Your biggest guitar regret?

[shakedancer]

At least 5 years ago I was in GC in Boston. There was a used mint black 57 RI. It played like butter. The best one I ever played. This was about 11 am. Of course the money factor held me back. All the way home I could not stop thinking about it . About 3 pm I decided I wanted it. Called the store, you guessed it, Gone!!! Still haunts me today.[/u]

[reverbbb]

I was in a pawn shop about 6 years ago looking for strictly a Les Paul Custom. This particular pawn shop claims to be the largest pawn shop in the US and always moves a LOT of merchandise through it's doors.

Well I came across a really nice natual ES-335 looking guitar. It was setup just like a LP with hardtail and electronics. It was beautiful too. Played super nice and not a scratch on it. I kept thinking, that buying that guitar would seriously delay getting the Les Paul that I was searching for.

It turns out that there was a Custom Shop badge on the back of the headstock. I cannot remember the model number, I had never heard of it before or since. It was not a ES-335, though it could have been like a ES-342 or something weird like that. I asked how much and they said if I would buy it then, it would be $900 cash (that was before I even started negotiating - the listed price was $1200).

Recently, I discovered that Gibson is listing similar Custom Shop guitars for $6000 and up. I went home without that guitar that day. But I went back two days later and that guitar was gone. But guess what - they had an '82 Les Paul Custom that I bought for $875. It was totally crappy, so I sold it for $925 two weeks later.

[BLACKCAT69]

Came across a late '80's/ early '90's paisley Tele at a garage sale in the fall for $300.00. This was in a suburb in Detroit (I live in Canada a short distance away). I thought "Nice Tele- good price". BUT....did not act on it. I didn't want to spent $300.00 for whatever reason at the time. When I got back to Canada I started experiencing grave feelings of regret and longing for that Tele. Suffice it to say I will not be turning down another deal as good as that in the future. Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb!!

[jaybee001]

that AND the fact that I still can't play half as well as I would want...

[mojito]

Selling my 2 guitars and amp to foot the college tuition bill in 1978 and not picking up a guitar until almost 25 years later.

"I was lost but now am found."

[gls500]

No regrets here.

One thing I've learned is that the next "deal" is right around the corner. You just have to keep looking.

[moonshiner]

I sold my '88 USA Squier Bullet... I think I can still get it back... I've been thinking quite a bit about her lately...

I'm sorry baby... please come home!!!!

[Durtdog]

'66 Tele sold in '74
'63 Strat traded in '79

Long gone, never to be seen by me again.

[Reno Sepulveda]

I was strappped for cash back in the early '80s, I was about to become a Dad I wasn't gigging anymore so I figured I needed to start being responsible. I sold all my music equipment except my Alvarez Dreadnaught.

The one thing that I kick myself for selling was the Les Paul Pro. This wasn't much of a guitar to look at. It was a '70s vintage, black with two cream colored P-90s, no pickguard and a KFAT sticker covering up a patch of buckle rash in the back. But the thing had personality and tone in spades. It was the perfect guitar for me and the kind of music I love. It was a little heavy and it had a tendancy to go out of tune

My wife told me not to sell the Les Paul, she still reminds me today when I want another guitar "you had your guitar and you you sold it". I sold it to Byron at the music store who had sold it to me. I took it in to see what I could get for it and he couldn't believe I was selling it. He snapped it up for $500 but said he'd give me first shot at it if he ever sold it.

The last time I saw it was in the early '90s I was in Visalia (a town about 50 miles to the South) checking out a music store. Lo and behold behinf the counter is my old buddy Byron that bought my Paul. He was the manager of the store and the store had a nice selection of Anderson's and Custom Shop Fenders. I asked him if
check out an Anderson Cobra (sort of a Tele/Paul hybrid)
He said sure play whatever I wanted and gave me a chord and then returned to the counter.

A little while later he comes back and says "why don't you check out this one" and there was my old Les Paul. I played it for awhile it still sounded great. He had replaced the Nashville bridge with the earlier style ABR-1 and it looked better than ever and Byron said the new bridge had solved the tuning issues. I had to ask if he wanted to sell it and he said everybody asked the same question but no it was a keeper. I gave him my card and told him to remember we had an agreement. The store closed a few years later and last I heard Byron and his Les Paul were in Monterey.

[Brewdude]

If I agonized over every ax that I once had the opportunity to buy way back when I'd be on Prozac! There's been a few that I'd have loved to own in retrospect but at the time just didn't seem like a good idea for whatever reason.

(shrugs)

[PeterUK]

Originally Posted by mojito

Selling my 2 guitars and amp to foot the college tuition bill in 1978 and not picking up a guitar until almost 25 years later.

"I was lost but now am found."

Ditto, but I only left it 20-years.

Oh, those wasted years.

:( Peter

[stantheman]

there's several but "the one" I'm still p.o.'d about was a
Sunburst L-Series Jaguar with Clay Dots and heavy wear
that was simply an incredible player - this thing was a relic
a real one - $350.
Years before that there was a beat to heck '55 Strat with
"Cable Company Flatwounds" whose neck was so worn down that it almost looked "scalloped" also a Sunburst.
this one made Rory's look "factory" it was probably too far gone - but it was cool.
I've never Jones'd for another Tele simply because I'm in love with mine, it would be like lusting for the Girl at The Bar when You've got Charlize Theron waiting at home...

[Bob Mc]

Had big BIG fun, didn't regret a thing. I couldn't ever imagine how those PUPs could sound good anyway.
So I consigned the guitar at Elderly, figuring it would sell by the time the credit card bills would be in.
On the last night down there went to see Tab Benoit play.
(if you don't know him, Tab is a killer swamp blues guy that gets amazing tone from the same guitar.)
Called Eldelry from a payphone in the Quarter the next day,
my girl was gone already.
boo hoo.

[T-bone Tone]

Hindsight, eh? My own blinder was back in 1981. I had been looking for a 60's strat for about a year. Back then, though apparently ludicrously expensive, they were about the same price as a new one!! Wish that was still the case.

I eventually found a guy who was selling 3; a '62, a '63 and a transition '65, albeit the early 65, small headstock model.

The '65 was in the best condition, played and sounded the best......though not by much, so I wanted that one for sure. The other two were pretty rough, but I liked the little spaghetti Fender logo these had, and I dithered whether to buy at least another one. The luthier - understandably - was giving it the old, .....'well, you know these are always gonna be worth at least the price of a new one, if not more, plus they play and sound better, and in years to come you won't regret it' etc etc.

It seemed extravagant to get a bank loan for another 20 year old guitar; my old man thought I was mad, as it was, saving up for weeks to buy the 65..........so I didn't pursue at least one of the other two. ARRRGGHHHH!!!

Hindsight.

[aln413]

buying my lmtd edition pewter les paul studio !! sounds great but as it seems all pauls (that i know of ) are a challenge to keep in tune.so it sits in its case waiting to be sold . to buy another tele of course !!

[WallyArms]

Acoustics - About 15 years ago I passed on a great Alvarez Yairi that was priced right and sounded great. I have always regretted not buying it. I also miss my Tacoma Papoose, but I gave up on them after the second one started falling apart just like the first. A lot of fun to play, however.

[Maggot]

Selling my MIJ Esquire - it was a soul mate and I beat it up so much that it wasn't worth much and then I sold it. Most of the guitars that I've had since have sounded better, but I haven't been able to relate to them in the same way.

[Ben Harmless]

I had a chance to buy this guitar, and let it slide because I didn't fully embrace the pickups. I had the dough and everything.

A week later I decided to go for it, and get the pickups rewound if I needed to. I went in to the shop, and it was gone.

Now it's back, and I want it more than anything, but don't have the cash. Probably never will.

[stevieboy]

I don't look back--I've made some good deals, and some not so good, but once they're done, actually once I decide to sell a guitar, I forget about it. I'm fortunate enough to still have more cool guitars than I can play, I'd like to sell more of them and just keep the three or four that I do play alot.

[dhdfoster]

I don't really regret anything I've sold, although I do occasionally miss the neck on my ASAT Jr, big and fat unlike most G&L necks.

I really regret not buying an old Gretsch 6120 from a pawn shop when I was in high school, around 1984. I think it was around $500.

[tellypicker]

1974- Found a 63 Strat in a piano and organ hole in the wall store in the backwoods of Wisconsin. In excellent condition, smelled old, brown case, 125 bucks. Traded it on a Brand Shiny New LP Custom with square frets a year later.

1981- my buddy came home from the Army with a 66 Tele Maple cap that he scored in Panama. It was so light it floated. Had a Mighty Mite bridge and some goofy pickups but original pups and bridge in the case. 150 bucks. Sold it to a buddy within a year for same price.

My head still hurts.

[telemike]

Not getting one at an early age, when my brain was still ready to absorb new material, and I had all afternoon, every afternoon to practice, practice, practice.

[PraiseCaster]

....but I still regret putting my 59 Double Cut-away, LPjr., in the trunk of my car, and it gettin turned to splinters, when a drunk in a 72 El Dorado, smashed into the rear end of my car at over 100mph!

And to think, for that crime, he didnt even suffer a scratch!
Never got any money for my car, or my guitar either!

[TG]

At highschool in Canada in the '70s some guy offerred to sell me a guitar his older brother had given him. It was a late 50s blonde telecaster and he wanted 50 dollars.
I said no....I only was interested in Gibsons at the time.

Other than that I only regret selling my '70s Yamaha SG1000. I might get another one someday.

[Anonymous]

Lost a blonde L-5 CESN (Serial #204620) and a black 3-pickup Les Paul Custom (898603) (plus a BF Super Reverb, a MusicMan bass, a Yamaha acoustic, etc., etc...) to burglars years ago in Austin, Texas. I, uh... "regret" not catching them in the act. Grrrr. :evil:

But voluntary partings? I have two. One, an early 60s Tele that had been refin'd something akin to Lake Placid Blue (but not quite). Traded it away while I was still in high school, but it was the guitar I learned to play the blues on. Sure wish I still had that one.

Then in the early 70s while at school in Bahstun I sold a black ES-175 (to pay the phone bills I racked up talking long distance to a girlfriend who later dumped me... aarrggh). It was an okay guitar, not great – but I've seen <u>one</u> other black one from that era since. CS