller venues.
Natalie has become a little plastic, IMHO, a bit commercialized.
But very talented. We do not own any of her music.

BTW, she's going to be a mommy (#4) any day now.

On Feb 6, 3:48*pm, Robatoy wrote:
On Feb 6, 2:41*pm, RicodJour wrote:



Roba, how do you feel about Natalie McMasters? *

She's a one woman wrecking crew. Ashlie McIsaac's cousin, another Cape
Bretoner.

Angela and I love that kind of music when live, and preferably in
smaller venues.
Natalie has become a little plastic, IMHO, a bit commercialized.
But very talented. We do not own any of her music.

BTW, she's going to be a mommy (#4) any day now.

She's definitely more toned down than when I saw her live. I was
hoping to find a video of her doing something like at Newport. Irish
step dancing is unique in that the whole idea is to not move your
upper body (or smile like you're enjoying yourself or think it's a big
deal), and that allows someone to play an instrument. I'd never seen
anyone move their legs and feet like that while playing an instrument
- or since.

It even brought comments from my girlfriend - "Why are you drooling?"
"Umm, I'm hungry...?"

R

"HeyBub" wrote

Yep. My son found a new CORVETTE SUN ROOF (or hard top or something to do
with the roof on a Corvette) on the curb that was put out for heavy trash
pickup. Sold the sumbitch on Ebay for over $400 !

My first two sales on ebay were an Alpine front control panel that the
volume control didn't work very well on. I bought a good one on ebay for
$50, and used the old one for a paper weight for a couple of months. Then I
got a 18w. Dewalt charger that a guy left in one of my rentals. No battery,
no nothing, just a charger. I described the Alpine front panel in detail,
with its malfunctioning volume control. Apparently someone who worked on
them bought it for $40. The battery charger went for $25. My best deal was
a travel trailer I got for $200 and sold for $4300. Lots of other stories.
Think I'm going to start doing some more soon on estate sales, and "home
run" items.

Steve

Steve B wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote

Yep. My son found a new CORVETTE SUN ROOF (or hard top or something
to do with the roof on a Corvette) on the curb that was put out for
heavy trash pickup. Sold the sumbitch on Ebay for over $400 !

My first two sales on ebay were an Alpine front control panel that the
volume control didn't work very well on. I bought a good one on ebay
for $50, and used the old one for a paper weight for a couple of
months. Then I got a 18w. Dewalt charger that a guy left in one of
my rentals. No battery, no nothing, just a charger. I described the
Alpine front panel in detail, with its malfunctioning volume control.
Apparently someone who worked on them bought it for $40. The battery
charger went for $25. My best deal was a travel trailer I got for
$200 and sold for $4300. Lots of other stories. Think I'm going to
start doing some more soon on estate sales, and "home run" items.


I can top that - sort of. I sometimes drive around my neighborhood the night
before heavy trash pickup. On one of these foraging expeditions, I spied,
and gathered to my bosom, a military jerry can that looked to be in good
shape. It was.

When I got it home, there, stenciled on the bottom, was "3A Sep 44". If I
decode this properly, the can was put into service with George Patton's 3rd
Army Corps three months before the Battle of the Bulge!

This little can helped rescue the 101st Airborne Division (even though they
never asked to be rescued).