I know someone selling a dead Polymoog 203a with the polypedals for best offer. Cosmetically, it looks good, and he said it ‘was partially working before he moved it’, and now it is not working at all. After much googling, I have yet to establish an estimated value for this keyboard. Can anyone recommend a ballpark amount that I can offer for it?
FWIW, buying non-working vintage gear can be very hazardous. It’s a big gamble. Even if the price is relatively low, you could end-up with a pile of junk if you don’t know a qualified tech that could fix it and if he can find parts for it.
Then again, it could be something relatively minor, like broken wires or loose connections. Who knows ? I’d have to see it up-close, and see for myself what the internal condition looks like, to get an idea of what could be the problem. But if you don’t know much about electronics that would be useless to you, and I would suggest you steer away.
As for the value of a dead Polymoog 203a, your guess is as good as mine…
Dead or dying Polymoogs are not worth much, and many repair shops will not touch one. They are complex machines with a lot of things to go wrong - dirty connectors, dirty IC sockets, early power supplies had a pc board etch error that can leave the machine vulnerable to damage, old CMOS prone to dying, dried out caps, bad slidepots, etc. Total restore is not worth the $$$.
I’m thinking in the $500-$750 range, maybe more but not over $1000. Again, I don’t even know how much a fully-functioning one goes for.
Read this before buying one
http://www.retrosynth.com/~analoguediehard/studio/keyboards/moog_polymoog/index.html
Pretty sure there was a non-functional 203a on my local Craigslist a while back in the $500-ish range. IIRC, the ad stated that the seller had got it via Ebay, it arrived DOA, he couldn’t get it repaired, and was dumping it as a result.
I remember thinking about it… but a quick image search showing a glance at the internals cooled me right down 
Might go thru that level of turmoil for an old CS, Chroma, T8, etc… but just not that motivated for a (potential) basket-case Polymoog.
Thanks for all of the input. It does seem like a lot of headache for a board that is somewhat pseudo-polyphonic with a shared filter, etc. I agree about the CS80, Chroma, and T8 - I’d spend months poring over schematics and inhaling solder fumes to get those monsters up and running. I’ll make an offer on the Moog and see what’s what. If worse comes to worse, I’ll at least have a really interesting coffee table. 