Broken pedals

[disto]

hi, a while a go i found a broken cry baby on ebay bought it and fixed it! i wondered if anyone knew somewhere online that often sold broken guitar pedals of guitar pedal shells. it something i enjoyed doing but they dont seem to come along too often!

[aron]

Same here. I asked the local stores if they had anything. None have replied so far.

[disto]

the odd one come on ebay now and again! im actually considering buying some cheap no-name pedal just to gut it and build something new! i was looking at the boss pedals and how simple the case design is, it would be simple to rebuild a different pedal inside

[audioguy]

I built a killer wah out of a crappy St. louis music wah wah... the shell was identicle all the way down to the internal board mounting screw holes.
I think I paid $30 for it

[disto]

i payed £20ish for my crybaby all it needed was a new switch!

i found a crybaby today for £10 and another type bespeco for under £5

[tommy.genes]

I did buy on eBay a broken Ibanez DML-20 for $35 shipped. The guy said in the description that he had plugged the wrong supply in, so I took a chance on it being a fried protection diode. I was right, and got a pedal I wanted anyway for one half (or even one third) of what they've sold for in working condition.

Still, I got tired of watching the broken pedal auctions because the prices generally went too high. You could buy all the parts you need for a scratch build, not to mention brand new Dano FAB or Behringer pedals, for what some people are paying for broken pedals on eBay.

I have been meaning to ask the local pawn broker if he has any broken pedals. Maybe he'd let them go cheap in lieu of the hassle of listing, shipping, giving PayPal their cut etc. Interestingly enough, the pawn shop itself is mostly filled with new, cheap, no-name instruments from Asia. All the good used stuff goes straight to...

You guessed it, eBay 

-- T. G. --

[hubble]

im always on the lookout for broken pedals for more professional looking enclosures/debugging.  they always get too high on ebay, i dont get it.

oh yeah, i know this is kinda obvious but ebay will give you the related topics when searching, that helps too.

[Processaurus]

When I'm traveling, I have had good luck finding busted pedals at mom & pop music shops, all the big places are either too corporate, or have a tech working there that knows how to fix them or that takes em home cause they're a pedal nut.  A couple times at the little shops they've just given them to me if I ask nice, because they've just been taking up space in the back.  Or throw em in free with something else.  Often they're excited to hear that you make your own pedals.  Not in Hollywood, though.    They're probably the snakes paying top dollar for the busted classic 70s stuff off ebay...

[the dude]

I often find it amusing the price people are willing to pay for broken stuff. Sometimes the price goes so high that for a little more money you could buy a working one.

[Processaurus]

I often find it amusing the price people are willing to pay for broken stuff. Sometimes the price goes so high that for a little more money you could buy a working one.

Seriously!  Do they realise it could easily turn into the repair from hell?  It does make me want to dump the unfixables on there though.  I know, so bad...  but the listing would go, "You may be thinking you can fix this and get a good deal. You're dead wrong.  It will ruin your life.  For use as paperweight only."

[markm]

I often find it amusing the price people are willing to pay for broken stuff. Sometimes the price goes so high that for a little more money you could buy a working one.

Seriously!  Do they realise it could easily turn into the repair from hell?  It does make me want to dump the unfixables on there though.  I know, so bad...  but the listing would go, "You may be thinking you can fix this and get a good deal. You're dead wrong.  It will ruin your life.  For use as paperweight only."

That's hilarious!!!
I agree that the prices are out of control on ebay.
It's almost to the point where you can't find a bargain there any longer.
If you look hard you can but, I've just about given up on that route as I would rather spend
my free time building effects or playing my Tele instead of cruising the ebay listings.
    MarkM

[stankyfish]

That's hilarious!!!
I agree that the prices are out of control on ebay.
It's almost to the point where you can't find a bargain there any longer.
If you look hard you can but, I've just about given up on that route as I would rather spend
my free time building effects or playing my Tele instead of cruising the ebay listings.
    MarkM

Indeed.  For a lot of things, eBay is not worth the hassle anymore.  It's great for finding odd things, but the days of bargain hunting seem long over for most stuff.  It was bound to happen.  I find it funny to watch the over eager eBay newbies spend more money for an item + shipping than they could buy it for at the mall.

[tiges_ tendres]

Bid sniper or whatever it is, really pisses me off.  I've missed a ton of crap because of that thing!

Ive been bidding on a ton of different broken EH pedals lately and I have lost them all with 1 second left!
broken EH stuff always gets a good price. 

I Pray that the E-Beast sniper is sleeping.  IT'S CHEATING!

There are stil bargains to be had.  Ive picked up some cool stuff lately that was advertised to not work, or needed work, and it was as simple as turning a couple of trim pots! 

Be lucky, avoid the E-Sniper Beast

[Cliff Schecht]

I bought a broken Crybaby Bass Wah for $30 on ebay (Something like $22 in shipping ) and ended up just replacing the four IC's with ones bought on Digikey. It wasn't too bad a job either considering it's a completely surface mount board. I hate those things in pedals, really makes it a bitch to reliably modify anything.

[disto]

ebay is getting way too popular now and people will over bid! its great for stuff you can buy in the shops though! however is full of people that just get over excited and bid way too much or people scamming you (every searched for a macbook or macbook pro?).

I have had good luck finding busted pedals at mom & pop music shops, all the big places are either too corporate...

so you just went into small music shops and asked if they had any broken pedals? im dreaming of the day i walk into a second hand shop and find a telecaster or some pedals that the shop keeper knows nothing about and is selling them off really cheap. alas i fear it will never happen to me!

[Dirk_Hendrik]

Bid sniper or whatever it is, really pisses me off.  I've missed a ton of crap because of that thing!

Ive been bidding on a ton of different broken EH pedals lately and I have lost them all with 1 second left!
broken EH stuff always gets a good price. 

I Pray that the E-Beast sniper is sleeping.  IT'S CHEATING!

There are stil bargains to be had.  Ive picked up some cool stuff lately that was advertised to not work, or needed work, and it was as simple as turning a couple of trim pots! 

Be lucky, avoid the E-Sniper Beast

Sigh,

The winner of an auction is the person who is willing to pay the most. If you wanted to pay more than the sniper you shoul've bid that amount in the first place and you would have been the winner. I'ts part of the Ebay system and therefore definitely not cheating.

On the matter of paying "too much" for a broken pedal, Why not? Of the 10's of pedals I've repaired over the last couple of years the amount which I could't fix can still be counted on one hand. This means that if I want something it does'n matter too much wether it's broken or not (to me) and all that the final price will stay under the average market value is profit.

[hubble]

oh yeah! AND they like to soup up the idea of fixing it like, "simple chip change, PROBABLY" or some bs like that so people will bid higher.  hmmph
of course, if it was simple, they probably wouldnt be selling it

[Dirk_Hendrik]

typing error

[Dirk_Hendrik]

In most cases however, it is that simple. The problem is not the chip or whatever compenent(s) defetive change. The problem, which we see often on this board as well, is to identify which component is defective. That can be a tough job to determine, especially when not owning the right tools for quick determination.

Example of 2 weeks ago when I bought an Ibanez AD-9 which did work but had a pretty thin and soft  delay signal. Without a scope it was close to impossible to determine which part in the signal was causing the signal to degenerate. With a scope it was immediately clear that there was measurable signal present on the inverting input of the opamp in the output (post BBD) filter. That means that the opamp didn't work properly. Taking it out showed that the positive power sypply pin of the opamp was broken. Signal will pass through the input and feedback resistror and therfore some signal is audible but with the absence of the opamp functionality the filter worked completely passive. Considering how crowded a AD-9 board is it was impossible to see that broken pin. Therefore only the reason of owning/using a scope lead to a quick repair.

[MartyMart]

Recently got a 1980 set of the Ibanez "0" style pedals, and 808 an AD80 and FL303 all for £250.
THe ad said that both the 808 and AD80 were "broken" ..... try new battery clips and one new
jack socket !
Sold the Delay for £180 and FL303 for £90 ... up on the deal and an original 808 for free !! 

MM.