Guitars We Sold and Those That Got Away

[MattK]

Back in the 90s I had a Boss Spectrum that I bought for about $20 and used just for a few things. I think I gave it away …

[Jonesie]

Well, I sold my Yamaha Studio Lord SL450S to a buddy of mine when I needed cash. Later he needed cash and I was able to buy it back, which is fantastic, because this guitar fucking rules. I threw in some Duncan 59s and it does everything I want a Les Paul to do. Sometimes you just want to bang out some Classic Rock riffs with a LP through a Marshall. I think if I didn't get this guitar back it would have been my biggest regret.

[Surfysonic]

Fender Parallel Universe Volume II Jazz Strat - ...this is the guitar I traded the AV '52 FSR Roasted Ash Tele for. Really loved this very well built, oddball Fender. Cool Decoboom pickguard, mystic surf finish with matching headstock, AV '65 Jazzmaster pickups. I ended up not playing it very much as I tend to gravitate towards my offset guitars. When the opportunity came up to trade this for my Johnny Marr Jag that I sold to Scout on here, I went for it. No regrets for the trade as the Marrguar is my #1 (and only now, lol) Jag. I have one of these Jazz Strats in my watchlist on Reverb. Maybe after moving some more gear, I'll get another one.

I can gladly scratch one regret off my list. It's not the exact same guitar - hopefully, Scout is still enjoying that one. This is the Jazz Strat I've been stalk-, er, watching for the past 4 months on Reverb. I'm going to do my best to hang onto this quirky, exceptionally high-quality, US Fender guitar. I mentioned this waaay back when I got my first one - I sincerely believe this will be the closest I ever get to a custom shop level quality Fender guitar.











The stock PV (or AV) '65 Jazzmaster pickups are decent enough, however, this might give me an excuse to get a set of Kinman Fatmasters...

[crazyzeke]

1996 Gibson Les Paul Special Doublecut

Not the actual guitar pictured, but I loved that thing. It had a neck crack at the headstock joint like a lot of Gibsons (not my fault; previous owner) and I had it fixed before I sold it. Definitely not perfect by a long shot - lack of cutaways on the slab body and some other things - but the doublecut meant access to the high frets was insanely easy, dots are better than blocks to my hands and those P90s were just so right - best set I've heard, to this day. 1996 was a great year for me, I have to say, even though I didn't have it until about 2003 I think, so it reminded me of that too. Only guitar I've ever posted as well. Lived in London at the time. Posting guitars was not at all common back then so I got some weird looks.

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I'm scratching my head trying to think of any others I've missed, but that's probably it, and in the long run I made the better choice because my Jag is my baby. I did have a Lake Placid Blue (apparently; I maintain it was several shades too bright for that) CIJ Jag but honestly that thing was one of the few Japanese made offsets I've played that wasn't up to the usual impeccably high standard, for example the high E string always felt like it was falling off of the fretboard, not cool, and I paid way too much for it at the time, had it shipped from America to the UK... all that nonsense. I owned it for a week before I listed it for sale, and it sold quickly getting me basically all my money back.

[JamesSGBrown]

1996 Gibson Les Paul Special Doublecut

Not the actual guitar pictured, but I loved that thing. It had a neck crack at the headstock joint like a lot of Gibsons (not my fault; previous owner) and I had it fixed before I sold it. Definitely not perfect by a long shot - lack of cutaways on the slab body and some other things - but the doublecut meant access to the high frets was insanely easy, dots are better than blocks to my hands and those P90s were just so right - best set I've heard, to this day. 1996 was a great year for me, I have to say, even though I didn't have it until about 2003 I think, so it reminded me of that too. Only guitar I've ever posted as well. Lived in London at the time. Posting guitars was not at all common back then so I got some weird looks.

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I'm scratching my head trying to think of any others I've missed, but that's probably it, and in the long run I made the better choice because my Jag is my baby. I did have a Lake Placid Blue (apparently; I maintain it was several shades too bright for that) CIJ Jag but honestly that thing was one of the few Japanese made offsets I've played that wasn't up to the usual impeccably high standard, for example the high E string always felt like it was falling off of the fretboard, not cool, and I paid way too much for it at the time, had it shipped from America to the UK... all that nonsense. I owned it for a week before I listed it for sale, and it sold quickly getting me basically all my money back.

I had one of those 90's doublecuts! Mine was actually a bit of a dog- didn't sustain much despite the proper body-mounted ABR-1, and wouldn't stay in tune. But it was so cool. Wish I'd just had it worked on really, maybe it would've come to life.

[crazyzeke]

I had one of those 90's doublecuts! Mine was actually a bit of a dog- didn't sustain much despite the proper body-mounted ABR-1, and wouldn't stay in tune. But it was so cool. Wish I'd just had it worked on really, maybe it would've come to life.

Oh no! That's a shame. Mine had amazing sustain for the body thickness (or thinness depending on how you look at it), very few tuning issues despite having a cracked headstock. There were a lot of good Gibsons made in the mid to late 90s, based on what I've played. It's like the Gibson version of how MIJ/CIJ stuff is now worth triple what it was a few years ago, above inflation price increase wise. CIJ Jags are like £1,200 now, stock with the crap pickups I've always found them to have, it's crazy town.

[BMWRider]

There are a LOT of guitars I wish I had back, mainly because they were sold to generate income at the time. I had a killer Butterscotch Blonde AVRI '52 Tele, which I swapped out the neck for a MIM 50s FSR Tele. Light, resonant, and completely bitchin' tone, but my other Tele had the sentimental value (bought it the day my Godmother died, and still have it). Had a Darkback '57 Goldtop reissue which I loved, but I kept falling back into British Blues with it!

If we're talking offsets, my '63 refin JM was up there. Shaved neck, repainted gold, I eventually used it as a trade-in on another guitar (I think it ended up in the UK). There was also my 2013 CAR Bass VI, which I never should have sold; didn't need it at the time, but it was a soft market. Now those instruments are expensive!

[welshywelsh]

Bought a Cobain Mustang for £450. It was at a time I'd bought a fair few guitars, so felt I should move it on.

Should not have

[ldp54002]

I consider myself lucky in this instance, as 99% of the gear I've sold, I don't really regret it. Either I was ready to move on anyway, or I was able to trade up and get something I liked more. For the longest time, I only had two regrets--a Classic Player Jaguar HH and a MIM 70s ash Stratocaster. I missed the Jag almost immediately after I got rid of it, but I'm over it at this point.

The Strat, however, poisoned me against Guitar Center, so much so that I have not stepped foot in a GC in 14 years and will likely never do so again, unless they finally got bankrupt and have some sort of liquidation sale. I used the Strat as a trade-in down payment on a limited edition Gibson Explorer that the manager swore up and down they had an allocation for, and that I was at the top of the list. After jerking me around for five months, they finally called me to say not only was I not getting my Explorer, but no one was--their store never had an allocation, and by the time I learned this, the entire run had been spoken for. I heard from a mutual acquaintance that this was not the first time that store's manager had straight up lied to customers to secure a sale.

As for one that got away, it will always be the 1966 Jaguar at Emerald City Guitars in 2013. It was a couple notches above player grade--some minor dings, the mute foam definitely needed replaced, and I suspect it would have needed at least a partial refret in the cowboy chord area. But it was also $2250 (just over $3k in today's dollars), included the original case and some paperwork. I sat and played that thing for almost two hours, trying to justify buying it. My wife was sympathetic and could tell I loved it, so even given our somewhat limited funds at the time, she said I should get it if I wanted it. I knew deep down we weren't in a place where I could spend that much money on something I didn't "need", so I eventually hung it back on the wall.

I should have bought it.