Debonnaire Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 More of a "one that got away" story: My coworker was moving his parents into an old folks home and his mother had been a music teacher. She had a couple ukuleles and could I take a look? One was a no-name uke cracked from drying out and worthless. The second was in a homemade fabric bag. When I opened that I saw an immaculate case. Inside: a Martin tenor ukulele ca 1970. Perfect condition. This was worth something, I told him. Let's look at ebay and find out how much. This was before ebay went bananas (IMO.) There was one up for sale with a week left at auction up to about about $400 US. Let's keep an eye on that and see what it comes out to. He asked if I wanted it. Now, here is my mistake. I hesitated. I said "Maybe. Christmas is coming and that could get out of my price range pretty quick. Let's keep an eye on it and see if we can work something out." I went home wondering how I would con my wife into accepting this purchase. That was Friday. Following Monday, I see the coworker. "Hey," I say. "That uke is up to $500 already..." "Oh really," he replies. "I sold mine at the shop downtown this morning. Got $300 (Canadian,) for it." "But...but...but..." Then the coup de grace. He says "You seemed reluctant on Friday. I would have taken $100 for it." Later that week I trudged down to the shop. The uke was hanging up for sale. $1000. It sold within a week. I could have lowballed him, but that's not who I am. I learned my lesson about hesitating and got my Gibson uke a few months later under similar circumstances for $300. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'Scales Posted November 21, 2016 Share Posted November 21, 2016 Seems like part of owning expensive instruments is losing money on them when you sell them (except for maybe one you can call "vintage"). Don't know that I've ever made money on any guitar I've sold. Kind of "broke even" on my J45 Standard, but that was as good as it gets. Seems they all depreciate, just some do it slower than others. ..or maybe it's just cos when you're buying you want and when you're selling you need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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