| What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23872] |
Tue, 22 September 2015 19:25  |
Mr.Toast
Messages: 11
Registered: September 2015
Location: Kent, Ohio
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I am sure this is a dead horse topic for some of you, but I am only recently infected with the Kustom virus, so indulge me. As I search my local area for Kustom stuff, what are the pieces that you are all hoping to find? I understand that condition is a huge factor. Putting that aside, what Kustom piece would make you consider giving up a kidney to get?
AL
[Updated on: Tue, 22 September 2015 19:25] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23876 is a reply to message #23872] |
Tue, 22 September 2015 21:26  |
Iowa Boy
Messages: 767
Registered: June 2014
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Senior Member |
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Well Pleat had posted on here at one time which colors were the most commonly made and black was it. I believe that charcoal was next, silver or blue, and that teal was the rarest. So that would probably make it the most valuable. Also the number of slant faced amp which came out after the flat K-200 series was a lot fewer as well. From what I have learned, the Kustom K-600 PA amp is pretty rare and that is why you just never see them listed anywhere. Any amp in excellent condition and all original is a prize trophy. The colored one are definitely of greater value. The Frank heads are also highly valued since there wasn't many of those made as well from what I have been told. Pleat is the guy that will have the actual input on this. Forgot about red and think is was before the teal.......seems that more of them are starting to surface now then in the past year.
[Updated on: Tue, 22 September 2015 21:29] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23888 is a reply to message #23872] |
Wed, 23 September 2015 11:13 |
C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...
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Senior Member |
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Hi Al,
I also have the Kustom bug and I decided to pick up one of every color K100 piggyback. So far I have 6 of the 7 colors with black being the only color left. I figured that one would be the easiest to snag. I have spent around $350-$400 for most of the units with the gold one being the least expensive at $300 and the most was for a red 1x15. That one I paid a whopping $1200 for. Not proud of that one I must say. However, I told myself that I would pay virtually anything for a red rig and when one came available on Ebay, I snagged it. They NEVER show up! OK less than a month later, another one sold for a more reasonable price. Who would of thunk! I will say though that the Cascade might be rare but I have 4 Cascade pieces and I had 4 others during my life that I let go so I didn't think that color was so rare. I would say Silver (white), Red and Gold are more rare. I try to buy the cleanest rigs possible but I do have 2 3x15 siren cabinets in Cascade that are pretty rough. They were rough when I bought them.
Conrad
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23901 is a reply to message #23890] |
Thu, 24 September 2015 08:55 |
C4ster
Messages: 686
Registered: June 2001
Location: Mukwonago, WI (Milwaukee...
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Senior Member |
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I am not actively looking for a black amp. My buying fervor has diminished recently. I don't collect for the sake of collecting. I like to use the amps I have. My main rig is a cascade K100-2 with Jensens. One son uses a cascade K200 with a 2x15 with "I forgot" speakers. Another son uses a blue K100-1 with Jensens also. The Gold K100 and Red K100 have JBL E140's in them and they stay at our church for Sunday service. I also have a silver K25 that our keyboard player uses at church. The rest, and there are quite a few more that are in my garage collecting dust, literally, that would be our PA when the feeling moves me to use those. I don't have an immediate use for more amps. Maybe later the bug will hit but in the meantime I have other reasons(cars) to spend large amounts of cash. Oh, and as far as the price I paid for the Red K100, once the money is out of my account, I tend to forget about it. No use in rehashing the past. Plus it's good fodder for discussions like this. "Do as I say, not as I do!"
Conrad
PS I also have a K200-A4 with 2 2x15 JBL D130 cabinets. In Black.
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23903 is a reply to message #23901] |
Thu, 24 September 2015 12:43 |
chicagobill
Messages: 2006
Registered: April 2003
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Senior Member |
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I like all of the colors, but because my first one was a Cascade Frankie with the horizontal cab, I tend to like Cascades.
People my age were probably most influenced by CCR, because their use of Kustom amps was really well known. For the longest time a K200A-4 with 2-15 JBL cab in black was easily the most popular and most valuable because of the CCR connection.
It seems that most younger players barely know who CCR was and really don't care about what amps they played.
Newer collectors seemingly are more impressed with the quality of the build and the oddity of having an amp that has such a labor intensive cabinet that has lasted for 40 years. I can't imagine what it would cost to build a tuck and roll cabinet today, especially having it built with the same quality as Bud's originals.
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23906 is a reply to message #23872] |
Thu, 24 September 2015 16:58 |
Iowa Boy
Messages: 767
Registered: June 2014
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Senior Member |
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Bill do you really want to know? I was thinking about building a 2-15's cabinet when I just couldn't find what I wanted.....and since I want my cabinets in silver I set down and figured right down to the last screw what it would run to build one including (2) 15 inch JBL's. Tuck& roll, plywood (marine grade), grille cloth, bass ports, casters, wiring, handles, sound proofing, hardware.......came to almost $1300 and my labor was not even included in the estimate. Not a cheap project to say the least. That is why I opted to wait until a 2-15 surfaced that was cheap, didn't care about the color since it will eventually be recovered. I lucked out and have 2 cabinets now in black unfortunately but totally intact....one with JBL's and the other Altec and I paid only $350 total for them both. That $1300 I was going to spend just to build one will now cover the cost to recover both my cabinets now. Yeah Bud definitely knew what he was doing when he built this stuff. A lot of the stuff out there now is made of pressed wood or particle board and we all know how well that holds up when it gets damp.
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23946 is a reply to message #23872] |
Sat, 26 September 2015 13:02 |
Iowa Boy
Messages: 767
Registered: June 2014
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Senior Member |
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The shipping charge is just the high end. Price varies depending on your location.
Reverb. com is totally separate from Guitar Center....there is no cross over. Reverb. Com may have copied the picture on Guitar Center to post on Reverb. If you notice Reverb is kind of like Ebay, your buying from indivduals not a business called Reverb....they are the middle man collecting the money. At least that is how it looks to me.
[Updated on: Sat, 26 September 2015 13:08] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23948 is a reply to message #23947] |
Sat, 26 September 2015 14:56 |
Iowa Boy
Messages: 767
Registered: June 2014
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Senior Member |
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Sorry guess I was not clear....no Guitar Center is a chain store of their own. No ties with Music Go Round which also is a chain store. Guitar Center usually is priced lower and they do clean up their used equipment and check it out before selling. Music Go Round, which is usually higher priced, doesn't clean up anything they take it. Plug it in, if it comes on and makes any kind of sound, they have a cheat sheet they use for pricing. Usually will offer you half of what your asking for. Throw it up on the shelf for sale. Pretty cut and dry. Guitar Centers at least have a good return policy, not so sure about MGR since I always buy from them in person and check the equipment out from top to bottom. Like Pleat has always told me, these people are sales clerks and not professionals for the most part. Some are actually musicians but like a lot of us, they only know the music side and not the equipment side.
FYI
Call either store and ask about Kustom T&R and usually no one has a clue what your talking about. 
[Updated on: Sat, 26 September 2015 15:03] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23951 is a reply to message #23872] |
Sun, 27 September 2015 14:39 |
Iowa Boy
Messages: 767
Registered: June 2014
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Senior Member |
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Yeah most are not close to me at all so that is why I search they're web site daily. Thing with them as well as Guitar Center, neither are very good at keeping current equipment listings up to date. So if your even remotely close to either store, its probably a wise idea to try and visit their stores as often as possible. Calling is a waste of time because like I said, most guys there don't have a clue what your talking about and never, and I do mean never call you back like they promise. I have chewed several managers ass's for incompetent sales staff.
I have been to the one's in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Kind of funny how the stores seem to be in cluster within a hours drive from each other.
[Updated on: Sun, 27 September 2015 14:44] Report message to a moderator |
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23960 is a reply to message #23872] |
Mon, 28 September 2015 13:26 |
chicagobill
Messages: 2006
Registered: April 2003
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Senior Member |
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Music-Go-Round is a franchise operation that buys and sells used gear and some new things as well. They were really popular a few years back, but with the advent of Craig's List, Reverb, etc. they have been losing stores all over the place. I think that there were 3 or 4 of them here in the Chicago area, but I think that only one store is still in business.
Operation wise, they seemed to be run like pawn operations, buy for pennies on the dollar and sell at high retail pricing. And like some pawn shops, they seemed to do little or no checking about ownership of the gear that they would buy.
Guitar Center is a large chain that is owned by some venture capitalist firm that also owns Musician's Friend and some others. They started out as a single store back in the '60s in Hollywood that became the Vox Guitar Center. Later they dropped the Vox name and became the GC chain of stores.
I guess that they have fallen on hard times lately and have been trying to reorganize. They tried to be the Walmart of the music industry.
Reverb is actually based here in Chicago. It was set up by the guy that owns the Chicago Music Exchange. I guess that he is some sort of tech mogul that bought the music store a few years back from the original owners. Reverb is sort of like Etsy for music gear only. There's another music only auction sight but I can't remember the name of it.
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23964 is a reply to message #23872] |
Mon, 28 September 2015 15:20 |
chicagobill
Messages: 2006
Registered: April 2003
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Senior Member |
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Like I said, GC has been in some sort of financial trouble as of late, and has been seeing a lot of employee turnover, etc.
As for used stuff, I don't think that they really want to be bothered with a lot of it, so unless you want to trade in a nice old '50s Les Paul on a shiny new Epiphone Les Paul, they probably don't offer much.
Just like a giant machine, it operates by moving stuff through the system. The more boxes they sell the more money they make. The more time it takes to check out/repair/recondition/list a used trade-in item the less money they make.
I know that I'm a dinosaur in this business and I won't be in it for that much longer, so it doesn't make all that much difference to me, but as a society we no longer value quality, and instead only want to get stuff for the cheapest price we can. And the manufacturers are just as bad, as they want to maximize profits so their CEOs can take home the huge salaries that they seem to demand to keep the stockholders happy.
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #23971 is a reply to message #23872] |
Tue, 29 September 2015 11:21 |
zedsalt
Messages: 65
Registered: March 2008
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South Bend also used to be home to "the largest musical instrument showroom in the U.S.". The Woodwind & the Brasswind were doing really gangbuster catalog-based business, too, judging by the size of their call center (walked past the open door to it once on my way to the john and saw a little slice of their I-don't-know-how-many-acres-big cubicle farm). They seemed well-positioned for the nascent internet trade, trading the number one spot back and forth with Musicians Friend, numbers two and three with American Musical Supply, and began buying out smaller internet/catalog retailers. Their contract with Music123 had a clause that kept most of the Z. Bros.' former employees on the job...and the WW&B violated it. Big time. A few years/millions of dollars later, they were in a storefront in a not-so-great neighborhood, selling elementary school classroom teaching tools/instruments and some marching band stuff; a Guitar Center moved into town (technically, Mishawaka, but they advertise as being in the Bend), and their biggest competition was another "See? With each bar mounted on its own plastic block, it's like a customizable xylophone!" shop, set up in the front eighth or tenth or so of their old building. I took the moral of the story to be "Play nice."
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| Re: What are the rarest and/or most prized Kustoms [message #24035 is a reply to message #23971] |
Wed, 07 October 2015 12:52 |
tito566
Messages: 45
Registered: August 2013
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Member |
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I usually come here for advice and tips but had to chime in. For me, I have had some good luck over the years finding real gems in thrift/pawn stores. More specifically a red K150-8(the guy asked for $100 for it as it was unfamiliar to him)!! and a Cascade Frankie head and 2x15 cab w/Jensens, both in amazing condition(This one I paid more than I should have to get however. These are both keepers to me.
My cleanest sounding Kustom however is a blue Hustler. No pop when the amp is powered on or off and no background noise when plugged into. So I do not limit my searches to guitar center, or mom&pop shops. Although, I would give my business to the local shop before anyone else. Great topic by the way!
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