Keeper formula (one of them anyway)

[MIGAS79]

Ever have a guitar that is worth more to you than anything you could get for it?

I was playing my Telecaster thinking about how I’m always looking to try new things and often willing to sell or trade things that don’t inspire me.

It’s a ‘14 American Standard in ocean blue metallic. Modded with a Duncan Little 59 in the bridge, with push/pull tone knob and 4-way switch. It is crazy versatile. Shows plenty of signs of being played.

I’d love a more vintage-y Tele but likely not at the expense of this one. I am comforted knowing it doesn’t carry a high price tag and I’m not afraid to leave the house with it. It’s a Swiss army knife but very much still a Tele. It’s perfect in that way. It’s a tool, not an item I view with a value on it.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by MIGAS79

Ever have a guitar that is worth more to you than anything you could get for it?

...I am comforted knowing it doesn’t carry a high price tag and I’m not afraid to leave the house with it. It’s a Swiss Army knife...It’s perfect in that way. It’s a tool, not an item I view with a value on it.

Got a Yamaha SSC-500 I bought new in '82 for $199 w/OHSC: one of the last of the Japanese versions, made to the expected high MIJ Yamaha standards, plays like a far more expensive guitar, extremely versatile (this was the guitar that sold me on 3-PU electrics), lightweight on the strap (around 7 pounds IMO) - and, although prices are into the $500-600 range for a good one, unlike a Strat/Tele/LP/SG it's not the kind of guitar that screams "steal me" to the average dirtbag. Served me well as one of my main gigging guitars for 25+ years (the other being an MIJ '86 Fender/Squier Strat) - and looks it compared to the rest of my stash; still comes to every gig as a backup guitar...

[nightchef]

I have an Ibanez RS1010SL that I used to feel that way about. But the used prices on that model have gotten so crazy that I’m not sure I feel that way anymore.

[MIGAS79]

Originally Posted by nightchef

I have an Ibanez RS1010SL that I used to feel that way about. But the used prices on that model have gotten so crazy that I’m not sure I feel that way anymore.

Well that will change things for sure.

Side note: The Ibanez inmate number inspired nomenclature overwhelms me!

[raysachs]

It's a bassackwards way of going about things, but I actually bought a guitar with exactly that in mind a little over a year ago. Any electric I own, other than my strat, is gonna get neglected. I'm just a strat guy and I play it 90% plus of the time I play electric. I've had any number of other guitars come and go and the reason they go is the same - they don't get played enough to justify the cost of keeping them. Most of them I never miss because, as noted, I rarely played them anyway. But, I always missed having a P90 axe when I didn't have one (and I've sold a few along the way).

So last year I was having a really really bad P90 jones and I decided to buy yet ANOTHER P90 axe, but to make sure I wouldn't sell it the next time I got mad at myself for not playing it, I bought a really cheap one - an Epiphone SG with P90s for $400. There wouldn't be much point in selling a used guitar that sold new for $400. And to make sure of it, I immediately modified it, combining the two volume controls and two tone controls into a master volume, master tone setup, with two little wooden plugs in the holes where the other two pots had been. So what could I possibly sell that for? Maybe a couple hundred - there'd be no point in it.

So now I have a P90 guitar that's a blast to play on that rare occasion I want to pick it up instead of my strat, but it's worth so little I never think about selling it when it's just been sitting for weeks or months at a time. It's there when I want it, but it's no threat to walk away. I think I'm gonna have it a long long time. Why would I sell it - it's not worth anything...

-Ray

[Dru Edwards]

What a great thread. Thinking that my SGJ is one that falls into this category. Doesn't look like much with its satin finish but it's a great player.

Wow, I just checked sold SGJ on Reverb and it looks like the average sold price is about $750 USD. I had no idea they were going for that much used, especially given that retailers were blowing them away a few years ago.

[blue]

Preach on!

My National style N. Got it for $850 with a K&K passive biscuit pickup. Kinda rough when I got it, but it's shinier now.

The problem is THE iconic guitar to me is a Style O. You know the one. Gleaming nickel beauty with the Hawaiian scenes sandblasted into it? I can't imagine never owning one.

Why is that a problem? Because the style N is the exact same guitar as the style O down to the headstock medalion and maple neck, only WITHOUT the Hawaiian scenes.

But I love this dang style N! It's the guitar that hangs on the wall in my bedroom. I leave the strap on it so it's ready to roll. If I'm going out to play I have to think about where the case is. I can never get rid of it. And I can also never see myself ownig two identical guitars except for bling.

Definitely not a problem anybody should ever waste a second of their life worrying about. Yet every once in a while...

[Tyeetime]

I've got a Vantage VP795 I bought new in 1981. I've dragged this thing around with me for 40 years, from a teenager to a guy within sight if retirement. I could never part with it, not because of nostalgia but because it does things my 335 and my Les Paul don't do.Might be worth $500-$700 to sell, but it is way more valuable than that to me.

[TiffanyGuitar]

I know this is not the point of this post, but pretty much everyone of mine is worth more to me than I can get to sell them.