The comments above are a good guide. Watch the newsgroups and ebay for
a while. As far as the difference of opinion about prices for old
panels, I've seen old panels fetch high prices. The main determinant
seems to be how well the module selection matches the desires of the
buyer, not age. This is a somewhat unique factor in the used Serge
market since you're always dealing in groups of modules.
I'm famiiar with STS panels from the Oakland era, as well as pre-STS
panels from 1980/1981 (They were on Haight Street in San Francisco
then), and 1980/1981 panels later rebuilt by STS and combined with
newer circuits. All of it has held up very very well and is more alike
than different. I also have a used panel from about 1977 or 1978 which
has different banana jacks (not the Johnson jacks). These old jacks
are secured by a barbed clip rather than a nut, and many of those
needed to be replaced. The Johnson jacks are incredibly durable. If
you find anything much older than that (panel graphics with lots of
boxes and triangles) I suspect there is more variation.
Rex has gradually incorporated some improvements into the electronics
of some modules (AFIK mostly subtle changes and cleanups), turned some
common modifications into standard features, transitioned to panel
graphics on metal and introduced the deeper chassis boxes,
discontinued some modules and created some new ones but overall the
product line has been pretty consistent over time. If you are looking
for certain modules (you mentioned a WAD) that will limit the date
range. I wonder if anybody has a timeline of these things?
a while. As far as the difference of opinion about prices for old
panels, I've seen old panels fetch high prices. The main determinant
seems to be how well the module selection matches the desires of the
buyer, not age. This is a somewhat unique factor in the used Serge
market since you're always dealing in groups of modules.
I'm famiiar with STS panels from the Oakland era, as well as pre-STS
panels from 1980/1981 (They were on Haight Street in San Francisco
then), and 1980/1981 panels later rebuilt by STS and combined with
newer circuits. All of it has held up very very well and is more alike
than different. I also have a used panel from about 1977 or 1978 which
has different banana jacks (not the Johnson jacks). These old jacks
are secured by a barbed clip rather than a nut, and many of those
needed to be replaced. The Johnson jacks are incredibly durable. If
you find anything much older than that (panel graphics with lots of
boxes and triangles) I suspect there is more variation.
Rex has gradually incorporated some improvements into the electronics
of some modules (AFIK mostly subtle changes and cleanups), turned some
common modifications into standard features, transitioned to panel
graphics on metal and introduced the deeper chassis boxes,
discontinued some modules and created some new ones but overall the
product line has been pretty consistent over time. If you are looking
for certain modules (you mentioned a WAD) that will limit the date
range. I wonder if anybody has a timeline of these things?
--- In SergeModular@yahoogroups.com, "buchla300" <david.morley@...> wrote:
>
> I stand by my valuations of $800 to $1800 in general
> If we are talking Pre STS then I think over $2000 would need it to be
> full of exceptional modules and this is unlikely although totally
> possible that one panel has JUST rare and expensive modules...