i used to travel and gig and busk a lot. i often hunted and found deals on instruments. i enjoyed looking in the junk stores and pawn shops. i got a beat up matrin d28 from 1954, for $500. it was a player beyond campare for the martin sound. it did cost me $ 1000 to fix it up for top resale but i got $4000 and i got to play it for a couple of years. well worth the fun and investment. i don't feel guilty at all. the guy i sold it to is a flat picker(its not a real finger pickers guitar)and he loves it like a child.

i got a several old gibsons and kept two.

i used to compare myself to a cracj dealer, i push to support my own habit.

i did once meet an elder lady who was selling her husnands last stuff to make ends meet. she had a violin worth at least twenty thousandn dollars. i thought at the ytime it was worth at least five thousand--i didn't have the final valuation. i was sympathetic to her plight and took her to a violin maker and appraiser who sold it for her for a the real price. she was asking $1500. there were several other buyers who were trying to get her to sell for two or three hundred dollars even though they knew its value. very wierd. they lost their chance. i felt good helping her out, but years later when i was broke for a while i did have a few regrets. now i'm comfortable again so i'm glad i did the right think.

the violin was an italian minor master form 1750ish. sje did sell me a very nice english hand made violin for a few hundred that sawed on untill i gave up fiddle and sold it to a kid who actually had the talent.

so sometimes its just find to make money, sometimes one should consider the effect you have on others in need.