In Restoration: August 2018
We drove through the eastern U.S. on a pickup/delivery run last week. (Little-known fact! We do deliver long-distance. More info here.) We dropped off our gorgeous Wurlitzer 720a, and then picked up a handful of new pieces: a teacher/student 206a/207a pair, a 203w wheeled console Wurlitzer, an extremely rare Wurlitzer 140a, and a Fender Rhodes Mk I.
This time, we decided to post photos of all our new pieces without cleaning them first. This was a big decision for us because we usually follow the golden rule of photography: only photograph things that are clean. It's one of those underrated tips in product photography that makes a huge difference in how appealing the item looks. Cleaning: like the Patch tool, but for real life! So, if you're reading this and you have your own listings on Craigslist/eBay/Reverb, stop what you're doing, hose your stuff down (not literally, please), and retake the photos. (Alternative idea: skip the cleaning and sell your vintage gear to us! We're not afraid of dirty gear. As you can see!)
Anyway, we decided to take photos before cleaning for two reasons. First, we're able to list everything faster, which means that we can get these vintage instruments into your hands faster. Most of these pieces have been sitting around unplayed for a very long time - maybe decades - and it's time that they started playing music again. Second, we always like to document our gear in the condition that we receive them. Sometimes we skip this step due to lack of time, but with such a large batch of vintage keyboards we didn't want them all to go undocumented.
As soon as restoration is complete on these keyboards, we'll be taking new photos. In the meantime, you can always contact us to ask about the status of these restorations, or to inquire about exactly how they'll play when they're completed.
Further Reading
Browse all of our articles on restoring vintage gear. Or, click on an image below.
