Pairing down the kit

Any studio--especially project studios--can get a bit crowded.  There are plenty of good deals to be had--$100 romplers, $150 analog racks etc.   Over time, these stack up and can take quite  bit of room, so I think it doesn't hurt to pair down every now and then. 

When I get the urge to purge and cleanse, I look at my gear, then ask myself the following questions:

1) When was the last time I used this bit of kit?  

2) Why am I not using it today?

3) If I trim, what am I losing?  Do other things cover this?.

4) How hard would it be for me to get it back--both in rarity and cost?

5) If I trim, what do I gain?

I tend to trim things that are unused AND take up space.  If it's big, unwieldy / hard to integrate and well covered by other synths...well, out it goes.  I'd almost rather not sell...I'd rather trade to be honest.  

Ebay has its own set of risks...paypal/ebay get their cut.  If the buyer thinks what he got is crap, then there is the headache of returns.  Does my kit work as well as I think it does?  Sure, plenty of people sell hundreds of items every day on ebay.  A local trade, however--both parties, we can see the kit.  Is this something fair for us?  We can try it out there.  We can leave, transaction done, confident of the exchange.

Local trades don't maximize return, this is true.  I've traded things worth $500 for items worth $300.  But then again, was it really worth $500?  Maybe to a few people.  @$300, there'd be a whole lot more buyers.   I usually don't trim for $$$--my stuff isn't just worth it.  A $100 rompler is not going to fetch more then that $100 a few years later.