As many of you know, I am one in a long line of many who foolishly sold their beloved 1210s at a time when mixing seemed like something they would never dabble in again (oh the humanity!). And like many, I would like to reunite myself with a pair (I did hit up the guy I sold mine to and the b&stard said, “No thanks, I don’t want to sell them back to you, I am very happy with them” - can you believe the cheek?).
The pricing on straight up used/second hand units seems to range from $200/deck to some a$$hole wanting $600 for a single deck with hair dryer cables for wiring. Unfortunately I have yet to come by a set at the $200/each range (shut up Xone - I know). There are few places out there doing refurbed/ custom decks with powder coats, new leds, fully serviced etc ranging from $750-$insane a pair. Some of them offer payment plans etc which is attractive but I wanted to get some input from people THAT HAVE ACTUALLY BOUGHT OR SOLD THEM.
IF you have bought a set or do this kind of work yourself - let me know what you think. I realize that those selling will be inclined to promote the service but I am hoping that honesty will prevail.
I service Technics here, and I get load of custom one. Really, it depend of the quality of the guy behind. Some are really nicely done, quality paint & paint job, wiring done the right way… but some “looks” fine, but the quality of the paint and job inside is really bad.
No “real” big deal, you can still change the top cover or even redo the paint job… but it’s no longer a $ deal.
What you see is not always what you get. I’m not sure if I would buy a pair of custom one myself.
As far as refurbished technics- it really depends on where you live and who did the refurb. Sometimes I would not want a refurb from some that go on ebay and if they are painted you don’t know the quality unless they have a good reputation.
Same with ones with replaced RCA cables, they might be using big thick cables which can’t fit through the RCA clamp and will put stress on the tone arm board and could get damaged.
If you get “refurb” make sure there are lots of pictures and you can see all the details especially to see where the RCAs go into the housing and if they ditched the clamp to get them to fit.
Personally if I were buying decks for myself I would just want to get the nicest looking 1200s I could find and then do the mods myself.
LED kits are cheap- I just ordered a bunch and did a partial group buy thing and it costs $18 for a pair of blue LED kits that take an hour to install with no soldering. Same with replacing cables- you can do that yourself for $20 or so.
While I can seem to find great deals, if I were looking to just get a pair for myself I would probably be looking for something different.
I would not be looking for MK2s but instead M3Ds or MK5s. M3Ds are usually the best deal if you can find them since they are cheaper than MK5s but once you throw an LED kit on it is the same as a MK5. For all intents and purposes I consider the only difference between M3D and MK5 to be the incandesent pop up which gets replaced with LED anyway.
If I were you I would look for a pair of M3Ds or MK5s for around $750-$800 in great shape and then throw the LED kits I use on there and you have a set of great decks.
Maybe you should try find a set that works well but is a bit banged up on the exterior. You can always get deck plates to make them look nice. 12inchskinz.com has some nice looking plates for cheap. You can also do the led mods for about 40$ for the pair. Ebay has some easy to install kits that work well. Add some pitch decals to give it a crisp finish. I went the powder coating route but it was tough getting all the parts back in without screwing something up. I actually chipped one of the decks and f-ed it up.
I agree with xonetacular. I personally specialize on 1200s/1210s. I do buy, refurbish and sell as well. Buying refurbished decks at the right price would depend on how the turntables were done, what cables and connectors were used and how intricate the craftsmanship was made to it.
A full refurbished deck by me would cost around $300. Same range for a fully restored 2nd hand unit.
I was completely sold on getting a set of Numark TTX’s when my good friend said he was gonna switch up setups and was getting rid of a pair of 1210’s for 400 bucks, so i snatched them up so fast it was ridiculous. They did come needle-less and no vinyl but for my first set of TT’s they arent bad (alittle scuffed and beaten, but Craze played a set with them in NOLA at the Big Krit/Yelawolf show!) Ill post pics in my setup thread soon.
Do you mean that the whole deck–after being refurbished–would cost that or that the service to refurbish my 1200 would cost that?
Also…any specific things to check as to workmanship other than the RCA thing xone mentioned?
I’m probably about to buy a set from a local shop that does refurbishing and custom tweaks…probably going to go for LEDs, internal grounding, and RCA jacks on the bottom instead of cables coming out of it.
$300 for a fully refurbished deck for sale. I usually charge $160 per deck on a full refurbishment package service. You can see the list of services in my site, Works1200.
Anyway, aside from the RCAs, you might also want to check for the pitch. Have a glide on it and try the feel of smoothness. Also check the pitch control’s calibration. Check the tonearm’s swivel, anti-skate and height adjuster if they were properly put back together and calibrated to factory setting. The internal grounding will be very helpful especially when you move or bring the decks for gigging. The LEDS are nice too.
Really, still? You’re practically giving decks away- it’s hard to find mediocre condition techs that need refurbishing for $300 each. I was getting $900-$1000 for a set of refurbs a couple years ago before they were discontinued (on craigslist so no fees/hassle) and now I see nice painted/powder coated sets of MK2s go for $1400 on ebay regularly.
Yup. $300 is done in basic colors. Original 1200 silver, original 1210 very dark grey (almost black) or pure white. For custom colors, there’s an additional $50 because I will have the have the paint mixed at a local (professional) paint shop where they use color codes on the computer to match the exact shades required. But there are also times that I mix the paint myself and do a little adjustments before spraying them.
So…how about price (incl. shipping to 30337) and turnaround time for a pair of black refurbished m3ds with internal grounding, and an LED target light?
How much less are mk2s?
Like…I’m in the market…was planning on picking up a set later this week, but they’re probably going to charge a bit over 300 each for mk2s that are electronically good but cosmetically “bleh”. Only plus is no shipping and local.
And I knew the normal things to check, I meant something like “fat ass RCA cables mean that the cables are stressing the board” kinds of things.
