Guitars We Sold and Those That Got Away

[fuzzjunkie]

I’ll have to add some pics when I get the chance.

A few guitars that I had a chance to buy for great deals but had to pass on because I had just purchased something else:
1. 1955 Gretsch Duo Jet. This was a killer guitar, and one of the best I ever played.
2. 1954 Gibson Goldtop with screaming P90s. The gold was going a bit green around the edges and it had been heavily played.
3. 1961 Jazzmaster in Olympic white. One of the better JMs that I’ve played. Top 5 for sure. I made an offer to the shop owner for what I could afford but it was less than he wanted. 2 weeks later I had the difference and went back but it had sold - for $200 less than my offer and $400 less than the owner wanted. I mentioned that loudly and he came out from the back and started yelling at the clerk for costing him money.

A few others I had to sell for financial reasons:
1. 1963 Surf Green Jaguar. A real looker and my main guitar for 2-3 years.
2. 1962 Fender Jaguar in sunburst. My main guitar before the ‘63, but I hung onto it because it was older and had a darker tone that I liked. It was used on several recordings.
3. 1973 Fireglow Rickenbacker 4001 bass. This was a great bass and it’s been on a number of records.

A few that I wasn’t in love with and moved on for guitars I preferred:

1. 1964 LPB Jazzmaster. It was too clean and I didn’t want a museum piece.
2. 1985 Fireglow Rickenbacker 360. I traded it for a 1963 Jazzmaster that’s a Top 3 of JMs I have played.
3. 2008 Purple J Mascis Jazzmaster. I really wanted a sparkling purple guitar but never bonded with this one. I did a reverse Uno and sold it to buy a 1997 Fireglow Rickenbacker 360v64.

[Pacafeliz]

I guess i must've owned around 150-200 guitars in my life, which is an insane thought, really.
Too many good ones to mention... but especially i regret not having kept my original natural 1973 Stratocaster i got in Mexico around 2005 or so, with some little money i had gotten after my grandma passed. I paid around $250 for it, in its original case.

Guess i sold it when i got into an OSG-induced Strat "hate", seriously.

It just felt RIGHT and was light and resonant.
Weird that i don't even find pics of it now.

Afterwards i built myself another one out of different 1972-74 parts, the sunburst one seen in some of my videos with the "monster claw" bits missing. It was just SO good.
Damn.

[sal paradise]

I’ve owned a lot of guitars over the years. Most of them mass produced and even the rarer ones were ultimately replaceable..

The only irreplaceable guitars were custom built. And both Matt black. My aesthete view of life didn’t really form until I was in my 30s, and poor visual choices definitely played a part in me letting them go.

Gordon Smith SG2


I ordered a custom build Gordon Smith when I was 20. Wanted a Gibson, didn’t want to pay Gibson money & liked the idea of a handmade guitar. Apart from some intermittent electrics issues it played well & sounded huge. (Still don’t know how GS could have a reputation for problem wiring, and it be true.) Sold it when I hit my guitar dark ages a years later & wanted money for partying.


Blacktop style Jag parts build




Blacktop style Jag build. Got a cheap factory second Cobain body. Added an MG69 Mustang neck. Super Distortion in the bridge. None more black. It sounded great, it was so comfortable to play, and I absolutely loved it despite the awful diy rattle can finish. I recorded a few eps & an album with it, but we never toured those tracks. It was lost to a purge of guitars a few years later to pay bills, and it being too punchy for the indie band I was playing with.



…Ok I do miss one unremarkable buddy of mine. The blood & guts Tele. 1995 American standard w/ Bareknuckle piledriver. Did a lot of shows with it. Lost a lot of skin to it.

[stevejamsecono]

Checking my 'Timeline of Shame' there's a few things -- my first arctic white MIM telecaster (sentimental reasons), my Ibanez Blazer bass I got for $250 (best bass ever), the 80s LP Junior I got from Dave Minehan, my old LP Special Faded Doublecut. The biggest one is probably this crazy thing I got for a song and traded away to Gio for basically no reason:

11063777_10100127077647807_1709273811089484859_o by Steve Bailey, on Flickr

69 Melody Maker SG with the proper sized Gibson headstock and what appeared to be an L6S pickup in it. Weighed nothing, balanced and kept in tune like nobody's business, and sounded cool. I have no idea what I was thinking.

Fortunately I've got another single pickup beauty on the way soon enough...

[MrFingers]

1962 Gibson LG-0 in dead mint condition (with the original chipboard case) and a very rare factory stinger headstock, sold it for 700€ 15 years ago. The moment the man walked out of the gate with it, I knew I made a mistake.

[JSett]

Ahh, yes. My old 1938 Harmony Marvel B



Best acoustic I ever owned

[Salfaromeab]

There's three I really miss and wish I'd never sold...

1966 Silvertone 1452


1967 Hagstrom III


1978 Kramer 250G

[UlricvonCatalyst]

There are a fair few that I've let slip through my fingertips, but if I could only get one back it'd be my old Kalamazoo Epiphone Rivoli

[panoramic]

here are a few I sold and ultimately regretted/still regret having let go:
1971 Competition Blue Mustang I sold to another forumite here for $1200 maybe 10 years ago, I loved this guitar but for some reason after I toured with it I got frustrated with how it played and sold it. Subsequently I have never owned another quite as nice as it was. It had very lovely pickups that bit their way through the mix. I have a 74 Mustang that I've owned for years which plays better but together they were a great pairing.


1966 Fender Musicmaster that I converted into a Duo Sonic II and then back again several times. I also toured with this guitar and loved on it for a long time. Fenderbob actually set me up with this one for about $600 in 2010 or so. I sold it in 2016 for $850 I think, I wrote like half of my songs from the Golden Gurls era on this thing. I got markably better using it as my #1 around the house. If I could get my hands on any old fender I sold it would be this one. It was lame to let it go.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

1966 Fender Musicmaster that I converted into a Duo Sonic II and then back again several times. I also toured with this guitar and loved on it for a long time. Fenderbob actually set me up with this one for about $600 in 2010 or so. I sold it in 2016 for $850 I think, I wrote like half of my songs from the Golden Gurls era on this thing. I got markably better using it as my #1 around the house. If I could get my hands on any old fender I sold it would be this one. It was lame to let it go.

I think I tried to buy that off you when you were selling it, but you wouldn't post internationally. If I had bought it I would probably be considering selling it back to you at whatever point my downsizing journey gets to the painful decisions stage.

[luau]

I had a basket case '59 Tele in my possession for a few hours when I was a teen. Bought it for $25 and sold it for $25.

[panoramic]

1966 Fender Musicmaster that I converted into a Duo Sonic II and then back again several times. I also toured with this guitar and loved on it for a long time. Fenderbob actually set me up with this one for about $600 in 2010 or so. I sold it in 2016 for $850 I think, I wrote like half of my songs from the Golden Gurls era on this thing. I got markably better using it as my #1 around the house. If I could get my hands on any old fender I sold it would be this one. It was lame to let it go.

I think I tried to buy that off you when you were selling it, but you wouldn't post internationally. If I had bought it I would probably be considering selling it back to you at whatever point my downsizing journey gets to the painful decisions stage.

I wish you had wound up with it. I bet you'd be loving it still though! It was easily the best fender neck I have ever played.

[mynameisjonas]

I once had an old Epiphone Olympic that was previously owned (and signed) by Robert "Strings" Dahlqvist of The Hellacopters, I really wish I'd kept that one. But the neck joint was kinda wobbly, so it wouldn't stay in tune. I went to the shop where I got it, and asked what could be done about it, and they handed me a '64 Crestwood Custom and said "How about this one?" So I had that one for while, but the neck was too slim and narrow for my hands, so I ended up selling it. I really wish I could have kept both those guitars, those late 50s/early 60s Epiphone models are my main obsession nowadays.

I also really miss this '74 Tele Deluxe:

This was my first proper guitar, and I played it do death. The frets were really worn, and eventually it was playing like shit, and I couldn't afford to have it refretted. Instead I traded it in for a Hagström HIIN and some other stuff. The Tele Deluxe later ended up in the hands of 3 different guys I really admire in the Swedish indie/post-hardcore scene, so that's kinda nice. I shared a gig with one of them last week actually, and he still has it.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I wish you had wound up with it. I bet you'd be loving it still though! It was easily the best fender neck I have ever played.

Funnily enough the '66 neck on my Partstang is the best Fender neck I've ever played too. Makes you wonder why everyone and his aunt plays Jazzmasters these days.

[panoramic]

I wish you had wound up with it. I bet you'd be loving it still though! It was easily the best fender neck I have ever played.

Funnily enough the '66 neck on my Partstang is the best Fender neck I've ever played too. Makes you wonder why everyone and his aunt plays Jazzmasters these days.

the rising popularity of them makes me laugh. I prefer Jags to JM's as far as playing is concerned, but I have often felt like mustangs and MM's have the best necks. I've owned maybe 4 66's and they were all wonderful necks. The above was the best though.
The pricing of JM's is so hilarious now that you can buy a new US made Gibson for the same price as a MIM Fender JM.