Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Reels as tables!!

This is topic Reels as tables!! in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 07-14-2008, 01:49 PM:

I don't know about anyone else, but it really pi**es me off to see perfectly good secondhand movie gear being bought-up to be used as decorative items for so-called 'home movie theatres'!

I've been busting my ass recently trying to get hold of some secondhand Goldberg spools without any success. Why? Well, they're all being bought-up and turned into bl**dy tables by some jackass! Now, what on earth would you want with a table made from a movie reel? Apart from anything else, the drinks would keep falling through the flange holes!!

It all seems like some sort of patronising insult to what 'real' (pardon the pun) cinema is about!

Keep movie reels where they belong (on projectors or rewind benches), not the walls of movie themed bars!

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-14-2008, 01:54 PM:

I can see your point, yet I look at it as a introduction to the theatre world to those who haven't a clue on what we do or work with.

With the growing demand for D-cinema, there is going to be a glutton of these units that we work with that is no longer used. Thus, why not turn them into home collectables and curios to give tribute to the movie industry and attempt to give and keep that 'movie going experience' feeling in the homes?

It's simply not an item that you're going to find in any "Big Box" stores to hang on your walls, or place on the floor.

Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 07-14-2008, 02:06 PM:

Trouble is, Monte, I (and I'm sure you too) are still working with this gear. We can't afford to pay the prices for new reels so are dependant on secondhand availability.

Turning these items into collectables is helping to fuel the decline of conventional 35mm cinemas like ours!

It's nice that we have some sort of appreciative outlet for 'all things cinema' but I'd rather that all that time and effort was put into maintaining working cinema in the first place!

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 07-14-2008, 03:28 PM:

All the 35mm stuff is going to be useless in a lot less time than we want to admit. A piece of glass makes a reel a nice conversation piece table, they make interesting clocks too. I've given several broken reels away for those purposes.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-14-2008, 03:46 PM:

Vididiots will pay a fortune for reels and.....ticket machines!!! Simply the market doing its job! Louis

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 07-14-2008, 07:04 PM:

I love these people! I just sold a useless house reel for $30 on Ebay. It's a good alternative to throwing this stuff in the trash and getting nothing for it.

I actually would like to get an Automaticket machine at some point. If anyone (preferably in New England/NY/NJ) wants to get rid of one, I'll haul it away and maybe pay something for it.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-14-2008, 07:39 PM:

Scott: find an old theatre and buy the Automaticket cheap. I have been getting $1100 for one unit in a case that works! (Video people will buy anything that is expensive and authentic.) Sorry for off topic. Louis

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 07-14-2008, 08:00 PM:

I have sold over 50 Goldberg cast reels as displays....14 have been welded into a hand rail located in a lobby of a performing arts center [Razz]

I am also renting reels to festivals since mine are in better condition that some of the well used [bs]

borrowed from local multiplexes.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-14-2008, 09:30 PM:

Andy,

Believe it or not...Goldberg sells the reels as Coffee Tables right from the factory!

Goldberg is going to try and sell their products in any fashion they can...they could care less how they are used so long as people buy them.

They have golden cast reels that are specifically for decoration, "tins" to be used for candy or other gift items and I'd wager that they sell more metal shipping reels for wall decorations than for holding film.

I joke with Goldberg that we are probably their best dealer for selling reels that are actually used to show film! We still sell new 16, 35 and 70mm reels all the time. All of ours are for showing movies (or making them up/breaking them down). No ornimintations...but I'd sell em for that if there was a knock at the door for them!

Steve

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 07-15-2008, 02:03 AM:

Andy, you probably won't like this, but here it is anyway: [Big Grin]

Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 07-15-2008, 03:18 AM:

Paul, I can't wait for twenty years time when they replace all those reels with hard disks!

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-15-2008, 05:06 AM:

That's pretty cool, Paul - at least they're being used for good use instead of being degraded down to 'anti-flop' spacer reels that TECH uses in their print shipments.

Only thing I look for when I get TECH prints is finding the real old, heavy duty shipping reels that have actual date and studio stamping on the flanges - like last year, a reel came in with "MGM" 9-37 stamped on the flange...and I forgot to grab that one as a collector item.

Using metal shipping reels is a far thing of the past now since everything is mounted on cores with snap together reel flanges - here in the Americas.

Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 07-15-2008, 08:09 AM:

Over here in the UK we would pay the equivalent of over 650 US dollars for a 24" floating hub 35mm Golberg (new)! That's why I'm always on the look-out for secondhand ones.

Because the few inexpensive ones I see, are now being turned into peculiar keepsakes, I'm now really struggling!

I'm not too surprised, Steve, that Goldberg are now dealing directly with the 'table making' market. As far as they're concerned, I suppose, it's just another outlet!

I suppose I should be getting-out all our old 2000ft spools and buying some gold or silver spray paint! Genuine gold reels for sale anyone?

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-15-2008, 09:12 PM:

$650USD for a Goldberg 26" floating reel? Really? How do I get in on that racket?

You must have killer duties!

Steve

Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 07-16-2008, 03:19 AM:

Yes, Steve, welcome to Rip Off Britain!

I was slightly inaccurate in quoting over 650 USD for a 26" reel. I was actually refering to a 28" reel!

UK price for above item 295.00 UK Pounds plus VAT (Value Added Tax at 17.5%). This makes a total of 346.00 UK Pounds! Convert this to USD and you get a grand total of 694.00 USD!

Even allowing for duties and shipping, this is some mark-up!

A lot of the time, the prices quoted in the US (in USD, of course) translate, over here, directly into the same figures in UK pounds! Now, I'm no mathematician but something is going wrong here! An item which costs 40.00 USD in the US should not be marked-up as costing 40.00 UK Pounds in the UK!! What has happened to the exchange rate?

Anyway, to cut a long story short, if you roughly double the prices you are paying for items over in the US, you get an idea of what we are paying here - certainly, at least, for Goldberg reels!

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-16-2008, 07:15 PM:

$100 us is 50 British Pounds at the moment. Add freight and VAT. We sell many, many Goldberg reels overseas. Louis

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-16-2008, 08:43 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
$650USD for a Goldberg 26" floating reel? Really? How do I get in on that racket?

HE's got to be getting them from that high priced $1800.00 "Digital Lamp" guy [Eek!]

.

Also, I thought yous guys in the YouKaaa were on the Euro... In that case its still pretty bad at 1 U.S.A. dollar being .632871337 Euros. Heck just move to the U.S. and the you are not in such a bad position.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 07-16-2008, 08:46 PM:

They're a member of the E.U., but have resisted the change from the pound thus far.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 07-16-2008, 08:48 PM:

Psssst....Mark...the UK didn't adopt the Euro...(trading at about $1.59 to the Euro)....No the UK kept the pound....trading pretty near $2.00 to the Pound. So it makes the $600 price even MORE outlandish!

Steve

Posted by Andy Frodsham (Member # 4061) on 07-17-2008, 01:02 AM:

You now know why so many American (and Australian) visitors to the UK complain about our prices. Those Goldberg reels in the UK should be costing about 150.00 pounds (assuming direct exchange rates). By charging us the same in pounds as you pay in dollars, we are effectively being charged twice as much!

Just for interest, if you needed to replace some of your gear over there, what would you guys consider a reasonable price (in US dollars) to be paying for say:

Goldberg 24" floating hubs
Goldberg 26" floating hubs

I think I may soon be getting into the import business!

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 07-17-2008, 10:55 AM:

A quick search at here shows they're selling a 24" variety for $288 and a 26" one for $328; all plus shipping of course.

I think I remember someone saying they'd ship oversees just you'd have to call them for the order rather than online; not sure though.