The ones that got away......

ourmaninthenorth · August 2013

Here's a couple I still miss to this day, and can't for the bloody life of me remember why I flogged 'em, and what I bought with the money. Anyone got any similar hard luck stories??

Lowden 035.

Martin CF1

Nice 335.

Sporky · August 2013

For me it's the Ibanez AS-193 - never bought one, despite twice having the opportunity. I even had the money!

Now there's one that keeps being relisted on t'bay, but it's got some nasty looking cracks so best avoided. I'll just have to make something similar I s'pose.

JookyChap · August 2013

There are a few I wish I still had, but the two thaat really stand out are an old Antoria Tele Thinline which weighed a ton, but was really rather lovely. No fotos of that even.

The other was an equally expensive thing, an Orpheum SG copy from the 70s, bolt-on neck it was a bit of a wreck, probably ply but still one of the nicest guitars I've ever played...

stickyfiddle · August 2013

Those Lowdens are awesome. T'other guitarist in my old band has one exactly the same. Brilliant sounding thing.

As for me...

That old brown SG. Only a Faded Special, but an early one with ebony board, and it was AWESOME. Sadly, I was poor and student-shaped. If anyone sees a 2003 faded brown for sale, let me know..? Mine had Graphtech saddles fitted too.

Moltisanti · August 2013

i played an 80s Ibanez RG770 in purple back ithe day and it was one of the bestguitars i've ever played, should have bought it

Bucket · August 2013

I used to have a PRS SE Soapbar which I got for £160 - stupidly cheap. Low, LOW action, massive neck, massive tone.

Sold it, for a profit, to buy my Flying V - which I love, but I do miss the old PRS. I'm craving something with P-90s again... seriously thinking my next guitar will be a Tele Black Dove - satisfies three simultaneous GAS urges (a big-scratchplate Tele, a Fender with a big headstock, and something with P-90s. Get in!)

stickyfiddle · August 2013

Gawd, just remembered the pair of brand new AVRI Jazzmasters I was offered in NYC for £1300 total back in 2006. Man I should've done that deal...

jimboflojo · August 2013

I regret selling a japanese tokai lss112 SEB- les paul special type, p90s and 50s neck, probably the best guitar Ive had. loved it and never wanted to sell but had to pay a tax bill, lost a fair bit on it as well. Really hard to find as well, occasionally pop up on ebay but they want silly money. Bucket- think I saw a black dove tele on ebay recently, might still be on there if you're looking for one still

ICBM · August 2013

'65 Fender Jaguar. It was my #1 for five years, then my music style and band changed and it didn't suit any more. I shouldn't have sold it really, but after a couple of years I wondered why I had the best part of two grand tied up in something I didn't play. So I did... mistake, I still miss it. I don't know what I did with the money, but I can't afford to buy another one now.

'57 Les Paul Special - a real one, all-original but with a repaired headstock break. I didn't like the colour - it wasn't a nice TV Yellow, it was more a sort of Afrika Korps tank khaki which some of them went. I sold it, and unfortunately I can remember all too well what I did with the money - I spent it on some recording equipment based around an 8-track cassette multitracker. It was state of the art at the time! For about a couple of years. But like all tech stuff it was quickly superceded, then eventually it broke, just after the company had stopped stocking the unique part that had failed. I ended up scrapping it, and selling off a few of the outboards for a pittance.

The real 'one that got away' is that '56 Les Paul Custom I didn't buy though... I will always regret that.

impmann · August 2013

My '65 Casino - broken by an ex in a fit of rage. When I say broken, I mean obliterated completely... nothing left but splinters and bent metal. I bailed very quickly after that...

My '69 Tele - stolen from a stage in North London. I gave chase, but when I realised that there were a lot more of them than there was of me, I had to admit defeat.

The one I regret selling... that would be my Antoria Les Paul Goldtop copy. My first 'proper' guitar and ended up getting massively modded - Grover machine heads (black), Gotoh bridge and tailpiece, Brass nut, 'Double Eagle' neck pickup and Gibson T-Top bridge pickup, mini switches for phase, coil tap etc etc. I loved it but needed a big amp... so swapped it for a Sound City 50w head and cabinet in about 1990. And immediately regretted it... I check ebay daily, just in case she ever turns up on there - honestly I do, but the chances are slim at best.

[Deleted User] · August 2013

My '63 Fiesta Red Strat. Bought it in 1983. I already had a '65 in three-tone sunburst. The '63 wiped the floor with it. I sold it in 1996 when I was short of money and the house I was living in had been subject to a number of burglary attempts; I decided I'd rather lose the guitar on my terms, rather than someone else's. I was also living with my future wife and saw parting with the Strat as a sign 'growin up' in a way.

I divorced 5 years ago.

I really wish I'd kept the Strat....

Lorne · August 2013

Mine was a Ibanez Roadstar II bass, I have no pictures of it, but it was the one with a Bird's eye maple front, I have no idea what happened to it, I wouldn't have lent it to anyone, I don't remember selling or part exchanging it, ahhh, the days of heavy drinking :-(

mike_l · August 2013

My first "proper" guitar was a black Squire Strat, like a dumbass, once I'd got my Jackson and ESP, I figured I didn't need it, a mate wanted a guitar, so I swopped it for cash and a megadrive.

Fair enough it needed a pup change, and the hardware upgrading (it wasn't bad, but still). I wish I hadn't done that trade. It took me an absolute age to find another Strat I could get on with.... (18 months of searching, then I found a Koa Strat at Musiclive, in need of some work).

I also had a wonderful Fender Precision, but it wasn't getting used, so got P/X'd against my first Marshall.......

Lexie1 · August 2013

Those that know me, know how much I miss this one.

And this one. The Firebird 111

[Deleted User] · August 2013

Lexie1;2471" said:
Those that know me, know how much I miss this one.

And this one. The Firebird 111

Gold Top Les Pauls with P90s and wrap-over bridges are THE coolest looking electric guitars. Fact....

birdo · August 2013

Didn't so much get away as I let it slip through my fingers. A friend was selling a Martin 000 all mahogany beauty. I tried it for a week. Then decided to think about it but left it too long and he sold it to someone else. I m now looking for an acoustic and nothing compares to it for the money.

monquixote · August 2013

The one I'll always remember was in a secondhand shop in Birmingham when I was a student. It was what I think was a 1970's Gibson SG Deluxe with mini humbuckers, but it had been badly refinished using what appeared to be brown household gloss paint and had 2 of the knobs and the switch tip missing.

It was £300 and though I had the money (loan just paid in). Buying it would result in my running out of money and not being able to eat later in the year so I didn't though it was the most magic feeling guitar I'd laid hands on.

I realised the error of my ways and went back a couple of days later and the bloke told me it had sold that morning.

It's the only one I still think about.

meltedbuzzbox · August 2013

J mascis Fender (not squier) Jazzmaster for me.

It was a done deal and I pulled out last minute not realising it was vintage radius and basswood.

Now I own a few guitars with vintage radius and a basswood squier Jazzmaster I am kicking myself even more as I like both

daveyh · August 2013

My Kramer Baretta ('86 or '87) and a 74 LP Deluxe.

chillidoggy · August 2013

My 1969 Gibson SG Special, wine red, with John Birch pickups. I'd give my left bollock to get that back.

ourmaninthenorth · August 2013

Lexie1 said:

Those that know me, know how much I miss this one.

This one....... every time.... 1954!!!!

:-B

John_P · August 2013

For me it's the Tokai strat I had nicked from a rehearsal room in 1990...

It was a birthday present in 1983 (I was only 2 at the time - I wish!!! lol)
Almost certainly it's as much to do with getting comfortable and used to my first guitar but it took me a lot of guitar buying over the years before I found anything that felt "right" to play...
I still keep an occasional eye on the tokai's for sale - a blonde strat with a rosewood board and a cig burn on the headstock if anyone spots it

TTony · August 2013

It was a long, long time ago.

Just after my 40th birthday.

That's relevant, because my lovely wife had just bought me a PRS Santana SE (v2 as it happens) for my 40th birthday. We didn't have a stack of cash back then, and it was a major purchase for us. It was also my first new guitar in many years. I loved (still do) that guitar, for many reasons. It's one of my "never sell" guitars, for many reasons.

Anyhoo ...

A few months earlier, I'd started looking for a Kawai KS11xl. My first, proper, guitar was a KS12xl (in the early '80s), and it had been a toss-up at the time between the KS11 and the KS12. I'd always wondered what a KS11 would have been like. With Google and evilBay now available, I started out on a quest to see if I could track one down.

Not long after the arrival of the Santana SE, a KS11xl appeared on evilBay. It was immaculate. Completely original. All unmarked. The original case. The price was low, so I bidded. The price went up a bit, so I bidded a bit more. The price went up some more, so I bidded some more.

Naturally, in the final minutes, the price doubled/trebled and it was suddenly over £300. Didn't really have that much spare cash. And I'd only just been given the birthday present guitar. Buying another would be greedy.

I decided that it would be silly to spend so much on an old guitar, for purely sentimental/inquisitiveness reasons, so I let the Kawai go to the other bidder.

To this day, 10 years later, I still remember it. I still wonder who got it (and why they've never contacted www.kawaiguitars.com). And it prompted a very expensive change in approach.

For the following 10 years, if I saw a Kawai, I pretty much bought it. There have been some exceptions, but not so many.

For my 50th birthday, my (still lovely) wife bought me the Kawai Moonsault. And that's really been the conclusion of my Kawai quest. It took 10 years, but I think I'm over it now.

Though, if anyone sees a mint condition, with original case, Kawai KS11XL up for sale ... don't let me know.

IanSavage · August 2013

I found a Fender Tele once in Johnny Roadhouse in Manchester; weird thing, halfway between a 'normal' Tele and a Keef-style '72 Custom, I guess someone had done a bit of customising. The neck was the thing though, I've never found another one like it; total baseball bat with quite an aggressive 'V' profile at the lower end, evened out to a (still chunky) 'C' at the dusty end.

Same as monquixote though, was a student at the time and even though I technically could have afforded it I would have been living on beans for a month; umm-ed and ah-ed, went back to get it and it'd gone. Boo.

geepers0677 · August 2013

A PRS ce22 I sold on to take my girlfriend on holiday - we are now married with two little dudes, so worth it, but I wish I'd found the cash somewhere else!

axisus · August 2013

I haven't regretted selling any guitars (yet!), but I procrastinated, and missed out on 2 guitars a few years ago, and missing them still feels like a thorn in my side. One was a Nash strat. I've since seen a lot of Nash strats and not liked them at all, but this one was a true peach. I still look at the pix and go all doe-eyed. The one that I REALLY wanted was a weird tele hybrid made from Warmoth parts. Carved top, floyd trem and rather fascinating. Needed doing up as well which made it even more appealing. Damn, I so should have bought that!

grungebob · August 2013

No pictures of it but I still kick myself over selling my old westone prestige 250 for two reasons, 1 because it was a damn fine guitar and possibly the best I've played and 2 I got £350 for it in 2004 and now they fetch £850

Phil_aka_Pip · August 2013

should have bought the ES-135 when it was there to be bought and I had the money

octatonic · August 2013

My old Gibson ES295- I owned it for 4 years.

http://www.jamesrichmond.com/misc/es295.jpg

I would have loved to have kept it, based on looks and cool factor, but it was a total pig to play and fed back on stage like nothing else I've tried.

I do miss it though.

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The ones that got away......

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