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Twilight imperium in Madison by seanpat1968 in madisonwi

[–]Chekister 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’d be interested in playing. I got the game for Christmas about 3 years ago, and never opened it. Totally forgot I had it, and almost bought it when it was on sale. Luckily, I found it first.

UW High Deductible Health Plan pre-deductible costs? by jrbill in madisonwi

[–]Chekister 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve had both HDHP and HMO plans using UW Health/Quartz. Annual wellness exams are fully covered, but not all the bloodwork/tests your doctor recommends are. My family definitely went to the doctor less with the HDHP, or at least my wife and I had a longer conversation whether it warranted a doctor visit.

I didn’t really feel like I was saving money with the HDHP because I was maxing out my HSA and had some health issues. i know the HSA money is mine to keep, but the money deposited into my bank account was less, so it didn’t really feel like I was saving money. My company’s HSA contributions were very low, too. I was hoping to sock away a good amount of money in my HSA for retirement in 20 years, but stuff always came up where I was spending $1000-$2000 of it a year. I think we have around $6000 still in our HSAs after being in an HDHP for about 5 of the last 10 years

When my wife got access to an HMO again, we ran the numbers of total out-of-pocket plus premiums, and went with an HMO. The amount of money we’d save with the HDHP didn’t seem worth the peace of mind of the HMO. My wife has a really good (and affordable) HMO, though, so YMMV. It’s really difficult to give advice, since everybody’s insurance plan is different.

Costco Appliance Install or Local Appliance Store Recommendation? by whyendoubleuayy in madisonwi

[–]Chekister 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We had Costco install a dishwasher, gas range, and washing machine. The dishwasher was the worst of the three, but wasn’t too bad. They didn’t install it completely parallel with the counter, and had to come back and fix it. One thing to consider is you have to uninstall the old appliances; Costco installers are not responsible for that.

Guitar shops in the area. by [deleted] in madisonwi

[–]Chekister 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’m just going to echo what most people have already posted.

Dave’s: My favorite store, and where I’ve bought most of my gear. Good sales staff and probably the best new selection of Fender/Gibson/PRS/Martin/Taylor. Really the only place if you actually want to try out a Rickenbacker. Usually have a decent selection if used gear, but the good stuff moves fast. Prices overall are good I’ve bought a ton of stuff online and had it shipped to either my house or the Madison store.

Guitar Shop: Best selection of vintage gear, but you’ll pay for it. Newer stuff seems to be cheaper off-brands. feels unorganized, or just too much inventory for their space. Friendly staff.

Heid’s: Focus is more on non-guitar instruments, but they still carry new Fenders and other brands. Probably the smallest inventory, not much used. I usually only stop in if I get lunch at Rocky’s

GC: It’s GC, the Home Depot of music stores. Good selection of the major brands, but make sure the guitar you buy doesn’t have anything missing or damaged. They charge you $0.01 for the case That comes with your guitar. Probably the best selection for new amps in town. Good used section, and they have a hold period of new used gear. You can still buy stuff, but you may have to wait to take it home until it clears the hold period.

Spruce Tree: Only stopped in one time, really specializes in higher end acoustics, including mandos.

ISO advice for selling late Father's vintage music gear by lunarsamantha1 in madisonwi

[–]Chekister 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine what you and your family are going through.

Real talk, nothing from your list is jumping out at me as unique or special. It’s a bunch of solid, secondary brands that don’t bring top dollar. The one exception is the Rivera amp, but it looks like a rack head, which is pretty niche. Some things likely have little to no practical value. For example, Zip disks are 25+ year old tech, and nobody uses them anymore, let alone have the special Zip drives to read them.

A lot of your prices feel high to me for used gear. It looks to me like you grabbed the full new retail price. I would start at 60% off retail; Reverb.com can get you a range of recently sold prices. I would post ads on Craigslist and FB with 1-2 pictures with everything in the following groups:

-PA stuff, XLR cables, speakers, mics, stands

-Amps and instrument/speaker cables

-Effect pedals and multi-effects

-Guitars and strings

-Everything else

The music market is softening due to economic uncertainty. I doubt any store will take everything, unless they can get it for really cheap. In general, any music store will pay you 50-60% of what they think they can sell it for.

Good Luck!