Selling guitars to do grown-up things hurts [poll added!]

[JamesSGBrown]

Just curious as to how you guys have 'coped' (cringe, but c'mon it hurts!) selling stuff to fund 'adult' life choices.

I've built up a nice little collection, and I know I'll have to get down to 3 really. And the choice of what goes and stays is so difficult to make! Especially as a few of them are extremely hard to find.

Like, on one hand, I think to keep the ones that mean the most to me on an emotional level- the Marr Jag that I've had for years, the '58 60th Anni JM I bought myself recently to celebrate a year of sobriety, and the AV65 Jag that I think is probably my 'best' sounding guitar.

But then I also feel like, in the case of the Marr Jag, there's too much overlap with the AV65, maybe it's time to let someone else enjoy it and keep something else for versatility's sake such as one of my Les Pauls. But then again, P90 Les Pauls ain't exactly that hard to find, can always get another in the future or borrow to record.

I've got a Silverburst Tokai Les Paul- 1 of 4 built, it's absolutely fantastic but I've barely played it. But then I know if I let it go, I ain't gonna find another... similarly my Firemist Silver AV65 JM is a hard-to-find piece that I've used absolutely loads, and as it has the WRHBs in, if I kept that alongside the '58 JM and one of the Jags, I've have more ground covered tonally within reach.

Not to mention amps- like the AC30HW that I barely used outside of recording, but is invaluable when I do, or the overlap between the Super and Twin Reverbs…

So I suppose I'm just asking- who else has seriously pared down their collection? And was it dictated by sentimentality or tonal versatility?

PICS:

[zhivago]

It would certainly suck to have to sell stuff, and I have done it in the past...a '64 Jazzmaster and a '66 Electric XII instantly spring to mind...countless pedals...I really wouldn't want to go through it again, but in the end I managed to eventually get some other cool guitars...the particular sell-off was sparked by the economy in the UK being varying degrees of shite at the time and me being a young freelancer.

If push came to shove and I had to do it all again, I could go down to three...my Martin, Les Paul and Esquire, and I would also hold onto my first electric guitar for sentimental reasons. The rest could go, although I'd rather they didn't.

[burpgun]

I had to sell one of the new Electric XII to pay for my sewer pipe to be jetted. Still feel a bit salty about that but at least I wasn't really taken with that guitar. I've sold other music gear to fund non music stuff like computers, but that felt more defensible.

[stevejamsecono]

Unless you've got a good job I feel like it's bound to happen. I've had to do it a lot (and I have a Google Sheet entitled 'The Gear Shame Timeline' to document it all) so I at least remember most if not all of them that went. At this point I don't think I'm in the position that I'd likely have sell anything too sentimental to me, but if I did, I'm pretty sure what the hierarchy of my existing guitars are.

[OffYourFace]

I’m in a similar boat. The less guitars you have the more you’ll play them. For me I’ll keep 6 but 3 is a great number if you can do it.

For me it’s going to be:

-Strat
-tele
-jazzmaster
-jaguar
-Les Paul
-either a modded Teisco, 12-string, or Mosrite

Just ‘one of each’. But my wife also has a few guitars so those don’t count hahaha

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I feel the collective pain. I'm on an ongoing purge of as many of my bits and pieces as I can bear to part with for the very grown-up reason that I've become increasingly conscious of the fact that I won't be around forever, and disposing of the mountain of stuff I've accumulated over a lifetime will then become someone else's problem. Seems like only common decency to at least make a start while I'm still here.

I also have an aspiration to move to the EU in the future if my circumstances permit, which will necessitate travelling light.

The essential guitar collection is a tough one, but I think I'm veering towards my Squier FSR Tele, a 330/335-type semi, a bass, and an acoustic. Hardly travelling light, so, if the move actually happens, it could make more sense to sell the lot and buy something in my new home country/trading bloc.

I'm not that sentimentally attached to many of my guitars, but it'd be a wrench to get rid of my Mustang as I put some time, effort, and a little bit of myself into it.

I have a few other guitars that are basically irreplaceable, mainly due to the fact that their quality massively outstrips what I paid for them, and those kinds of bargains just don't come up very often. It's very hard indeed to give stuff up. Probably better not to let collections get out of hand in the first place!

[Larry Mal]

I'll have to do it soon. My car stopped working on the first of the year, and I was not financially prepared for it, so I just haven't been driving. I don't want to own a car at all, ever. But I do have kids and will have to get one or fix the one I have, so I'll have to sell some guitars.

This frustrates me because I am selling things I love to fund something I don't even want.

I feel that I should have a higher paying job, so I'm kind of making a bet that I can get one before I have to sell my treasures.

So I feel you.

[fuzzjunkie]

I had to part with a 1973 Rickenbacker 4001, a purple J Mascis JM and a 1962 Jaguar over the past 18 months because my business cratered during Covid and it’s taking forever to recover. I was okay letting the JM go, but the 2 vintage instruments hurt. The bass I wanted to gift to a nephew who plays bass and the Jaguar for sentimental reasons. The mortgage wasn’t going to pay for itself, so I had to make sacrifices.

[TagoMago]

Yes, yes it does. Due to lifestyle choices (alright, alright - lifestyle errors) I had maybe the worst credit rating in the UK, so I couldn't just get a credit card in times of emergencies, and I had zero savings, not a good situation to be in.

In 2006 I had to sell my beloved 1965 Fender XII (orig case and cable, CBS-stamped strap, 'special' stamped on the back of the very birdseye maple headstock) to pay a tax bill. I was on the verge of homelessness and had to free up some cash ASAP. That one is a real stinger to this day. I've seen it turn up on ebay for almost 3x the price I sold it for, although whether it sold for that, I don't know. I can't bear to look for it anymore.

Sold a 1968 Telecaster a few years ago to pay for a new boiler, new washing machine and some roof repairs. Didn't feel too bad about that one because it was absolutely thrashed and needed a refret, new trussrod, bridge pickup rewind, etc.

Sold off a ton of stuff when I emigrated to France - vintage Ludwig drum kit and a couple of vintage snares (a '60s 400 and a 1971 Acrolite), a Philicorda organ, a JV Bullet Bass, a 1966 Gibson ES-125T (although I could see a neck reset in that guitars future, so that wasn't so bad), tons of pedals and outboard gear. All original '78 Vibro Champ (original valves, manual, all the paperwork , hangtags, the lot).

Now, I have no real vintage stuff except a 1950's classical guitar, and some 1970's Paiste 602 cymbals. Almost all my gear is Squier, or things like the Guild Starfire XII, etc. But at least I still have things I can use and that's the main thing for me.

[i love sharin foo]

I've had to sell a lot over the years, usually to fund either unexpected bills, or piling debt. It's tough. It really is. We all pretty much have more than we could ever truly NEED but it is still difficult to cut things loose when you still enjoy them. It's one thing to go, man, I really want this guitar, so I'll sell that one to get it. But when you have to sell a remarkably perfect, flawless playing, Westerly made Guild X-170 Manhattan to pay for car insurance, well that really fucking sucks. Ask me how I know I bought another X-170 a few years later and it wasn't half as good as the first. I totally get the sentimentality versus gear that you actually use the most too. I have a lot of really great vintage stuff that I couldn't part with, but 75% of the time now I use a MIM Telecaster and a little tweed 5F2 Princeton that I built. Part of me thinks that is crazy. But I still couldn't bear to part with the other stuff unless my back was truly to the wall. I have so many hobbies that I have often sold things from one to buy stuff for another, dealing with limited funds and all. I've made some poor decisions in that regard over the years. I really have. I try not to pilfer from one pocket to line the other anymore though. I just try to space things out further so I don't have to. This was quite a rambling post and doesn't really offer any guidance. I just wanted to say that I can relate to it and it really sucks.

[JSett]

I've had a succession of periods in my life where I was TERRIBLE and managing finances and have sold way too much great gear to get myself out of holes. So much so I try not to think about it

I sold off a lot to buy our first house and then gradually built it all back up again. Only to have weird pangs of opulence guilt and have now sold most again in a bid to lead a simpler gear life. So far, it's working in making me happy. We'll see what happens with time though... I don't doubt it'll ebb and flow forever.

[JamesSGBrown]

Just for fun I have added a poll! Choose which 3 you'd keep...

[F15hface]

I voted, but I think this thread needs pics.

[JamesSGBrown]

I voted, but I think this thread needs pics.

Now added!!

[sal paradise]

Telecaster, Les Paul, one other. That’s the lie that I live by.

Recently sold 2 of 5 guitars that I really don’t need. Fortuitous tax bills meant that I got away with being a bit spendy & not needing the cash back straight away. All that’s happened is I’ve got loads of guitars sitting cases & no motivation to just sit on them for 10 years waiting for the price to increase.

The great part about the selling plan is the last few months I’ve bought untold amounts of pedals & at least 2 amps. So now I’m selling guitars to pay back the debt from those