Stories of lost guitars

[paulrhodes]

We've all had them. Bought something special and loved it, but for some inexplicable reason sold on. Or even gone and played your dream at a guitar shop and gone home to think whilst someone else pays for it..


Mine was seeing an ad in my work for sale forum for 'Some guitars' for sale. Intrigued I popped around to have a look. There were a few pieces of crap and one very very old and slightly worse for wear strat. Natural body and a maple neck from memory. It also had a Seymour Duncan bridge P/U. All I remember is that it was ancient...

Now I was earning a pitance back then and it was the end of the month so I had to wait until the end of the week to buy it.

The old giffer only wanted £150 for it but I just didn't have the money Quite obviously by the following week, all that was left was an epi junior. This strat must have been 40 years old and could have potentially been worth thousands.

I should have begged borrowed or stole to buy it but just accepted that I'd have to wait. Total and utter moron.

You know what, I wouldn't have even sold it.

Gutted still and this was about 7 years ago as the likelihood of that happening again is minimal.

[Ewan S]

Was working in a pawnbrokers and they had a gorgeous yamaha acoustic in. Went on my lunchbreak, after spending the morning tuning it and playing it, decided for £50 it was worth a punt and by the time I came back it had been sold!

[GetCarter]

Had to sell a Gibson 335 to buy a car/tax/insurance when I was a starving musician in London about 25 years ago. Always promised I'd buy a replacement one day when I could afford it. Finally bought one last year.

Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 30th January 17:04

[Malam]

I've come across a few bargains in my time, the best being...

Found a rare Levinson Blade SS4 Silver Streak in Violet on ebay, mint & unplayed with a buy it now price of £500. Sold it the same day for £1550

Two weeks later, another Silver Streak but in Blue popped up on ebay.de for 500 Euros. I sold it to the same guy before he had even seen it, £1500.

I found a third Silver Streak in black (they came in three colours) at a local music shop priced at £1100, it had been in the shop for about 5 years. The shop closed down last summer, I managed to get it for £800....again, sold it to the same guy who bought the other two for £1500

Scanning through a local free ads paper I came across an ad for a '94 Gibson SG Special in ebony with ebony neck, Gibson case, a brand new Marshall JCM900 SL-X Head and a new Marshall JCM900 1960A Cab. The guy selling was a boy racer who had bought it all with the intention to learn but had lost interest...bought the lot for £350 Ended up selling the head for £350, the cab for £250 and swapped the Gibson SG Special for an Ibanez RG548TLB which I eventually sold for £450

Also picked up a 1954 Hofner Congress on ebay for £30. Mint condition and completely original, sold that on for £300 the same week.

Oh, and there was Steve Vai's old Jem that I picked up for a nice price. Sold it a year later, made £2500 on it but really regret selling that guitar!

Good times

Edited by Malam on Saturday 30th January 16:04

[rumpelstiltskin]

Best bargain i ever got was an ad turned up in the local rag in the '£30 and under' page believe it or not,a Vox AC30 head!I went to the house where it was being sold,he took me out to his garage,there was a cloth potato sack in the corner covering something,i pulled it off and there it was,a 1967 Vox AC30 head.Only reason i knew what it was was because i was into Queen at the time and had just started playing the guitar,if it wasn't for that i wouldn't have a clue what it was!.I fell in love with this thing,he stuck it in his garage since he stopped playing in a band in the late 60,s!I pulled the chassis out,polished all the innards till you could see your face in them,got an amp tech to fix a few small issues,got it home and fired it up,it was magical,the smell off stale fags and beer just filled the room when it started to warm up lol!Sold it a year and a half later for £620!

[Dawg]

I've had lots go through my hands over the years, but the rarest was probably this 1959 Gibson ES 175. All original with the P.A.F humbuckers.

I Let it go for £800 in favour of a brand new natural finish Gibson L-4CES with a carved spruce top in around 1991. To be honest, it wasn't that amazing - which is why it went.




Here's the L-4 which replaced it - a much better instrument IMO. Just because something's old doesn't make it good! I managed to keep the old 1959 Lifton case and Gibson waterproof cover though!

Edited by Dawg on Sunday 31st January 20:55

Edited by Dawg on Sunday 31st January 20:56

[RedYellowGreen]

Not quite as romantic a story but a couple of years ago ,thanks to the recesion and the fact that the dollar was worth naff all, I watched the price of Les Paul juniors trickle down to about £300 in a music shop near me. I have wanted one for ages and considered getting one but decided not to, anyway of course after christmas the dollar recovered along with the price and they are now going for double that. Bollards

Edited by RedYellowGreen on Monday 1st February 01:22

[suthol]

Had one of these which paid A$60.00 for and then sold for A$60.00 to pay a debt.

An original issue of one of these that I swapped for a CBS Tele Custom which was st.
Paid A$120.00 for the Fender VI


A 59 Tele ( straight swap for the Tele Custon ) and an L Series P Bass paid A$180.00 for it and got about the same when I sold it after getting the VI.

It makes me weep to think of what that little lot is worth today.

Edited by suthol on Monday 1st February 08:35

Edited by suthol on Monday 1st February 08:36

[gbbird]

I have a story which is only a few years old. In order to complete my guitar colleciton, i need one more axe - a Gibsob Les Paul. So, whenever i am near or in a music shop i always have this in my mind, should i see 'the one' for me.

One sunny day a few years ago i popped into a music shop in Milton Keynes (now since closed) just for a browse, and there i saw a lovely Translucent Blue Gibson Les Paul, pretty much shouting at me to buy it.

I very nearly did, as i had the plastic on me and the neccessary funds in the bank. Even the gf said just go for it if it stops you moaning on about one. However, for reasons unbeknown to me, i did not. I stewed over it for a week or so, then i went back for another look only to find it had gone

I have not seen a translucent blue Les Paul in a shop since. If anyone knows of one, please do let me know.

g

Edited by gbbird on Monday 1st February 11:48

[JaymzDead]

My lost guitar most people in the know would just say 'meh' to. I have owned 2 ESPs since and I would say that this guitar is still my favourite. It was a Marlin, not too sure on the model as the headstock just said 'Marlin'. The guitar was Jackson copy with a fixed bridge and HSS pick up config and was red with a maple neck. My ex's father had aquired it in a house clearance and then sold it to a friend's girlfriend who had the intention of learning to play with it. It then gathered dust for a few years in their spare room. I saw it, liked the looks and offered her 20 notes for it. When I got it back to mine I gave it a good clean and a restring. I plugged it into my amp and it actually gave a nice crunchy rhythm sound which was exactly what I was after. Over the next few weeks I found myself choosing to play that guitar over my ESP pre Gibson lawsuit Explorer. In fact it ended up being my main guitar for gigs etc. A few years later an unbelievable deal for an ESP M252 caught my eye on Music123 so I sold the Marlin to a mate for 25 quid (5 quid profit, woohoo!). I still have the M252 and it is without a doubt a great guitar but I really miss the playability I had with the Marlin. I did ask my mate about buying it back but he managed to break the neck in a house move. I then thought all was lost until a couple of years ago I saw an identical guitar for sale in a local guitar shop, they only wanted 20 notes for it but I prevaricated over whether to buy it or not and unfortunately the shop suddenly wnet out of business! Bottom line is I miss that damn guitar and I wish I'd taken the opportunity to pick up the replacement!

[Dai Capp]

Three spring to mind - a Patrick Eggle Berlin which I sold when I was a penniless student to pay the rent, a 1978 Gibson Les Paul in tobacco burst which I sold for not much and would fetch a fair price today and one which I never owned but was offered a 1961 Fender Jazzmaster for £200 in 1989.

All would've sat very nicely in my little collection...

DC

[gbbird]

Malam said:

I've come across a few bargains in my time, the best being...

Found a rare Levinson Blade SS4 Silver Streak in Violet on ebay, mint & unplayed with a buy it now price of £500. Sold it the same day for £1550

Two weeks later, another Silver Streak but in Blue popped up on ebay.de for 500 Euros. I sold it to the same guy before he had even seen it, £1500.

I found a third Silver Streak in black (they came in three colours) at a local music shop priced at £1100, it had been in the shop for about 5 years. The shop closed down last summer, I managed to get it for £800....again, sold it to the same guy who bought the other two for £1500

Scanning through a local free ads paper I came across an ad for a '94 Gibson SG Special in ebony with ebony neck, Gibson case, a brand new Marshall JCM900 SL-X Head and a new Marshall JCM900 1960A Cab. The guy selling was a boy racer who had bought it all with the intention to learn but had lost interest...bought the lot for £350 Ended up selling the head for £350, the cab for £250 and swapped the Gibson SG Special for an Ibanez RG548TLB which I eventually sold for £450

Also picked up a 1954 Hofner Congress on ebay for £30. Mint condition and completely original, sold that on for £300 the same week.

Oh, and there was Steve Vai's old Jem that I picked up for a nice price. Sold it a year later, made £2500 on it but really regret selling that guitar!

Good times

Edited by Malam on Saturday 30th January 16:04

Sir, congrats on your entrepreneurship, but i think you are missing the point of this thread It is meant to be about those well-loved, well played, well cherished or simply idolised axes that, for one reason or another, we no longer own or never even got to own in the first place. A 'lost love' of the axe variety if you will. Those guitars that hold a special place in our lives, that felt so right when we played them and bring back fond memories of times (and music) gone by; of staring everyday in the window of your local music shops dreaming of the Charvel superstrat; of saving up your pocket money to buy it; of playing that first barre chord or writing that first song; of playing along to Led Zep and finally nailing the solo from Achilles Last Stand; of forming your first band; of damp rehearsal studios and out of time drummers; of gigs and girls and lots of drink; of the first time in a recording studio; of mammoth writing sessions aided by tobacco and booze and a Marshall set to 11; that one guitar that saw you through school and was the envy of your mates; the guitar your parents spent the equivalent of three months wages on just to make your xmas and set you on your way to musicianship; that one guitar that was with you in your finest hour, that never snapped a string (or perhaps did snap a string) when it shouldn't have; the one that has the scars of gigs and moving house and dodgy electronics experimentations; the guitar that you borrowed to the guitarist in a band on the same bill as you that evening who has since become famous......

It is not about how much money we made by picking up bargains then flogging them on ebay.

[Evangelion]

Have had to sell several guitars in the last year or so due to general pennilessness:

Burns Marvin
Rickenbacker 360/12 (the '64 reissue)
Epiphone Casino (sunburst, still got a natural one)
Fender Hank MArvin Strat (Japanese)
Gibson Les Paul '59 reissue (from the Custom Art and Historic division)

and back in '79, a Gibson Explorer. What would that be worth now!

[SaliMali]

Wish I'd never sold my:

Les Paul Standard
All my USA BC Rich Gunslingers
USA Hamer Diablo
USA Kramer Pacer Custom
..and my ADA MP1, Voodoo Amps modified Fender Champ and my Soldano Astroverb

Oh well...

[bga]

I've had a few nice guitars over the last 15 years but the only one I really regret selling was an Epi LP copy. It was one if my first guitars and the one that I learned to setup on and was lovely to play.

My Gordon Smith tele is similar and definitely a keeper.

[Mojooo]

gbbird said:

I have a story which is only a few years old. In order to complete my guitar colleciton, i need one more axe - a Gibsob Les Paul. So, whenever i am near or in a music shop i always have this in my mind, should i see 'the one' for me.

One sunny day a few years ago i popped into a music shop in Milton Keynes (now since closed) just for a browse, and there i saw a lovely Translucent Blue Gibson Les Paul, pretty much shouting at me to buy it.

I very nearly did, as i had the plastic on me and the neccessary funds in the bank. Even the gf said just go for it if it stops you moaning on about one. However, for reasons unbeknown to me, i did not. I stewed over it for a week or so, then i went back for another look only to find it had gone

I have not seen a translucent blue Les Paul in a shop since. If anyone knows of one, please do let me know.

g

Edited by gbbird on Monday 1st February 11:48

There is one in a shop local to me. But I quite fancy it

[paulrhodes]

gbbird said:

Malam said:

I've come across a few bargains in my time, the best being...

Found a rare Levinson Blade SS4 Silver Streak in Violet on ebay, mint & unplayed with a buy it now price of £500. Sold it the same day for £1550

Two weeks later, another Silver Streak but in Blue popped up on ebay.de for 500 Euros. I sold it to the same guy before he had even seen it, £1500.

I found a third Silver Streak in black (they came in three colours) at a local music shop priced at £1100, it had been in the shop for about 5 years. The shop closed down last summer, I managed to get it for £800....again, sold it to the same guy who bought the other two for £1500

Scanning through a local free ads paper I came across an ad for a '94 Gibson SG Special in ebony with ebony neck, Gibson case, a brand new Marshall JCM900 SL-X Head and a new Marshall JCM900 1960A Cab. The guy selling was a boy racer who had bought it all with the intention to learn but had lost interest...bought the lot for £350 Ended up selling the head for £350, the cab for £250 and swapped the Gibson SG Special for an Ibanez RG548TLB which I eventually sold for £450

Also picked up a 1954 Hofner Congress on ebay for £30. Mint condition and completely original, sold that on for £300 the same week.

Oh, and there was Steve Vai's old Jem that I picked up for a nice price. Sold it a year later, made £2500 on it but really regret selling that guitar!

Good times

Edited by Malam on Saturday 30th January 16:04

Sir, congrats on your entrepreneurship, but i think you are missing the point of this thread It is meant to be about those well-loved, well played, well cherished or simply idolised axes that, for one reason or another, we no longer own or never even got to own in the first place. A 'lost love' of the axe variety if you will. Those guitars that hold a special place in our lives, that felt so right when we played them and bring back fond memories of times (and music) gone by; of staring everyday in the window of your local music shops dreaming of the Charvel superstrat; of saving up your pocket money to buy it; of playing that first barre chord or writing that first song; of playing along to Led Zep and finally nailing the solo from Achilles Last Stand; of forming your first band; of damp rehearsal studios and out of time drummers; of gigs and girls and lots of drink; of the first time in a recording studio; of mammoth writing sessions aided by tobacco and booze and a Marshall set to 11; that one guitar that saw you through school and was the envy of your mates; the guitar your parents spent the equivalent of three months wages on just to make your xmas and set you on your way to musicianship; that one guitar that was with you in your finest hour, that never snapped a string (or perhaps did snap a string) when it shouldn't have; the one that has the scars of gigs and moving house and dodgy electronics experimentations; the guitar that you borrowed to the guitarist in a band on the same bill as you that evening who has since become famous......

It is not about how much money we made by picking up bargains then flogging them on ebay.

Spot on sir. Exactly what I was thinking at the time of starting the thread.

[gbbird]

Mojooo said:

gbbird said:

I have a story which is only a few years old. In order to complete my guitar colleciton, i need one more axe - a Gibsob Les Paul. So, whenever i am near or in a music shop i always have this in my mind, should i see 'the one' for me.

One sunny day a few years ago i popped into a music shop in Milton Keynes (now since closed) just for a browse, and there i saw a lovely Translucent Blue Gibson Les Paul, pretty much shouting at me to buy it.

I very nearly did, as i had the plastic on me and the neccessary funds in the bank. Even the gf said just go for it if it stops you moaning on about one. However, for reasons unbeknown to me, i did not. I stewed over it for a week or so, then i went back for another look only to find it had gone

I have not seen a translucent blue Les Paul in a shop since. If anyone knows of one, please do let me know.

g

Edited by gbbird on Monday 1st February 11:48

There is one in a shop local to me. But I quite fancy it

Do tell! Do tell! Please please please (if you choose not to buy it of course)

Another unrequited axe story - In my mid to late teens in the late 80s, after learning for a few years on a cheap Kay guitar (which i still have) i had proved to my parents that i was taking the guitar seriously, and i was getting reasonably good. Hence the point had been reached where it was time to hassle the parents/santa claus to buy me my first proper quality guitar. Due to my taste in music, long hair and guitar technique tendencies, i was clearly going down the path of 'heavy metal' and so my new axe had to be up to the job of playing fast and loud and look the part. I immediately narrowed down the options to just two - either a Charvel 650xl in white or a Peavey Vandenburg in pink. After much deliberation, i opted for the Charvel, and i still have it to this day (and is the main subject of my earlier post about that 'special guitar'). I do not regret my decision at all as the Charvel is a brilliant guitar and has served me well, but i do still wonder what the Peavey Vandenburg would have been like. They are very very rare nowadays, and when Peavey brought out the V Type a few years ago in homage to the original, i snapped one up. It is indeed a geat replica guitar, but nonetheless it is not the original Peavey Vandenburg. I still yearn for one to this day, but i fear this particular longing will never be fulfilled (a bit like that girl in 5th year i used to fancy )

Edited by gbbird on Tuesday 2nd February 13:13

[...Mole...]

A purple Joe Despagni JEM from the mid-80's. It was ste, looked very scabby and i never really got on with it, However i somehow still regret selling it.

[snorky]

Sold a tobacco Gordon Smith Gypsy 1...still miss it now....