Do you believe in 'boomerang' guitars

[Fenderdad1950]

Here's my boomerang guitar. Was going to trade a 92 Jeff Beck strat for this 93 American Tele, plus $300 cash. The guy backed out and I sold the JB strat (a picture of one here in
the color that I had ).... a cool purple. Fast forward about 28 years. Ran into the same guy at a mall, struck up a conversation, finally it got around to guitars. I expressed that I wish he still had that Tele. He did. Bartered and he said he would trade the said Tele to me for something of equal value. I said goodbye to my 2021 BSB Player Tele and 2019 Affinity strat. The sunburst body, maple necked Tele I got, is the second photo. It took nearly 28 years for my boomerang guitar to come back.

 

[Brent Hutto]

I really can't imagine buying a 20-year-old guitar that I got rid of the first time I owned it. But that's probably because there's never in my life been anything I got rid of that I looked back two decades later and wished I still owned. I don't seem to be wired that way, my tastes and wants are ever-changing.

The closest has been a classic guitar I owned when I first started out playing guitar circa 2006. I never really got into the whole nylon string/classical thing so I somewhat reluctantly got rid of the guitar once I moved to steel strings. It was a pretty expensive and valuable instrument and exquisite workmanship (don't get me wrong, I'm talking a couple grand or so, nothing boutique) so I sold it on. A couple years ago I saw an advert for a guitar from the same workshop, same year, looked just like the one I had owned. For about 30 seconds I had a bit of nostalgia and kind of thought it would be nice to still have such a beautiful and well made instrument. But that was just a passing thought, not a real desire.

 

[brookdalebill]

Cool!
I had a couple of purple Becks.
Great necks!

 

[bobio]

You have to throw a boomerang before it can come back. I don’t throw them so they never leave

 

[Fendereedo]

Definitely, I always come back to Tele's new, or old.

 

[jrblue]

I have not had that experience (though I'm glad it worked for you) and it's contrary to my nature to round back on things. I have had one acoustic for more than 40 years, and others for anywhere from 20 to 1 years, so I'm not churning guitars. But I've never wished to have something back.

 

[Vermoulian]

I did that with my first "good" guitar, a Gibson Sonex 180 Deluxe that I got new in 1983. In college I sold it to a friend. Years later I saw him again and he offered to sell it back for what he had paid, which at that point was way below its market value. I bought it back, out of nostalgia as much as anything. Over the next few years I played it on and off and did some maintenance on it but even set up with some of the best action I've ever experienced on any guitar I've owned, eventually I concluded that I just didn't care for how it sounded. I sold it again and have not missed it. It had some distinctive dings and abrasions and if I saw it again I would definitely recognize it---I keep my eyes open but it has not so far turned up. Not that I'd buy it again, but I'd like to see what it would trade for now.

There have been other cases where I've bought a new different example of something I had that I foolishly let go (Ampeg Gemini I; Rickenbacker 360) but the Sonex is the only one where I bought back the exact same instrument.

 

[P Thought]

I don't believe in boomerang guitars. But I name mine, which is just as silly. You should call that one "Boomer".