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WORST Guitar Selling Mistake You've Ever Made?


rossington88

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Uuugghh......sold my near mint 1962 Les Paul Jr for $ 600.00 in 1988. It was a bit under market at the time and now I'm on a quest to replace it....Looks like it's gonna cost me an extra 4k to buy it now! LOL. The crazy thing is that I acquired it in an even trade in high school for a bolt-on-neck Hondo Les Paul copy! Anybody have one of those? I have learned my lesson now.....buy good ones and hang on at all costs!

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Selling all of these wonderful items, and my 1968 (Cherry) ES-355 Stereo, at the same time.

This photo, was from 1969...the sale, was about 4 years later! [crying]

 

CharlieBrown19Summer1969withMarshal.jpg

(1968 Marshall "Major"(200 watt) Full Stack, 1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom, 1968 Rickenbacker 360-12string)

 

[cursing]](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,) ](*,)[cursing]

 

CB

That sucks CB ,hate to here that

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  • 1 month later...

Any sale of a Rickenbacker guitar is the worst selling mistake you can ever make ~_^ Which is why they will never be for sale =)

 

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you know, come to think of it, I never see many for sale. I guess those that have them, wanna keep them. I'd love to have one some day.

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Among my seemingly endless list includes a black-on-white Rickenbacker 4080 doubleneck. It was a VERY cool guitar - but to be perfectly honest, it sounded like crap.

 

Another one was a 1994 Guild Brian May. It was a one-of-a-kind flame-top; (I bought it from a former Guild employee.). Like the Ric doubleneck, it was a cool piece, but not a great player.

 

I also had a Tom Petty signature Rickenbacker 660-12 that WAS a sweet instrument; but I didn't play too much 12-string back then.

 

The WORST part about almost all of these guitars (including the several that I didn't list) was the fact that I had to sell them for LESS than I paid for them.

 

 

I think I'm going to go and take some aspirin now - I feel a migraine coming on . . . .

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That sucks CB ,hate to here that

 

Actually, it "Sucks" more NOW, than at the time! It seemed a prudent idea,

since I had stopped playing (for what turned out to be about 30 years), and

need the money for other interests. But, at least I got to experience that

wonderful sound, and with great Gear! Most, have since been replaced now,

only I'm currently using a 1/2 Stack Marshall (when possible) instead of the

full stack. Even it, is "too loud" for most places, around here. My Blues Jr.

seems to be plenty, these days! LOL Ahhhh, the "Good old days!"

 

CB

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The only guitar I ever sold - in order to buy a pair of AR-11 loudspeakers (back in 1980). I never regretted getting the speakers, but I do regret selling this guitar.

 

The Ovation Breadwinner was one really cool guitar. I rarely played it - preferring to play my 1972 Gibson J-40 (still have that, too). Now I wish I had both.

 

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Luckily, I can say I have never sold a guitar in my life. I knew when I was younger if I did I would live to regret it. I've always had a policy never to sell anything I own if possible! I still have the first guitar I learnt to play on - an old 1980's BM classical, my first acoustic - a Yamaha FG and my first electric - an Epiphone LP100 from 1995. I'm especially glad I never sold my LP100 as it is an Indonesian model in limited edition Honeyburst and it has a lovely sound to it. I actually got it out the other day for the first time in ages and did some jamming over BB Kings 'Lucille' album, recorded it on my laptop camera and the Epi sounded really great. Hopefully, I'll never have to sell any of my stuff, but I'm only 30 and I guess you never know what may be ahead. I would actually cry if I lost any of my instruments, especially my Gibsons.

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  • 1 month later...

When I was around 19 or 20 I was given a used cherry Gibson SG that my guitarist uncle got from a guy desperate for money. I was not that experienced a player at that point and I certainly did not know anything in particular about that guitar or guitars in general (now I am an absolute gearhead). I traded it for an import strat that is also long gone. I found out later from my uncle that it was a 68 or 69 SG with original humbuckers. It did have mods that I remember including two additional mini-toggle switches. I don't even remember what they did.

I have sold or traded many guitars since, but they were all in the name of acquiring something better and I don't regret them, but I sure regret parting with that SG.

 

Funny thing is I have a beautiful 2013 white SG that I purchased new and have barely played. It has the 57's and plays beautifully, I just never bonded with it. You all probably know how that can be. Its in a case and I have entertained selling it, but I don't need the money so I am just going to hold it. I don't want to one day regret selling that when I really don't need to. Maybe its residual remorse over that earlier SG.

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2006 Fender Japanese Special Jaguar HH.

 

Wasn't a top-range guitar or anything, but I loved it; was my 18th birthday present from my parents. Had to pawn it during some tough jobless months, and when I went to buy it back it had been sold. I tried following it but the guy who bought it sold it on again quite rapidly, and she was lost.

 

I wanted to get another, but by that time they were out of production. I still look at eBay for one on occasion, with a glimmer of hope. Just last week I even called Fender's European distributors in hope that they might have one piece in stock, lingering!

 

Heartbroken even to this day.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

In the late 1970's I owned a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe gold-top and a Fender Twin Reverb amp.

Both were probably 1971 thru 1974 vintage.

Great guitar, great amplifier.

 

I sold both, I am sad to report.

I was about to join the Army via Delayed Entry, and wanted to become a helo pilot.

I tested well, and so got all my paperwork approved.

I needed the money, and I also (stupidly) thought, "Derr.... Army helicopter pilots don't play guitars, I need to give that up." :-s

 

38 years later, and 19 guitars later (and probably 7 or 8 amplifiers later) I'm still flying helicopters and still playing guitars and even rocking in my own bar band.

 

Wish I still had that gold-top.

:(

 

1972GibsonLesPaulDeluxeGoldtopOHSC030.jpg

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I sold an SG Deluxe with a Bigsby vibrato in Walnut stain that I'd purchased new in December of '71. I'd love to be able to still count that one among my herd. The half moon black white black plate behind the control knobs took a little getting used to but the Les Paul "off the body" pick guard and crown inlays on the neck just spoke "class". It may have had the fastest neck of any Gibson I've ever owned. I saw Frank Zappa playing what looked like the same model around 1974. Oh well. My mistake.

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  • 8 months later...

Ah..... yes! The one that got away. I think we all have one of those…

 

My worst guitar selling mistake would be when I "traded in" my 1982-3(?) Les Paul Custom in cream with gold hardware (think "Randy Rhoads") for a (GULP!)… Fender Stratocaster.

 

I was like 19 or 20, didn't know jack about guitars/guitar values. At the time, I was playing a lot of Clapton, Floyd and U2 and so I decided I needed a black Strat. I went with my parents to a little guitar shop, and presented my LP Custom with my wish for a Strat, to the shop owner. I think money signs must have registered in his eyes, when he saw what he saw and heard what he heard. I also remember there was a young guy behind the counter with him. He was the honest one, as he told me, "Man, put that under your bed and just hold onto it...".

 

But, I was young and stupid, and I wanted a Strat. At that age, I couldn't have two guitars. I had to sell one to get one. Today, I'd have put that LP under my bed, as the kid told me.

 

The worst part about it, in retrospect, was that he didn't even have the decency to order me an American-made Strat for the "trade". I got a Chinese-made model! It wasn't until I sold the Strat that I realized what I had and didn't have... some people weren't interested in the guitar when I told them it said "China" on the headstock.

 

And now, a moment of silence for my once-beloved, but under-appreciated, Les Paul Custom...

 

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I had a dirt cheap Charvette (a budget Charvell) guitar which had wonderful handling. A friend persuaded me to sell it to him. I did so on the understanding that if he got fed up with it, he must offer it back to me first. Well, he got fed up with it and he forgot all about his promise.

 

Had I got it back I would have put some better pickups on it and upgraded all electrics & hardware.

 

It’s not a big deal. It was probably all plywood & glue anyway, but I’ve never found such a comfy guitar since.

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Two guitars I regret selling.

 

The first was a 1964 sunburst ES345 and the second was a 1988 black Les Paul custom (brand new when I got it).

 

The ES345 is the hardest to bear but the custom was pretty good too.

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My guitars are like family, and I have never gotten rid of any of them except one. My first real guitar was a mid-70's walnut SG. Beautiful, played like a dream, but I was playing in a swing/jazz band at the time and it was just too rock and roll for those gigs. So I sold it and bought a 1968 ES-335. I love the 335, but I regret getting rid of the SG to this day. Wish I could have kept it, but I didn't have the bucks to buy the 335 without selling the SG. One of these days I'm going to get another one...

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