Musical Bargains at Yard Sales, Thrift stores, etc

[thomas_williams]

Do you ever look for music-related bargains at yard sales, thrift stores, pawn shops or similar places?

Today I went to a yard sale which had dozens of music books.  I got some stuff from it-- a stack of 29 issues of Clavier magazine from the 1970s-- which contain much useful material.  I should mention that the yard sale was held by the family of someone who owned a music store many years ago.  Quite a bit of the music stuff had been sold in the past couple of days, I am told.  I learned of this sale from my grandmother, who had gotten some of the stuff from them and had known the music store owners for many years.

After my experience today, I thought this would be a great topic for discussion.  So lets hear from you on it!

[janice]

Today I went to a yard sale which had dozens of music books.  I got some stuff from it-- a stack of 29 issues of Clavier magazine from the 1970s-- which contain much useful material.

A public library in a nearby town has a bunch of magazines, that people donate, and they are in different categories.  A magazine is only 10 cents.  I always check out the music mags.  I found a bunch of (shoot, I forget the name.) But I bought all of them (like 12) and gave them to my piano teacher and told her to give them out to students.  She acted very happy.  I also got a book of old folk hymns (for 10 cents) and a beginning trombone book--lol.  I subscribed to Clavierin college, and I know I have them stored away somewhere.  Thanks for the reminder, Thomas!

[steveolongfingers]

not only do you get amazingly hard to find books and mags, you can get some killer equipment at garage sales, thrift stores, and sometimes pawnshops.  I was at a garage sale one time and picked up and upright piano for 10 bucks, it was horrbily out of tune, and broken beyond repair, but man did it burn.......

[bernhard]

In the UK, the OXFAM (a charity) bookshops area a great source of amazing sheet music. Lots of old editions and weird composers that are now out of fashion as well as real gems (like complete Urtext editions of the Beethoven Sonatas). Basically people donate these items and they sell them for peanuts (e.g. 2 weeks ago I got a book on the interpretation of Haydn’s keyboard music for £3. The retail price was £60 ). The local libraries also from time to time renew their stocks and a lot of old books/CDs/scores go for sale for next to nothing. Finally bookshops often sell slightly damaged copies of books /scores for reduced prices.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[cziffra777]

Do you ever look for music-related bargains at yard sales, thrift stores, pawn shops or similar places?

Yes, but I haven't had much luck finding anything at any of those places. I have found quite a few bargains on ebay though.