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What Can Be Done with a Tube Collection?
caffiend666 asks: "My grandfather was a TV repairman in the 50s to early 70s. Most of his repair equipment is still available, complete with hundreds of tubes, discrete components, switches, tube tester, dot bar generator, oscilloscope, and more. They are selling the farm, and we are trying to dispose of this equipment gracefully. Anybody know of a good way to donate them as a complete set for a write-off? The condition of the equipment varies from great to horrid. There are some pictures showing a little of what we have, on my website. Any advice or stories for selling 35+ year old electronic equipment? Does anyone know of a museum that would appreciate the equipment?"
Aside from some fun skeet shooting, there is always eBay. I've considered this for my remaining tubes. They do have some value there.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
you should really sign up for Geocities Pro, if you're going to have slashdot traffic. :)
You must have faith if you post a geocities adress to slashdot.
Depending on what you have, my alma mater might be able to display some of it in their little media history collection. Unfortunately, your Geocities website didn't have a shot in hell against the Slashdot effect, so I can't tell what you have or find an e-mail address for contacting you directly. :)
Contact your local Ham Radio club. They should be able to help you out.
My comments may be crap...but they are my crap...and I am brave enough to stand by them...Never post as AC!
Go on the ARRL Hamfest Calender and find the soonest closest hamfest in your area, bring the stuff there and sell it yankee trader style.
Alternatively, ebay might be good for some stuff. Use the "search completed items" feature to see what if any of it will actually sell.
Alternatively alternatively you could try to find a local ham who will take it off your hands.
Good luck!
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
I'm sure quite a bit of the equipment could be used in the music industry for repairing and testing tube amp components on the cheap.
Tubes are still HUGE in the guitar world. Sure, modeling amps can get close to old tube amps, but still nothing sounds quite the same as a overdriven tube amp with that crunch and distortion.
Plug a Les Paul into a Marshall SLP-1959 or JCM45 or even a Blackfaced Fender Deluxe from 1966 and you'll see what I mean. All tube driven.
Just because you think the equipment is old doesn't mean that it's not treasured somewhere else.
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
You might want to contact the U. S. Marconi Museum in Bedford, NH. http://www.marconiusa.org/index.html
In addition to the exhibits, they restore vintage radios.
Somebody will buy that stuff on ebay. One thing you might try is separating out all the tubes separated by type. 6550, 6L6, 6V6, EL84, EL34, 12AX7, 12AT7 and 5U4G tubes are all still being use in new guitar amps and so should be easy to get rid of. Other types may not sell as well or may fetch a really good price from someone with an old piece of gear they're trying to maintain. I have a friend with an old bass amp that has "strong nostalgic value for affectionados of funk" and it's a pain to find tubes for it. Some tube lover will buy the rest of your stuff for DIY projects.
Donate to a community college; they're considered public schools. (At least, here in Michigan.)
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Without Pro, your geocities site is slashdotted the instant the story goes live. With Pro, it takes about 15 minutes before your geocities site is gone.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Please, don't give it all to a museum! There are lots of people who would *love* to have this stuff, including me, and dozens of people I know.
Tubes are a Big Deal for guitar amps and high end audio. They're also in demand for people restoring old radios and other equipment. Thnere's a huge market for the tubes *and* the equipment.
If you don't want to mess with it, I'd be happy to handle the selling for you, for a small commission, most likely taken from stock (with an independent third party valuation so you know it's fair). Or I can point you to the forums to find large groups of buyers.
-Miles (MEO at RRU dot COM)
http://www.tubedepot.com/contact.html
Try talking to these guys. Last I heard they do a brisk trade in discontinued tubes.
Here is a link to these pictures on my main website: http://64.81.113.250/tubes.html . I've killed off torrent/seti etc, so it should be better than Geocities. The geocities link was for longer term access. My email address is critter_75075@yahoo.com .
Although the equipment is in eastern Oklahoma, near Howe, we live in DFW in North Texas. Either place would be an option for those interested.
We know the equipment is intrinsically valuable. But, it has no real book value. Which is why we were looking for a museum type arrangement. Several good leads here though.... Gotta be someone here dreaming of this stuff. The idea of cleaning up and testing these hundreds of tubes one at a time, selling them for a dollar or so a piece on eBay with three dollars shipping is a nightmare none of us want.
There are a total of three tube cases, two full one half full. One box of misc parts like tube brighteners. One 707 tube tester. One misc tube voltage tester, in very bad shape. The old rca oscilloscope. A bag of dozens of misc discrete components. I'll work on adding the rest of the pictures to my page tonight, along with a partial parts list.
Here's to losing my Karma Bonus again....
So sell the box (plus, perhaps, the tester) as a lot. There's a box full of tubes that looks like yours but the case is in terrible condition currently listed on eBay for $149.99 and another with a good case listed for $20. Both currently have no bids but keep your eye on eBay and decide if it's worth the trouble of selling them.
My dad has several boxes of tubes and we'll probably sell those as a lot on eBay.
You could also set a price and post them on Craigslist if it is active in your area and you think they might sell locally.
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
... then audiophiles would LOVE you. If the tubes are in good shape (and of the right type), you could sell them for a mint on eBay or other places. And if any of them are new old stock (new in package, old in year) you're talking a very hefty sum per tube (valve if you're European). In essence, you're probably sitting on a goldmine to an awful lot of people with varied interests and industries. Personally, if I had the cash, I'd buy it from you now and "donate" it to my dad. :)
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I have a '82 Subaru hatch-back filled with old text-books. Anyone want them? Car comes with the deal, you tow.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Does anyone else recall the olden days when the local dimestores had tube testers, you could bring in your tubes and test, and then get replacements from the rack under the tester? I remember going down to the local Woolworth's all the time, our TV was always on the fritz and I seemed to be able to repair it most of the time. The Woolworth's machine always had a stack of little stickers with pairs of numbers, so you could put a numbered sticker on each tube and the same number on the socket, so you could put them all back in the right spots.
I remember an old "how-to article" in Mad Magazine about how to repair your tube TV. It went something like this:
1. Open the TV and remove all the tubes.
2. Take them down to the store and test them one by one in the test machine.
3. Identify the defective tube(s) and buy replacements.
4. Put all the tubes back in position according to the little numbered stickers you used when you removed the tubes. Oops, did we forget to mention that in step 1? Uh-oh, now you're in trouble!
There are a number of groups, primarily amateur radio clubs and the like, that run vacuum tube banks. The idea is that people who have extra tubes donate them to the tube bank, and those who need a specific tube for a piece of equipment can they can receive a tube from the bank.
Google for 'Tube Bank' and you should find a number of such groups. Find one in your area and drop them an e-mail.
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