The current budget situation at work has had me in a salvaging mode, and I've been reviving a lot of very old but beautiful pieces of equipment. Reviving is something of a misnomer, because these things are truly built like tanks, and most of them work just fine; all they need is a little cleaning and adjustment at worst a part or a tube replaced. Great old oscilliscopes, distortion analyzers, tone generators and such. Super useful stuff.

Believe it or not, there are still deals to be found on eBay, but you have to be patient. Some waiting and searching netted me the perfectly operating (and better looking than I thought!) oscillator in the photo. It's an HP 204C - it travels well outside the range of human hearing in both directions.

This is a great hobby, a great way to save money (although certainly not space!) if you want to get into electronics, and also a potentially dangerous trip if you don't know what you're doing; but don't fret! A friend has posted this great article on dealing with these (mostly tube based) relics, and you can visit it by clicking here!