what are you doing with instruments you do not use?

[eddiewagner]

hi guys,
i am the proud owner of a regal resonator squareneck. i bought it cheap and had a quarterman cone plus a schatten-design pup installed. i somehow dislike the guitar a bit and never really play it. i feel like selling, but i also have the weird feeling that my dobrodays will come again. but then again i think it would be more worthwhile to get the hands on a 8-string lapsteel. so many options. how do you handle situations like this. call it a "luxury dilemma".
eddie

[TG]

If I'm not using something I sell it on, if I can. The idea that I 'might use it someday' doesn't wash with me. We live in a small house and I've not got the space to have things sitting around in 'storage'.

But there have been a few times where I've got rid of something and then I found I needed it about a month later.....

[Blazer]

What do I do with the instruments I don't use?

I either sell them or I store them away.

[Telenator]

I have 12 guitars, (down from 17 just 6 months ago), and while a few of my 12 don't get played much, they will never be sold for various reasons.

I have some great gear for playing blues and it took a long time to gather this stuff. I had to experiment, buy and sell, tweak and tune, and finally arrive at a few guitar/amp combos that, in my opinion serve me very well. Then blues died. The gear hasn't been played at all for 3 years. Last week, I got a call from a blues band to sub for the next 4 months. I am so glad I have the right gear to just plug in and use now!

Other guitars and amps I have are collectible so they will never be sold, at least until I retire.

Some of my gear is hand made and although it is top quality, I don't sell any guitars I build.

..........and some of my gear is the result of many years of searching for just the right thing.

I totally dig all of my gear right now and have thinned it back to a dozen guitars and 5 amps that will never see auction block.

Lots of reasons to hang on to stuff. Even if you're not playing it at the moment.

[david9664]

Hi Eddie.

If you are interested in selling, i would possibly be more than interested in buying. Ive been looking around for one for quite some time now.. I live part time in the uk and in denmark which could make things quite easy..

Let me know..

Best regards,
david klinke

[maestrovert]

Keep it Bro'......what you'll sell it for will be less than what it'll take to replace it.....'sides you never know when it'll be perfect for a gig, tune or recording !

[Tele295]

I'm getting brutal, and selling/trading everything that doesn't get used on stage or in the studio. I'm a player, not a collector.

But just to throw a moinkey wrench in your dilemmna, I had this thought before and I got rid of my National Duolian. A few years later, I longed for it, and had to go all the way to Peru to get it back!

[J-man]

Well I just bought a new Tele and all my other Electrics are leaning at random points around the house collecting dust!

[Roli]

I had some harmonicas, I gave 'em to girls. They all left me though, and didn't even blow well.

[Pete Galati]

Most guitars that I don't use are in danger of being modified.

Eventually I might narrow down exactly what elements I need in a guitar, and they'll all move in peace and harmony towards perfect Elvisness.

[TieDyedDevil]

I sell them. Some sooner than others.

['caster oil]

I end up trading stuff I'm not using for other stuff I'll probably not use either...

...except Teles... I never let go of Teles... 'course, now that I've said never...

[Keifer]

If ya don't need the money, hang on to it. You've kinda implied that you'll probably go back to pickin' on a dobro at some time or another. Regals aren't top-line instruments, but there's really nothing wrong with them either. You given it a couple upgrades to improve it to some degree. Set it aside for a while....at some point in time you may decide to move it on because you simply don't want to play dobro. But then again, you may have a desire to go back to it.

This may seem silly to some people, but I consider all of my instruments to be old friends & even though I don't see them for a while. it doesn't lessen the regard that I hold for them. Sometimes I pull a guitar out of a case that's been put away for a long while & memories come back of things that went down when I was using it on a more regular basis. Maybe it reminds me of an old pal that I've not seen in a couple years.....so I give that person a yell, just to touch base & catch up on old times. Perhaps I just think of some gigs played with that particular guitar. At my age, dreams of the future just aren't so thrilling as they once were....that pretty much leaves me with old friends & memories; but I'm very glad that I do have them.

[Fatmanstratman]

Despite my TDPRI 'handle', I am certainly NOT a Strat man.

I bought this beautiful MIM Standard Strat brand new back in 1999, and immediately upgraded the pickups to Kent Armstrong alnicos (I thought the stock ceramics sounded a little thin).



After playing it a few times, I realised that it just "wasn't for me" - my strumming style means that my third and 'pinkie' fingers hang down, and I found that I was always hitting the volume control. I either cut the sound altogether, or damn near blew the windows out, depending on which side of the knob I had caught.

So I put it back in it's nice Fender gig bag, and there it has stayed for the best part of 7 years. Like new, not a mark on it. Just unplayed and unloved.

I keep thinking about putting it on eBay, but Strats don't command the stupid sums that Teles fetch, and I'm therefore stuck with a guitar that cost me £350, into which I threw £100's worth of upgraded pickups. The maths are not hard.... total cost = £450, likely return on eBay?... = approx. £180 - 200.

What would YOU do? Sell it or keep it under the stairs until it becomes an antique?