Music magazines, vinyl and pre-loved instruments will be top of the picks for musician and City of Sydney Garage Sale Trail ambassador, Josh Pyke, at the giant, city-wide garage sale on 25 October.
Josh, a highly acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter and musician, is an avid supporter of garage sales as a means of unearthing musical treasures and to encourage recycling and reuse.
As this year’s ambassador, Josh is encouraging everyone to get involved with Garage Sale Trail by visiting local sales on the day to snap-up pre-loved instruments, music or vintage merchandise.
“My drum kit, piano and most of my guitars are all pre-loved. My pride and joy is a pair of second-hand microphones I bought in LA years ago,” he said.
“I think second-hand instruments and music gear are often better than new stuff. Most of my musician friends own a lot of second-hand gear, and the idea of re-use is very much a part of most musicians’ lives.”
Music lovers can check out Josh’s tips for picking up musical treasure at this year’s Garage Sale Trail at greenvillages, the City’s online hub for bright ideas for living sustainably.
Josh's Hot Garage Sale Tips
1. You never know when someone will decide to let go of that dusty old acoustic guitar• Make sure the neck isn’t bent or bowed. Hold it up to your eye, like a pirate looking through a telescope.
• Look out for cracks, or signs of dodgy patch jobs.
• Push gently down on the body and listen for creaks. If it creaks, the bridge might be bust, best to walk away.
• If you have one of those little guitar tuners that clip onto the head of the guitar, bring it along. See how it tunes up to check the intonation.
2. Vintage keyboards and samplers make amazing sounds
• Take a variety of sizes of fresh batteries to check if the unit actually powers up
• If you hear crackling, slide any faders up and down a few times to get rid of dust.
• Play every key, B flat might not be important to the old owner, but you might find it pivotal in your next composition!
3. Kids’ toys often make the best studio instruments
• Everyone wants their studio sounds to be unique, so why not think about sound making devices that were never intended for the studio?
• Kids pianos, Glockenspiels, recorders, tiny drums and miniature keyboards are great finds, they make unique sounds, and can usually be bought super cheap, so a great bargain.
4. If you’re into vinyl, you will definitely score cheap records at a garage sale!
• Always pull the record out from the sleeve and hold it up to the light to look for obvious scratches, warps and wobbles.
• Feel the weight of the record. The more it’s been played, the less it’ll weigh, and apparently heavier records generally last longer.
• With CD’s, obvious scratches should be avoided, unless the scratches are on CD’s by 90’s boy bands, in which case they should be actively encouraged.
• Finding old indie releases of bands that you used to go and see in your misspent youth is particularly cool, and creates an instant bond with the seller!
5. Vintage original band T-shirts
“One of my favourite second-hand items are original band T-shirts. You can pick these pre-loved items up really cheap, and relish in the knowledge that they were probably purchased at a show sometime in the past. There’s something very cool about being a part of that history.”
• Often even big bands only print a few thousand units of particular shirt; especially tour t-shirts, so you’re bound to be buying something pretty rare.
• If the shirt doesn’t fit, cut out the image and sew it onto a jacket!
6. Pre-loved music mags & zines
• You can find some incredible old music magazines at garage sales. People hold onto magazines a lot longer than you might think, and old copies of Mojo or Rolling Stone are in abundance at garage sales.
• Before the internet and blogs, people made limited edition zines, and they are rare treasure if you can find them. I’ve found zines featuring interviews with bands like Heatmiser and Horsemen of the Apocalypse before they were household names!
7. Old sheet music
• Whether it’s notation for classical music, guitar tabs of The Beatles, or those ‘Hits of the 70’s’ compilations, sheet music is a great score at garage sales.
• Pick them up on an inspirational whim, but if you don’t end up piecing together the tunes, you can always use the sheet paper for more crafty purposes. Seriously, search ‘sheet music’ on Pinterest. It will change your life. (Or not.)
