Did you ever get rid of a guitar because of it having bad vibes?

[Blazer]

Let's be honest, the initial first reaction of when you pick up an instrument is the most important and when you have it in your possession you expect it to be a bringer of good feelings when you pick it up and strum it.

But it's also the other way: sometimes you start to associate an instrument with a nasty event or something other that is negative. Giving you a reason to get rid of it.

In my own case there one guitar I had to let go of because of it reminding me of something rotten.

It involved a really nice late nineties Gibson Explorer.

Now when this footage was shot I was on the eve of a very big row on another forum because of a former band member having wet himself in my car the day before. So when we played this gig people were asking me what had happened, why there was such an unpleasant smell in my car, so I told them what happened. And the weeks following that I got increasingly hostile messages from the guy who did it and from people who learned about it happening. Somebody even wanted to press charges against me. And as time went on I began to associate that guitar with all that BS and so it HAD to go.

So I took it to a shop where I could trade it in for a really nice SG. I called the shop up in advance to make sure they still had it but they didn't answer the phone, so I decided to place my bets and go there anyway. But when I got there they told me that that guitar had been sold just a day before and when I asked why they didn't answer the phone when I called them, I was told that they had lunch break. They were feeling sorry for me though and offered a Flying V which I kindly refused.

So I went to another shop where they kindly offered me an SG faded for it but I had to pay 300 Euros extra to get it. The reason why I went ahead with it: I was angry, disappointed, confused and I figured the guy to be trustworthy. It was only when I got home and found out how much an SG Faded costs new that I truly saw how "Trustworthy" that salesman was.

I recently went by the place where I sold my explorer and it was still there at an asking price of twice as much as I paid for it when I got it new.

Bad, bad vibes from that guitar and I'm glad to have gotten rid of it although I do regret not thinking the deal through more thoroughly.

[purpletele]

I know two.

One belonged to a friends dad. It was an early 57 RI Strat. He said it brought him nothing but bad luck. he donated it to a fundraiser. The guy who won it in the raffle died not long after of a heart attack.

The other belonged to the same friend. When his dad left his mom out of the blue he gave him an 87' 62 RI strat. It was one of the first ones made when they moved production back to the US. He's had a rocky relationship with his dad since so he said the guitar had bad vibes. He sold it to me for cheap a few years ago. It' s one of the best sounding strats I've ever heard and no bad vibes for me yet.

[TeleTim911]

I've never gotten rid of a guitar for something like that but I'm trying to figure this out. Some ex-band member decides your car is a porta-potty, and you chastised for it?

[mickeydean]

i had a '74 natural ash hardtail strat that HATED me. traded it for a '58 Les Paul Jr.
this was in the late 70's when that was pretty much an even up trade lol.

[Blazer]

Originally Posted by TeleTim911

I've never gotten rid of a guitar for something like that but I'm trying to figure this out. Some ex-band member decides your car is a porta-potty, and you chastised for it?

Let me explain (and do my utmost best to keep the bile inside) this idiot ex-bass player was asked to audition for a band who are friends of mine but seeing as how he doesn't have a car he asked me to drive him there, when I picked him up with was absolutely ****faced, drunk out of his skull and blew the audition, when I drove him home, he passed out and wet himself.

We had that show to play the next day and because of me having to move the equipment I had to cover up the wet seat with some trashbags and towels so I could carry our current bass player to the gig. It was over 100 degrees that day and the urine had built up a powerful stench, so people were asking me what happened to my car, so I told them.

I got home, posted what I went through on my blog and didn't think anything else of it. But when I got on the phone with Mister "Wet-pants" he told me that he heard from our sound guy about me having told everybody that he pissed in my car, he was livid and refused to pay for the clean up.

On the blog however things were far worse: people who never even met me were chastising me of putting that thing online. While others were going on about me having a fetish for "watersports" and called me a pervert and not long after they found my erotic comics and started accusing me of depicting underage sex. That accusation came from my Manga-style of drawing which depicts women with very slender bodies, the fact that the dialog itself says that the women are of legal age didn't matter, I was going to get Interpol on my ass and be put in jail.

All of that made me very paranoid and confused, I started wondering what it was that made people, people who never even meet me in person, form such an opinion of me. For almost three years I remained in that funk before I finally got out of it and started to enjoy myself again.

Something had to go and that guitar was the one thing that reminded me of all of that the most.

[ehren]

Yep, a really nice Reverend gold top that an ex-girlfriend bought me. Sold it to a band mate.

[fullwood]

I had a blueburst Washburn 335 copy that was a gift from my GF at the time. I never really bonded well with the guitar and when the GF dumped me for a guy she met the week before I decided the axe had to go, it played even worse for me after the breakup and I hated to even look at it. After a couple of months I ended up taking it to a local music store and traded straight across for a Breedlove Atlas. Best trade I ever made, that Breedlove is amazing. The Washburn was in the window of the store for less than a day before some guy bought it. Apparently he loves the damn thing, so all ended well.

[TeleTim911]

Oh wow, that's an insane story Blazer. Glad you got through it though, that had to have been really hard on you...terrible what those people did.

[telepathetic]

I played Stratocasters almost exclusively from '79 to '04. I bought a new '88 Tanqueray Gin green Strat* and it just felt like crap to me. I sold it almost immediately for what I paid and bought a (at the time) 5 year old Ibanez Artist. I still have the Artist and a pile of other Strats. That '88 is the only one I never liked.
It looked just like this:


*Several online postings refer to these as some promotional thing and not available for sale. The fine print on the Tanqueray ad said you could buy the guitar (USA made) from them for $275. That's what I sent them and I got the guitar.

[cleanman]

Never with a guitar but I did with a wife. Afterward I was able to get more guitars and a new wife that I've had for 25years. Best deal I ever made.

[studio1087]

Originally Posted by Blazer

.
I got home, posted what I went through on my blog and didn't think anything else of it..

I had lunch in a small bar in a very small Wisconsin farm town last week.

The bar owner was a sweer 80-ish looking lady who served good sandwiches.

She had a carver wooded sign behind the bar.......

"Warning - If you do anything stupid here tonight; photos will be posted on facebook tomorrow"

Cracked me up.

I sold a nice Les Paul when I was 23. A cover band that I gigged in for three years had broken up. It was the guitar that I played in the band. I identified that guitar with the band. I needed PA equipment for a new band and I traded the Les Paul for JBL Loaded Sonic Double 15 Scoops.

I'm sure that the Sonic Scoops (built in Cudahy WI - next to the bacon factory!) are on the bottom of a landfill somewhere and a very smart dentist has my Les Paul. Who ever has that Les Paul is smarter than I am.

That video sounds great Blazer. You guys sound really good. I've heard a bunch of your videos. Looked like a fun show.....despite the pee. Rock and roll and crazy stories. Sorry about the stress man.

[Paul in Colorado]

Bad vibes probably kept me from buying a few guitars, but none that I owned ever felt weird enough that I had to get rid of it.

[Toto'sDad]

I had a Gibson SG Menace, great guitar, but those brass knuckles in the fret board just projected something I'm not, and I was uncomfortable with them being there. The guitar sounded and played great, I foolishly focused on those brass knuckles and traded it for a Tele. Sometimes I guess things just have to run their course, I didn't like the Tele, sold it, for half of what I could of gotten for the Menace. Next time I get a guitar that plays good, I don't care if it has a horse apple in the fretboard, I'm keepin' it.

[electric]

Yep, a couple reminded me of bad memories

[Mekhem]

No bad vibes from guitars. Just guitars that I didn't bond with.

I did sell I motorcycle once that I knew was going to kill me though....

[String Tree]

Some guitars are possessed!

Never buy a Guitar without bringing a Priest.

[RubyRae]

I told myself once that I pawned my early 90's Black Les Paul Studio because it had 'bad vibes'. I had thrown it in a fit of rage one night intoxicated, and cracked the neck where it meets the headstock. I had it repaired by a top notch luthier, and it was a great guitar.
I really wish I stil had it, and have always looked around for it. I lied to myself saying it had 'bad vibes' when I was strung out years ago, and pawned it. The only real bad vibes at the time were me. Oh well, live and learn.

[Old Has Been]

Originally Posted by String Tree

Some guitars are possessed!

Never buy a Guitar without bringing a Priest.

And don't let this guy anywhere near your guitar!

[redstringuitar]

^^Great photo!^^

I sold my '04 LP Standard because of the negative association which developed through using it as my #1 in a band which didn't work out... on any level.

The singer/chief was past it, knew it, and tried to make up for it through manipulation and control, didn't help that his wife was mad as a box of frogs and chose to involve herself in everything either. The (crap) bass player had a number of issues, constantly stoned, always talking about fighting and the other band he was in had main priority. The backing singer was an old hippie... lovely girl but she viewed rehearsals as her night out in the week and couldn't seem to stop herself from being loud and disruptive.

Oh, and the music stank too... seemed to have potential at first, at least to my fresh, optimistic ears, but realization finally dawned after several weeks and one gig.

I'd owned the LP from new for about four years prior to joining that shambles and it had been a great guitar but I somehow became reluctant to take it out of it's case afterwards, so it had to go.

[Donelson]

I bought a beautiful Ibanez Bob Weir model, from the family of a close friend and former bandmate, who had recently died a grisly death, possibly suicide. He used to use this guitar in a band we were in and they thought I would like to have it. I tried to "make it mine", but after a couple of years the stigma hadn't gone away, so I sold it. Probably shouldn't have done that, but I did.