Best table to Expect To Find at a Garage Sale

I've been going to garage sales, estate (tag) sales, and the like for 25 years and I can count on one hand the number of sales where "high end" equipment was for sale. So I certainly wouldn't tell anyone to expect to find high end equipment that way. I have seen quite a few ads here on Audiogon which said the equipment was an "estate" find, but I think it is rare. High end turntables are probably one of the less likely items to find only becuase it's an even smaller sub-set of the general population. I can't recall seeing any high end turntables, just the "junk" you mention. Now vinyl, that's another story. LOTS of that available at garage sales and such.

I picked up a pristine Thorens TD160 at a garage sale last year for $10 that with $30 worth of tweaks smoked my Music Hall MMF5.

I'm a dedicated garage sale/estate sale digger. Over the last several years I've found some good analog gear, including several Thorens TD160/165/166/145 turntables, a Fidelity Research FR64 arm ($10), and, best of all, a mint Thorens TD124/SME 3012 for $35.

Best one I ever found at a yard sale was a fully functional Dual 1219.
Had an Ortofon OM-10 with extra stylus, plus a 78 stylus.

Only $75.00

It also included a pair of audioquest interconnects that I later sold for $40.00.... So net it cost me $35.00

Garrard 301.Then have the "Shindo" mod done to it.You will have a world class table,at that point!