Thinking about selling a very sentimental electric guitar

Shades of Blue · #1 06-11-2018, 09:08 AM

Several years ago, Paul Reed Smith came to my small town in SC to do an Experience PRS event. I met Paul and had him sign my SC245. It was a special day, and I got pictures. Problem is, I've fallen out of love with that guitar, and only keep it around because it was signed to me on the back of the headstock. In retrospect, I wish I'd just taken the backplate....

It's a really good guitar, but I just haven't played electric in years. I've considered cleaning off the autograph (or at least my name) and selling it, but I just can't seem to make myself do it. It's collecting dust in the closet, and I just don't have the same lust for PRS guitars as I did in my 20s.

If I sold it, I'd probably commission a Martin Custom Shop build, so still a sentimental endeavor. However, I'm just not sure what to expect out of PRS in terms of value in the years to come.

ylekot · #2 06-11-2018, 10:16 AM

I am in a similar situation......I have a 1982 Strat that was a graduation present from my parents for sale on Reverb.....

Proceeds from the sale will be put into a GOOD acoustic....

I just figure there is no point in keeping something I don't use as long as the proceeds buy something of similar personal value the sentimental value will transfer.....Make sense?

$0.02 deposited YMMV IMHO etc.

Shades of Blue · #3 06-11-2018, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ylekot

I am in a similar situation......I have a 1982 Strat that was a graduation present from my parents for sale on Reverb.....

Proceeds from the sale will be put into a GOOD acoustic....

I just figure there is no point in keeping something I don't use as long as the proceeds buy something of similar personal value the sentimental value will transfer.....Make sense?

$0.02 deposited YMMV IMHO etc.

Very good point, and glad to see some thought on a similar situation. The good thing is that my guitar wasn't a gift or anything really sentimental until it was signed. Honestly, part of me finds the autograph with my name on it a little tacky now. Don't ask me why, I just do.

So, I "may" put it for sale on craigslist or reverb at a price I'd be happy with selling for and see how it goes. As a matter of fact, my Thin Skin strat is a little more sentimental because I bought it the week before my father-in-law passed away. I never got to play it with him in our Gospel group, so I keep it because it is the most important guitar in my possession.

FrankHudson · #4 06-11-2018, 12:24 PM

I have a similar and opposite problem. The guitars I'm most sentimental about have very little value.

I have the cheapo nylon string that I learned on decades ago. It probably has negative value as far the marketplace goes and while it still functions (I took it out of it's cardboard case and recorded it a year or so ago) it would be a terrible instrument for someone to learn to play on. I should probably toss it into the trash, but remembering being broke and learning to play on it has kept me from doing that yet.

I have an electric guitar that was a my main guitar for years and was the one I gigged with back in the day. It's still a good guitar, but the name on the headstock says it'd sell for next to nothing, and I'd probably have to sell it myself as stores would rather have something with a more prestigious and common decal.

Similar deal with the acoustic I was using for gigs at the same time, though it's brand name is just obscure instead of reviled. It's getting to need a fret job and the neck width at the nut is a bit narrow for me these days. I'd love to replace it with a similar style guitar with a 1.75 inch nut, but it would bring maybe $200 retail to sell it now, and I'd probably need to take the time to do it myself for it too. In each of those cases that means not only trouble and time when I wish to avoid that, but also a long process when my nostalgia factor with these instruments might cause me to pull them off the market.

muscmp · #5 06-11-2018, 12:55 PM

get ready. there are going to be a lot of things that have sentimental value that you will have to make decisions about. not just guitars. this is from experience.

play music!

Shades of Blue · #6 06-11-2018, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by muscmp

get ready. there are going to be a lot of things that have sentimental value that you will have to make decisions about. not just guitars. this is from experience.

play music!

Very true!

pieterh · #7 06-11-2018, 02:33 PM

I have found that I have almost always regretted selling guitars and basses. In particular a Westbury Standard and an Aria SB Black n Gold. I contemplated selling my Guild D35 to part finance a Martin D28 but I am very glad I didn’t.

That said, if you can’t see yourself ever coming back to the PRS and you could use the money to finance a more suitable member of the gang then go for it.

Basalt Beach · #8 06-11-2018, 03:07 PM

It took more than a year for me to sell my first real guitar. I no longer played it, however it carried me through a long period of guitar playing as my only guitar. It had a sentimental meaning which prevented me from selling it. It took close to 18 months, but I finally made the decision and sold it.

It may be difficult to let go, however once you do, you will feel good that the guitar has found a home where it will be played. Given you are using the proceeds to fund another guitar, it will give the new guitar greater meaning that it was made possible with the sale of your PRS.

Shades of Blue · #9 06-11-2018, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basalt Beach

It took more than a year for me to sell my first real guitar. I no longer played it, however it carried me through a long period of guitar playing as my only guitar. It had a sentimental meaning which prevented me from selling it. It took close to 18 months, but I finally made the decision and sold it.

It may be difficult to let go, however once you do, you will feel good that the guitar has found a home where it will be played. Given you are using the proceeds to fund another guitar, it will give the new guitar greater meaning that it was made possible with the sale of your PRS.

Thanks!

If it didn’t have the signature, it would have been gone years ago.

Shades of Blue · #10 06-11-2018, 06:39 PM

Here it is btw...

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IMG_4062.jpg

Steel and wood · #11 06-11-2018, 07:07 PM

It's tough.

I've got a beautiful Fender Stratocaster which rarely gets played and a Samick Greg Bennet Royale semi which pretty much stays in its case but I have no intention whatsoever of selling either.

Good luck!

Parlorman · #12 06-20-2018, 06:54 PM

I'm starting to clean out lots of stuff, including musical instruments. I just sold a really high-end banjo. Next up, a 1993 Fender Stratocaster '63 VRI. I just feel encumbered by too many things.

jwguitar · #13 06-20-2018, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shades of Blue

Several years ago, Paul Reed Smith came to my small town in SC to do an Experience PRS event. I met Paul and had him sign my SC245. It was a special day, and I got pictures. Problem is, I've fallen out of love with that guitar, and only keep it around because it was signed to me on the back of the headstock. In retrospect, I wish I'd just taken the backplate....

It's a really good guitar, but I just haven't played electric in years. I've considered cleaning off the autograph (or at least my name) and selling it, but I just can't seem to make myself do it. It's collecting dust in the closet, and I just don't have the same lust for PRS guitars as I did in my 20s.

If I sold it, I'd probably commission a Martin Custom Shop build, so still a sentimental endeavor. However, I'm just not sure what to expect out of PRS in terms of value in the years to come.

I would keep it because you might regret selling it years from now. I have had a few guitars that I regret selling not so much for sentimental reasons but more that they were really good guitars. Plus a few of the ones I sold would be worth a whole lot more now!

Steely Glen · #14 06-21-2018, 04:41 AM

If you can, I’d hang onto it. It’s a buyer’s market right now so you almost certainly won’t get what you think it’s worth. And the autograph is only sentimental to you; it likely won’t add any value to the guitar itself (for some buyers, it may actually decrease the value).

Nama Ensou · #15 06-21-2018, 06:18 AM

I've got my first professional guitar, a '74 Strat that I bought used and had my way with through several refinishes, lots of routing. refilling, electronics swaps. built in wireless. removed wireless, scalloped ebony fingerboard added with custom inlays, stock tremolo changed to Kahler and finally Ibanez LoPro.

Haven't used it in years and years and really want to sell it, but there's just one thing. The custom inlays. My dad was a printer and used his camera equipment to help me make the various sizes of the three inlay designs I came up with, one for the 12 fret, another for all frets below 12th and another for all frets above. Now he's gone and it's something that we did together, part of that guitar forever. Don't need it, don't use it onstage, but can't sell it.