SergeModular

> A lot of the Arp's and Moog's I've seen recently for sale have been

cheaper

> than ever. The problem with Serge panels is we all value them too highly.

As

> a 'used' item they obviously depreciate more than we are willing to
> accept.....at least in the current market.

My theory behind the relatively low Serge panel prices is that many of the
panels
are taken from larger systems and do not always appeal to newcomers or
existing owners
adding to systems because of the module compliment.

Due to the 'whole panel at once' design, Serge systems tend to grow into
very personal and highly customised
instruments with more pre-planning required than any system offering
seperate modules. I have been tempted
to bid for some of these used panels but I always conclude that I wouldn't
have chosen half the modules and my system
may become 'unbalanced' giving me a feeling that I would be getting cheaper
panels just for the sake of it.

Also - of course Serge is not like ARP, Buchla, etc in that it is still
being manufactured - therefore
most buyers may prefer to pay a little extra and order new from Rex. Due to
the expense involved in
building a Serge system it goes without saying that many existing owners
probably have enough funds
to not really care about getting slightly cheaper used panels - and would
prefer to order new panels with the exact compliment
of modules required.

I could only see used Serge panels selling for good prices if a potential
buyer found a panel exactly to his needs / the buyer
was in such a hurry that he doesn't want to wait for STS to build a new one
/ the panel had a rare customised or discontinued module /
the panel really was *alot* cheaper than a new equivalent from STS / the
buyer just wants as many panels as possible regardless of module compliment.

and finally, don't forget for many Serge is still too open-ended, esoteric,
underground, expensive, etc, etc - that's if most people outside
the usual forums even know/care what a Serge is... ;-)

kd