Ever run into your old guitar?

[Gibson Artist]

Either going in a store, or you see it a year after you sold it on craigslist, and you actually re try it again? I recently tried to trade back for my j-50 but the owenr wanted too much so i had decline despite the fact i really loved that guitar. Sadly, the strings he uses sound like poop and he drilled a hole in it to install a baggs pickup. Just makes me kinda sad to see her in that state. Other times tho, i ran into old gits like a les paul and i bought it back. But, even when i didn't buy em back, it was great to hold an old friend again, and hear them sing for me.

 

So, no i did not buy back my j-50, the magic just wasn't there enough for me to overpay, but would like to hear your stories, if you got any on seeing/playing or even buying back an old friend.

[MissouriPicker]

I run into my J60 fairly often. I know the guy who bought it. Still sounds like a T-Rex and is just as easy-on-the-fingers, but I've moved-on. Lots of great guitars around, and I've got several. Aside from "maybe" my Hummingbird, I've never owned a "holy grail." Don't know that I've seriously looked for one. Just want guitars that I want to play.

[Gibson Artist]

I run into my J60 fairly often. I know the guy who bought it. Still sounds like a T-Rex and is just as easy-on-the-fingers, but I've moved-on. Lots of great guitars around, and I've got several. Aside from "maybe" my Hummingbird, I've never owned a "holy grail." Don't know that I've seriously looked for one. Just want guitars that I want to play.

Bird or 200 would be my holy grails, (for acoustics anyways), but ive been lucky enough to play some wonderful models in all price ranges. Believe it or not, i own a D-28 and the martin d-16 rgt i had sounded just as good as my 28 and i paid only 1200 for it, there is something to be said for not every great git needs a great cost. Glad you got to see your old friend and shes taken care of, sometimes we just like to move on and keep tryin new things.

[bobouz]

I've owned, sold, & traded a whole lot of guitars since the '70s, but have never run into one (in person or online) once it was gone. Seems kinda strange, but it's a great big world out there.

 

A number of these instruments were ones I was wishing I could revisit, so I began searching out replacements. In the end, this has worked out great, and in virtually every case, I've been able to improve upon some key aspect of the original example.

 

Fun stuff!

[kidblast]

not an acoustic but I had an Ibanez MC400 from 1978 that I rode real hard for about 20 years. I was a nice guitar, weighed about 15lbs. it was a beast. I eventually moved on with a trade for something else. The manager at store I made the trade at knew I it was my only gigging electric for those years, (raising a family you need to make some sacrifices..extra guitars was not an option) when it came back to the store, he called me before he put it back out for sale. I declined, at the time, I had decided I'd played all the notes on that one I needed to play. I called him a few weeks later, to see if he still had it, and it was gone.. some days I regret not having it for sentimental values.

[LP Trad Pro II]

No.

[Hall]

My 62 Melody Maker with a ball bat neck that today would be perfect for my hands. But the owner won't budge!

[thegreatgumbino]

There are a couple I would love to run into with a chance to buy them back!

[rustystrings]

Memory is a tricky thing ...

 

1. My first new classical guitar was an Alvarez 5006, and I had a sentimental attachment to it, but I wound up trading it in 1984 towards some recording equipment I needed. In 1998 I ran into in a local junk shop, crooked St Louis Music medallion, hardshell case with replacement handle and all. I bought it back, just stunned to have it - only to realize that it wasn't all that nice a guitar, really. I wound up eBaying it about six years ago and didn't look back.

 

2. I had traded my way into a c.1950 J-45 that had been professionally refinished, then had its neck block pop loose on the bass side, resulting in 24-count-'em-24 cracks in the top and back. I paid a buncha money to a prominent repairman in Atlanta, only to wind up having most of the work done by the not quite so stellar apprentice. Still, it was an AWESOME guitar, and it changed how I hear acoustics forever. All the same I wound up deciding to go with some other big modern acoustic with a cutaway, and the J-45 went to my brother as a gift. No regrets there, but for years I would think about that guitar, so much so that I was led to my current J-45 Historic Collection partly by memories of the older one. Years passed, and one day my brother came down for a visit and brought the '50 J-45 - and I simply prefer my '05 J-45HC, no contest at all.

 

3. The only, ONLY guitar I have owned and let go of that I still think about and miss was my 1960 LG-2. That one was essentially gifted to a friend who I wanted to encourage to write, and then later had something of a falling out with. But now I think I may, possibly, acquire a newer LG-2AE, precisely because of experience no. 2. We shall see.

[Dave F]

My first nice guitar was a 1970 Ovation that I bought new.

Gigged with it for about 5 years then sold it with the understanding that I got first dibs on it at the same price if ever sold.

After 15 years I got it back.

 

 

 

 

Besides that I see an old Regal that was a basket case that I gave my luthier

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a Harmony Cremona I traded to my luthier that I see him playing on facebook all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've sold over 30 guitars. Most of them I wouldn't mind having back.

[acme97]

Yes. I'm sure I have the best story on the thread. I'll post it tomorrow.

[zombywoof]

Twice. I ran into my 1958 Tele because I sold it to a friend who was gigging with it. I also ran into my 1956 Gibson SJ. I had traded it at a friend's music shop. He sold it quickly but it reappeared when the new owner returned a year or so later to trade it in on something else. I was sorely tempted to buy it back but as is usual with me I dawdled and when I decided I did want it home it had literally been sold the morning of the day I went down to fetch it.

[J-200 Koa]

I sold a J-200 Koa about 4 years ago. From the minute it shipped, I regretted it. About 2 years later,

I saw it online at a major Gibson dealer. Paid about $800. more than I sold it for. It is home again.

[Gibson Artist]

My first nice guitar was a 1970 Ovation that I bought new.

Gigged with it for about 5 years then sold it with the understanding that I got first dibs on it at the same price if ever sold.

After 15 years I got it back.

 

 

 

 

Besides that I see an old Regal that was a basket case that I gave my luthier

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a Harmony Cremona I traded to my luthier that I see him playing on facebook all the time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've sold over 30 guitars. Most of them I wouldn't mind having back.

I love that harmony! I played a harmony hollowbody at a mom n pop once, i didnt buy it. Went back a week later and it was gone.

[Gibson Artist]

I sold a J-200 Koa about 4 years ago. From the minute it shipped, I regretted it. About 2 years later,

I saw it online at a major Gibson dealer. Paid about $800. more than I sold it for. It is home again.

That is a great story! There is no better feeling than when you get back an old friend.

[Gibson Artist]

Twice. I ran into my 1958 Tele because I sold it to a friend who was gigging with it. I also ran into my 1956 Gibson SJ. I had traded it at a friend's music shop. He sold it quickly but it reappeared when the new owner returned a year or so later to trade it in on something else. I was sorely tempted to buy it back but as is usual with me I dawdled and when I decided I did want it home it had literally been sold the morning of the day I went down to fetch it.

Im curious, do 50s teles have fat necks? I know Mike Bloomfields 63 telecaster had a super thin nut width, even smaller than 11/16th. Im wondering if 50s ones were baseball bats? lol.

[PrairieSchooner]

Not yet but I keep hoping.

[Dave F]

This is sort of like running into in old friend.

 

For the Christmas of '65 I received my first electric guitar. A red and black Kingston (Teisco) Swinger Japanese knock off of the Fender Swinger plus the latest Beatle release (Rubber Soul)

 

I wore that thing out, modified the heck out of it and painted it a few times. Finally pitched it.

 

For the past twenty years or so I've kept an eye open for one but just found this one this week. It's like Deja vu all over again.

 

 

 

 

[Gibson Artist]

This is sort of like running into in old friend.

 

For the Christmas of '65 I received my first electric guitar. A red and black Kingston (Teisco) Swinger Japanese knock off of the Fender Swinger plus the latest Beatle release (Rubber Soul)

 

I wore that thing out, modified the heck out of it and painted it a few times. Finally pitched it.

 

For the past twenty years or so I've kept an eye open for one but just found this one this week. It's like Deja vu all over again.

 

I love those old teiscos! They maybe similar to fender, but id say they have a flavor all to their own.

[acme97]

Yes. I'm sure I have the best story on the thread. I'll post it tomorrow.

 

In the early '80s, being college-bound and owning three (!) guitars, my folks convinced me to donate one of them, my first "real" guitar, to a local shelter. A Velvet Touch (lol) 000-28 copy.

 

Being told I had "too many..." well you know where that went as I grew older.

 

Fast forward to 2015. I've been going to the same vintage guitar store for years, a guy did repairs in a basement shop. The acoustics were all on stands in the basement, very nice displays, well-kept.

One showed up, and I thought it looked like my old one. I'd play it for a bit, on and off, whenever I'd come in with a needed repair or setup. This went on for a good six months or more. I would say to myself, man this sure looks and sounds familiar. Like, really, really familiar. And I hadn't ever seen another Japanese copy guitar by that maker ever, just mine.

 

Finally one day it all came back to me when I finally looked near the end pin and saw a light brush mark of green paint. That's where I hit it with a paint brush by accident when my folks entrusted me to paint the closet in my room as a kid. Then the rest came back, the divot under the bridge from smacking it on my record player stand, scratching off (poorly) the Made In Japan decal on the back of the headstock.

 

Welp, I marched upstairs and paid just under 100 bucks on the spot for it, more than twice what my mom paid when we picked it out at the local music store in 1974.

 

So the round trip was about 32 years.

[Jinder]

My ‘67 J45 came back to me in a wonderful twist of fate. I sold it to a muso pal when I was in dire need of funds, but six months later my pal’s bad habits got the better of him, and thankfully he asked me to help him sell the guitar (to pay for a month in rehab, not substances...he’s in great shape now).

 

I helped him to sell it on to the widow of a very dear friend of mine, who used it for a while but eventually needed to sell it to raise cash for vets’ bills for a brain damaged horse that she had rescued from the knacker’s yard.

 

She asked me to help her to sell it on, and thanks to social media one of the longest standing followers of my music got wind of the guitar being for sale again, and very kindly bought it back for me and presented it to me...I was absolutely dumbstruck by such a massively generous gesture and will treasure the J45 for the rest of my days.

[MissouriPicker]

At a 4th of July jam I ran into my old J150. Totally unexpected and didn't even remember the guy until he came up to me. First time I've seen the guitar since I sold it. It still sounds big and loud and it still has the narrow nut that I didn't like..... Anyway, I don't miss it. But I must admit, I think if the guy who bought my J60 wanted to sell it back, I might be interested. Looked plain and unadorned like a lot of guitars but it was a nice guitar that had "J60 Bonecrusher" on the truss rod cover and I've thought of that a lot of times....lol...and I typically don't care about truss rod covers. Anyway, guitar players are strange. Logic can't compare to need in regards to guitars. Maybe I'll have a chance to buy it back some day and maybe I'll feel like it need it at that time. Who knows?