How do ya cure seller's remorse?

[J_Gordon]

I'm sure many of us here have regretted selling certain pieces of their gear time & time again.

I have gone through more guitars & effects pedals than women! I've done some stupid transactions in the past. This year I bought a Joe Pass arch top...AGAIN! Wish I didn't sell the first one I bought a few years ago!

This week I plan on buying a Boss Compressor and Boss Blues Driver...AGAIN! Sold both of 'em a couple of years ago. Sometimes I never learn...(sigh).

And I can't tell you how many other Strat's, Tele's & amps I've gone through all because I was on the tone quest! I wouldn't be so disappointed in myself if these impulsive trades & phases I went through didn't end up costing me a bit of money!

So..any other impulsive gear shoppers here who have suffered from bad G.A.S. but have since straightened out? How did ya do it & has your wallet thanked ya for it?

[Lew UK]

I miss selling my Hiwatt cabs (70's stock)they made one heluva a racket!

['ol hank pank]

want to jump offa the roof if I do.

Here's my solution.

Try to tell myself that what I have is good and be grateful.

If that doesn't work- buy more stuff!!!!

Go for a junker and get into souping it up. Find a nice project guitar. Cheap and you spend money a little at a time, so it's easier to take. Also I find it zennfully relaxing and entertainingly frustrating. But when you're done- viola! Your work of art makes noise.

[riggergreg]

Always keep one to experiment on. As long as you have a project to work on, you keep the anticipation of something new. Spend a little at a time, a new pup , a different bridge, maybe refinish a body in your spare time.... That way you always have something new to play

[reverbbb]

At some point, you have to face reality. Though we WANT it all, we can't HAVE it all (some folks are laughing and saying, yes you can).

Consider this, some women were worth keeping around, but they are not around now. You may have lived in an awesome little house with three acres and lots of trees, but you don't live there now. You may have felt that 1976 was the best year of your life, but this is 2003.

My point is, we all love to sit and regret. It makes excellent "guy talk". However, fundamentally, you must realize this in your heart and move on. It happens to many people and in different ways. This is why so many songs are written about "memories". Sometimes that's all that we are left with.

The main thing is to appreciate what you have now (and deal with your GAS problems).

Now, if only my dad had kept his 1932 coupe . . .

[chipl]

I don't sell very much. If I liked it when I got it, I tend to keep that the guitar because

1. I just love guitars, both good ones and cheap $10.00 yard sale guitars that I hang on the basement walls. The good ones all have meant something to me in my musical journey so I like having' 'em around, and I do have the space to keep them all.

2. I love the variety of different guitar sounds. I mean I love my teles, but there's nothing like a 1961 faded cherryburst P-90s equipped ES 125 single cutaway, for jazzy stuff, or an ES335 for anything, or a Rick 12, or a 65 crappy Hagstrom that Rob DiStefano is gonna electronically overhaul for me so I can raise the action to cheeseslicer height and play some cranking slide on, etc. You get the picture.

I've sold just three guitars in my life...a 65 Fender Villager 12-string and an 1973 Ovation 12-string and regretted their departure not a whit. I did sell a 65 Gretsch Tennessean when my kid needed college tuition money and I wished I had kept it, but what are ya gonna do.

Right now I own two early 1970s martins and a 2001 Taylor. I know I don't need all three 9and how 'bout that $300 knockabout Seagull 6 string for the beach or woods?), but I could never sell 'em as they are all wonderful guitars and like family to me.

I have buyer's regret...I regret not buying more stuff years ago! I remember back in 65 when I bought my first electric, I would have said, "who wants a used guitar when ya can buy a shiny new Hagstrom!"

that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Joel Terry]

1. Don't sell.
2. Go out into the woods, rip off all your clothes and scream monosyllabic jibberish as loudly as you can.
3. Have a hot fudge brownie; you'll feel better.
4. Two words: Wild Turkey.
5. Contact the person to whom you sold, tell him or her that your "evil twin" stole your instrument and sold it; therefore, the deal is null and void.
6. Put on Los Straitjackets' latest, Supersonic Guitars in 3-D; you'll feel better.
7. Say to yourself, "That's the way the cookie crumbles," and then crumble an actual cookie in a literal gesture.
8. Kneel at the alter of our patron saint, 0le FUZZY, and ask for forgiveness, as well as relief for acid indigestion that comes with seller's remorse.
9. Watch a Monty Python film; you'll feel better.
10. Go visit Pedalworld, rummage around in her utility room until you're bitten by a female black widow spider; needless to say, all thoughts of anything except getting to a doctor will be erased, including seller's remorse.

Just having fun. :P Actually, I don't know if there is a cure for seller's remorse. Heaven knows I've suffered from it on occasion, as have most folks here in the TDPRI, I'm sure. I think you just have to shake it off, hitch your pants up, and move on.

Joel

[Tony]

Buy more. 8)

[hippietim]

That's why I have adopted a policy where I don't sell anything unless I've basically not touched the piece of gear for a loooooong time or I just acquired it and it ain't doing it for me (this way there's no attachment).

[Paul in Colorado]

Good post, Joel!
Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and go on with your life. I only really regret selling one guitar, a '68 Les Paul gold top, but if I can sell the Les Paul I have now and my Dobro I can get a Historic '56 in sunburst that might ease the pain a little.

[Mod-Son]

That's what cured me.

[Anonymous]

Originally Posted by reverbbb

At some point, you have to face reality. Though we WANT it all, we can't HAVE it all

Yup. To quote Steven Wright:

You can't have everything. Where would you put it?

-- CS

[davidp158]

Keeping everything you own will prevent seller's remorse, but that's not always practical. Unless I'm in a real cash bind, or just don't use a piece of gear, I tend to hold on to it. If the gear is clearly losing resale value, I'm more likely to consider selling it, but at some point its cheaper to keep it than take a bath selling it off. Buying quality gear tends to hold its value, so selling off isn't as painful.

I may sell off gear that isn't getting used, if I want to fund something else. If it helps me fund something that I will use a lot, then its OK. If I replace the sold item later, and took a bath in the process, well, its lesson learned. Most of us have sold guitars as teenagers that are now "collectable" guitars, but weren't at the time. Who knew? You can't beat yourself up over that.

My advice to curb seller's remorse is to watch out for impulse purchases. Buy what you think you'll really use, forecast what its worth will be down the road, and enjoy it in the mean time.

Dave Patterson