Giving up

[Enzo]

Anyone who has a shop will eventually close it. This is my time. I have been idly thinking of it for some time, but life forces have decided for me to just STOP. My crumbling 100 year old farm house was turning into an ever larger restore. By the time I put enough $$$ into it to maker it livable, I might better raze it and put of a pre-fan in its place. One propane bill last winter was $1400, etc etc. The wife and I will be moving into some senior housing this weekend. One less burden. We'll be warm, have a solid roof, no cold wind blowing through, a kitchen that works. No path through the attic for the cats to get out. And you know what? Perfect time to pull the plug here too. What little focus and energy I have left, I;ll try to finish up some projects.

At the homestead, I had a 2.5 car garage I built to be a shop. But we won;t be at the homestead. I sure as hell am not going to unleash a Twin Reverb at midnight with old folks on either side. And I don't want to continue to pay commercial rents for the shop.

That brings the never seriously considered question right to the fore. How do I reasonably liquidate all this? HAd a friend drop in this evening, and told him, and we are looking around at containers full of miscellaneous stuff. AM I really going to ever use that head-raising year from a Yamaha cassette deck? Or that old AMphenol connector body? Am I silly enough to expect to sell them for 5 cents? I can put VAriacs on ebay, but how about all the power transformers I culled from stereo receivers I stripped out? They are there as projects. Someone wanted to build a solid state amp, I'd give them a transformer. Huge old Tek tube scopes, even with extra plug-ins. Don't really look forward to shipping one of those.

My beloved B18X Ampeg, needs a refresh really. Got a Twin AMp mostly just needs a speaker, but have an old Twin Reverb I swear the chassis bolts are what keeps the cabinet in one piece. I have some NOS Sovtek heads - yep, still sealed in the box. Now should I sell them like that, or should I assume 25-30 year old caps need replacing? And these are early units, still made with Soviet military parts. I get more for great condition, but I move more of them if I leave them rough. Everything I look at raises those questions.

I can't afford to give away the store, and on the other hand I don't want to wait ten years to get it all gone.That will be 75 cents for that fuse young man... two for a dollar though.


Guys come in wanting a resistor or something, and I just give them one, but I doubt I will sit out by the street with a FREE RESISTORS sign. Besides, the "God Bless" beggars would probably think I was stepping on their turf.

Oh wow... I have two HP distortion analyzers that have never been used. QSC required us to have them to become service centers.


I quit trying to stay on top of OEM pots years ago, but I still have a selection. Those pull switch Mesas from the Mark series ought to be handy one day.


A zillion 20mm fuses. I used to repair a zillion SMPS for the video game industry. Not now. Then they used lots of those fuses. Bought them by the hundreds.

I have a can of original Cramolin, not a lot left in it. I was saving it for some who knows what special occasion... I am using it up now.

[The Dude]

I'm not even sure what to say here except best of luck with everything.

Moving is a daunting task; and more difficult for every year you've been in the same location. You don't realize how much stuff you have until you have to find a new place to put it. I find it somewhat liberating to toss things out every once in a while. Many techs I know, including myself, have a hard time throwing things away. It's not in our DNA. As technicians, we are taught to and spend our lives trying to salvage things and make them work. It's against our very nature to throw away something. But, one has to realize that space itself has value. As far as items that do have value and are worth shipping, maybe put together a list and post it up here on the forums and we can help you sell off some of it.

I have a feeling you'll never fully retire. This stuff is in your blood and you'll always find something to tinker with.

Anyway, again, good luck and let us know if we can help.

[big_teee]

All the best Enzo!
T

[TomCarlos]

Wow.... big news...

I for one wish you well in this next chapter of your life. You've been incredibly helpful to myself and hundreds of others (and all those who have read your posts).

Just an idea for you to ponder- and not knowing if this is an option.

The amps and music gear - well that is one thing and probably the easier items to sell. Shipping big items is expensive. So local sales would be best.

As for the shop equipment, parts, etc. Years ago, a friend closed down his TV repair shop. He created boxes of goodies- kinda like "grab bags." Plastic bags of resistors, caps, pots, etc. Each box had a little of everything. He contacted the local community college that offered electronics and sent over some flyers. He also posted the goodie boxes on Craigslist. There was lots of turn out and he sold bunches of stuff. You may not have the luxury of time to liquidate everything. But if you could find someone to offer you some storage space for a short while, this might be workable. You have a Heald or ITT Tech college nearby?

I inherited some old test gear may moons ago- RF equipment that I didn't know what to do with it. I donated it to the local community college and took a tax write off. Yeah, if not gonna recoup your investment but at least I got something.

I will ponder some more...

Tom

[Chuck H]

I had a fairly "exclusive" painting company when I lived in the bay area of Ca. Specializing in customer hand holding, other than standard finishing and fine, old world craftsmanship. When I moved from the area eight years ago I called every repeat customer. Some were regular customers. What I called "Golden Gate Bridge" customers. That is, you start at one end of the work and the maintenance that their home requires means that by the time you get to the end it's time to start back at the beginning again! People my wife and I had been servicing for twenty years in a couple of instances.

After I moved I found myself in an entirely green customer situation. But that's not the point of this post or a story that needs telling. More to the point is that I made trips to Ca. for four years to take care of things for old customers. Since I'm no longer making trips it would seem that two things have happened...

My own local situation has stabilized enough that I can manage it more easily than making thousand mile round trips in winter, sometimes away from my home for months, to make ends meet. Things were a little tough the first winter I stayed "home", but now it seems to be stabilized. So THAT happened. But more significant to me is that I'm not getting many calls asking if I'll be coming to Ca. My old customers have all either died () or moved on to a new painter that remains local.!. I would love to believe that I was irreplaceable as a custom painter, but irreplaceable is NEVER the case. Life goes on even though people come and go.

I'm not 100% on what my point is.?. I think it has something to do with just rolling with what's next and knowing that things will fall in line and life is going to go on without any tremendous disappointment to anyone in particular. Maybe I don't aspire to much, but that's comforting to me. I suppose I hope it can offer you some peace of mind. Something that is far too rare in the "information age".

Just see to it that however you land you can get back here. We're not done "working" you yet

JM2C on such things. Let us know if we can do anything to help. I'm sure I'm not speaking out of turn by including others here.

[Leo_Gnardo]

Drivin' up the local hiway today, noticed we have a new "upscale" Japanese restaurant: ENZO.

a-HAH so that's what you're really up to! Guys I'll bet you never knew Enzo can twist up a tuna dynamite roll with the best of 'em....

Seriously, Enzo you've given it your best & I'm sure thousands of customers appreciate your help as well as hundreds, maybe thousands of folks right here on MEF. So hear a big THANK YEWWWWW !!! from all of them and us. And another big cheer to Wenzo for keeping YOU going all these years.

[Tom Phillips]

Enzo,
I wish you the the best of luck and relaxing pleasureful times. From what I have read in your posts you have earned your retirement with a lifetime of hard work and your 21,522 posts and counting to this forum alone have been a tremendous contribution of knowledge and good common sense.
Cheers,
Tom

[52 Bill]

I sense a weakening in the Force...

...and your 21,522 posts and counting to this forum alone have been a tremendous contribution of knowledge and good common sense.

Not to mention at least another 50,000 posts on countless other forums out there.

Enzo, I wish for you all the best in whatever you and the Mrs. do. I know that you used to work out of a music store, perhaps that would be one way to ease out of the business. Or do you have employees that can take over the current business?

I bet that there are a few slicksters out there that would love to make you a cash offer on back stock of amps and parts.

[J M Fahey]

Thanks thanks thanks thanks for everything

And best luck on whatever you do

Even if you leave the multimeter and soldering iron for good, maybe they have some Internet connection at your future home (hint hint ) so you might still drop in every now and then to say Hi! to the crew

Talking weather, sports, local gossip and bitching about something and whatever people fill their lifes with at senior homes is fun, but it's in your blood, every now and then you'll feel "the itch" and you'll want to shoot the breeze with us .... you're always welcome, of course, and on your own terms.

Good luck and waiting to see you again around here ... just for fun, of course.

A big hug to Ms Wenzo too

[Dave H]

Thanks Enzo and good luck to you.

But it's good news for us isn't it? Now you'll have more time to post on the forum.

[retgaz]

I'm sure you'll be able to sell most of the stuff you're not wanting.
Are there any rules on this forum to stop you posting a list of the things you're selling. You would be reaching the type of people that would make good use of those things and the buyers would know they were buying from a reputable source.
I'm in the UK so I won't be buying anything, but just a thought.
Good luck for the future Enzo and thanks for all the help you've given me, both in replies to my posts and in information you've given in the many threads I've read on here.

[Steve L]

Enzo,

First, thank you very much for all of your insight and generosity in sharing your knowledge over the years. The suggestions you make to people needing help are always spot-on.

Second, congratulations on making your life simpler! Your body and mind will thank you.

As far as the “business separation anxiety” you are going through, I know exactly how you feel.
I cut my business back to almost nothing last year. Although I had all the work I wanted, it was time. I have a similar situation with surplus parts, test equipment, etc. What I am doing this winter is this:

First, put aside everything you REALLY think you may need in the future. (Easier said than done) Next, set a dollar limit on whether an individual item, or perhaps a batch of items, is worth dealing with. Maybe $50?
If you don't want to ship it, sell it locally at a reduced price. If it can be easily shipped and is worth your time, use eBay or maybe even this forum. Sell as much as you can in reasonable sized lots. People will buy them.
When you cull all of the expensive stuff out, get rid of the rest locally as one big lot.

Another approach would be to donate some items to a school, however finding one that could use them might be challenging. Maybe a private technical school?

Whatever you do, I wish you the best and thanks again.

Steve

[eschertron]

Enzo,

Maybe now you'll have time to write that book?

[Mark Hammer]

Um, thanks for all the fish?

When people leave a job they hate, they never look back. When it's a job that they enjoyed, and that always provided intellectual challenge, camaraderie, and a sense of accomplishment, it's a little tougher to let go.

A hobby buddy of mine passed away from a brain tumour 5 years ago, and I have been slowly but surely helping his widow dispose/sell off of the contents of her basement, and it's a LOT of stuff. We joke that there wasn't a Radio Shack in town that was safe from him. Hell, you could almost completely reconstruct a RS from 1995 from the contents of what's on the shelves above his workbench. And then there are all the e-bay deals he got on pots, and knobs, and prototype boards, and big box of plastic chassis. I imagine it must be something like your present challenge, although in his case it was his hobby, rather than his business. Perhaps there is a swap meet occurring in your area in the near future to provide a venue for finding a new home for things. I see a couple of guitar shows this month in Michigan, though I have no idea if they are any sort of reasonable distance from you: Upcoming Events | Vintage Guitar® magazine

The upshot is that I don't envy your task, although I do wish you and the missus as painless a transition to your new abode and new lifestyle as possible.

And know that you will always be welcome here, and I imagine any other forum you've participated in.

vaya con dios

[Jazz P Bass]

Best of luck Enzo.

How about doing a Reality Show?