The One (guitar) that got away!

[Silly Moustache]

Here in the deep south of the UK I'm simply trying to keep as still as possible, crops all dying in the field. so here's a thought, that just occurred in my addled old brain.

What guitar(s) did you trade, or sell that you STILL regret, and why.

I'll start:

Gibson L-3 (c.1915)

This was a strange little thing, archtop/back 13 frets to body, similar to this but with a more simple "brown" finish top, a tailpiece with a solid lump of tortoiseshell cross bar with little bridge pins (!)

It sounded like nothing made today, but had a certain charm.



It came with a 1929Martin 2-17. like this :
Both were "swapped" for , IIRC an old and very tired SJ200.

Both were almost museum condition. I got them from an American dealer in London in London who was arrested by HMC&E and they found my details so confiscated my guitars for some months. (I had to pay Taxes and Excise duty and then had to sell them to pay my new mortgage!

Funny, but I miss the L-3 more.

I have more stories but, now over to you.

[canuck57]

I dropped into a small music store in Upper Michigan last week. On the wall an L3 about the same as the one posted. Terrific shape, played it, very impressed. They are asking $3500 USD, after reading your post I'm thinking maybe I should learn from your experience and go back to check it!

[MikeMcKee]

About 10 years ago I went large and bought a preowned Martin D45-SS Stephen Stills. Stupidly sold it a few years later. Think about it often. Today I see one for sale at Dream Guitars for $38K. Not only was it a great guitar...looks like it would also have been a great investment. Oh well!!!

[Hank T. Tone]

Man that ax had great tone reflecting an iconic sound and I had 30 years of life and memories invested in it.

[KenL]

I wanted to try out a Goodall, but the only way I could make it work was to trade an '04 (or so) Martin 00-18V for it. Broke my heart because that little Martin was a really good guitar, but I had to have a Goodall.

The Goodall was really something, but not for me, unfortunately. Sold it after 6 month or so, found it a good home.

But I still miss that Martin. It had the prettiest top I've ever seen on a Martin and played perfectly.

[Mbroady]

Before I had a clue I had an early '90s Martin D35 12th string. I got it as a blemish model from The Martin store at the factory before they stopped offering up the blemish guitars. Had it for about a year but didn't play it much. At the time I was mainly an electric player.

Eventually I pulled it out of the closet, restrung it and started to play it. It sounded amazing . After about a month or so I decided it needed a little bit of a tweak on the neck. But with my unskilled hands I tweaked it just a bit too much too fast and the truss rod snapped. Rather than bring it in to get the truss rod fixed/replaced, which in my mind was major surgery , I traded it in for a Fender Twin amp (which was the amp that got away but that's another story).

If I only knew then what I know now I would have definitely bit the bullet and had the truss rod swapped out. Live and learn

[rampix]

Mine was a D35 I bought used in the early 70's. It was my second guitar and my first Martin. To this day I have no idea if it was an early 70's or late 60's model. I knew nothing of Brazilian vs EIR back then, all I knew was it was used and I could afford it.

I sold it in the 80's along with 3 dirt bikes and other items to come up with a down payment for a house. I had the Martin, a Guild and a Takamine 12 string at the time. I figured I could get as much for the Martin as both of the other ones together. If I sold the Martin I would still have a six and twelve string. It was a good move at the time, but in hindsight I wish I'd sold the Guild and Takamine instead.

I bought another D35 in the 90's but eventually moved it along. I still wonder if that first one was Brazilian. It sure did sound good...

[Brucebubs]

Back when Jon Garron ran My Favorite Guitars he was a Gibson dealer for a brief time - he offered me a brand new Gibson Custom Shop Limited Edition Koa SJ-200 for US$2940 ... and I didn't take it.

[Rick Jones]

I never owned my ‘one that got away’. It was a Lowden 032.

I was in London with my then girlfriend, we hadn’t long been an item. She was a pretty little Portuguese/Brazilian girl, with thick black hair past her waist and what I can only describe as very feline movement and mannerisms. I couldn’t stop looking at her, the young me was besotted and badly wanted to romance and impress her, but also badly wanted to go to the legendary Denmark St. and look in the guitar shops.

As cute as my girl was, she was fairly fiery and impatient although I wasn’t as aware of this in those early days.

So anyway I drag her around these guitar shops and in one I see this big, weird, plain and fairly worn-looking jumbo thing hanging up and it just said ‘play me’.

I asked, it was handed to me, and my lady was already tapping her foot before I played a note… not in appreciation of the music to come, it turned out.

I played this guitar and it was like I couldn’t put a finger wrong. It sang to me. The sustain and the bloom together as the notes slowly decayed… wow. The neck was perfect for me.

Whilst I was playing a guy came out from the back, listened a while, then nodded to me appreciatively and went back into the back room. The counter guy told me that on all the years working there he’d never seen the other (the owner, it transpired) do that. He said that this included when celebrity musos came through.

I put it down to a sales pitch, but I don’t think I’d ever played as well as I was doing that day. It just worked for me. I got a bit lost in playing it, and when it came time to give it back I asked the price just to find I was about £200 short. If I spent what I had we’d have a pretty dull London trip, but my mind was racing and I figured to hell with it…

… I was going to ask my new girlfriend if she could loan me some until the following week. I had to get this guitar. I even got the guy down £100 on the price.

So I turn to ask my girlfriend… and she wasn’t where I expected her to be. In fact there was no sign of her. I explained I had to find her and I’d be back, and off I went. This was in the days when mobile phones weren’t a common item.

I didn’t find her until around 4 hours later, when I was starting to panic and went back to the hotel for about the 5th time. She was furious with me. I’d ‘ignored her’ for that stupid guitar. I didn’t have the nerve to ask for the loan after that.

The next day was a Sunday. That shop was closed. I shared a frosty atmosphere all the way back to Jersey that evening. We broke up on the following Wednesday.

I got the money together and the time off work about 3 weeks later and headed back to Denmark St. on an expensive BA flight and had already booked a spare seat for my guitar on the return journey. I had rang the shop and was told the guitar was there but I’d have to pay full asking if they were going to keep it for me. I agreed.

Perhaps predictably, when I arrived there… guitar was gone. Had sold that morning whilst I was travelling. They had thought the buyer was the person who rang (i.e. me) too, not having remembered me from three weeks ago.

I lost the girl (a good thing, in hindsight) and the guitar (the real heartbreaker).

[brad4d8]

Around 1979, I was on vacation in Maine with my girl friend. I went into a second floor music store in Brunswick, and they had an immaculate early '50s Gibson ES175 that I could have just swung if I used all our vacation money and traded the Ovation I had with me. Decided to pass and keep on vacation.

[George Henry]

The one that got away I never even got to see. It was a Galloup Luthiery School student made deluxe arch top being sold through a GC in Texas. I called and the salesman examined the guitar and told me it was a beautiful arch top sold to the store by the Galloup student/builder. So I ordered it and waited for UPS. Christmas was just around the corner! The guitar was to be shipped 2 day delivery. But 2 days went by and no guitar. Then the tracking # disappeared off UPS website. Two weeks went by and no guitar. A UPS search was initiated. I heard nothing. After 21 days I asked GC to cancel the transaction and refund the money, which they did. I hope someone had a happy new guitar Christmas. I just know it wasn’t me.

[mattwood]

Mine was a 1970 something Guild D-50. A friend of mine's brother wanted to sell it for $400 but it had a bowed neck. Still played great and had more bass than my roommate's D-28. I told him that if I could send it back to factory and get it repaired under his warranty I would buy it so we did. When I got it back it was perfect but he told me he couldn't sell it or his father who gave him the money to buy it would be mad. What could I say. Fast forward about 7 years ago I went to stay with my friend and his brother had been living there but was out of town, but the Guild was in the room I was staying. I opened it up and had a beautiful golden top and sounded like a dream. I played it for a while and put it back before impulse to hop in my car and hit the road with it took over. Fast forward to the beginning of Covid, out of the blue he called me and told me he had felt bad about the transaction all of these years and wanted to give me the guitar. I was floored, but I didn't feel right taking it. I offered to pay him for it but he insisted her wanted to give it to me and told me to get in touch with him when I am in town again so he could. I've been back there several times but have never called him because even though I have dreamed about that guitar over the years, I just have a problem with accepting it as a gift. It's worth much more than it was back then and he has had health issues and doesn't have a lot of money and I think that someday he may need the money from selling it. Maybe then.

[cyclistbrian]

The only guitar I truly regret moving on was a Strat. When you buy a guitar at a music store, and a subsequent music store offers you more on trade than you paid retail, maybe you have something worth hanging onto.

[casualmusic]

A few weeks ago went to the music store to get strings and picks. On the used guitars rack was a wonderful Larrivee 12 fret dreadnaught. Sweet crisp lively voice, full and loud tone, comfortable (!) and easy to play, light weight, inexpensive price. On the label it said “khaya”. Huh? Khaya? Went away thinking “This guitar is really fine”. Three hours later decided I wanted it regardless the tonewood. The store told me it was sold and gone!

[nickv6]

Mine was a 1959 Gretsch 6120 that I bought privately at a good price. It had a very unusual neck, wide at the nut so hardly tapered at all. Everything about it was amazing. Unfortunately a dealer offered me a large sum for it and I had three children and a mortgage. So I couldn't afford not to let it go. Broke my heart and my kids all still talk about it all these many, many years later.
Here's the worst thing. The same guitar is now for sale at a dealer close to me. It's now £8k! Even so, I would consider buying it back except for the fact that the previous owner must have treated it to some bad weather as there are now two parallel cracks running the length of the neck. It's as if the truss rod has tried to escape through the back. It breaks my heart everytime I see it......