Biggest regret

[PeterM]

Selling off my Gibson LG0 many years ago for what I paid.($75)
I had it for 10 years and it was not a good guitar so I let it go. NOW I see what they are going for. YIKES!!

[Mandobart]

Most of the regrets expressed aren't about buying a guitar at all - they're about not starting to play earlier or unloading (sell or trade) a good guitar in order to get a different guitar they ended up not liking as well.

Of the actual responses to the original question, I see a common thread that applies in my case - buying a lower quality new beginner or student model, then realizing it would have been better to save a little more, or buy a better quality used guitar. Because now you've got an instrument you don't really like and you're going to lose some money when you finally sell it or lose all your money when you don't (because you're not playing it).

I still have my original low budget Applause 6 string I bought new in the 70's. Over the years I learned to play and made many great memories with it. I don't regret that purchase.

My original low budget Chinese Ibanez mandolin cost me $300. I learned on it but quickly realized it lacked a lot in tone and quality. Eventually I got much better mandolins and set. Up the Ibanez to play as well as it could. I sold it for half what I paid to a friend interested in trying mandolin.

My original low budget Chinese Michael Kelly octave mandolin was a lot like the Ibanez. I set it up, replaced the bridge saddle and added a pickup. It sounds ok and plays well, but I'll be lucky to get half of what I paid for it too (it's on consignment now).

Since I'm just out a little money, I don't really consider the two instruments above regret-worthy, but I learned from these experiences that I'm not going to buy any more entry level low budget instruments.

[rschultz]

Not really a regret... but I wish still I had my first Martin DCME for sentimental reasons. I used it on my wedding day to sing a song to my bride. And in the years that followed I did a total refret job. I have a hard time selling things that I spend a lot of time fixing (guitars, cars, etc). But I sold it at a time when I wanted to upgrade and needed the money.

[BlueBowman]

Originally Posted by K20C

Paying a lot of money for a grail guitar that doesn’t sound any better than my other (nice but much less expensive non-grail) guitars.

Indeed. I'm still open to "being bitten by a snake,"* as my buddy puts it, but I'm done wasting energy on finding "perfection."

It's pretty incredible how much better your guitars sound when you learn to appreciate what you already have.

*finding a phenomenal guitar is like "being bitten by a snake"

[abn556]

Originally Posted by PeterM

Selling off my Gibson LG0 many years ago for what I paid.($75)
I had it for 10 years and it was not a good guitar so I let it go. NOW I see what they are going for. YIKES!!

I have a 63 LG-0. They are a limited guitar, but you can get some sounds out of them with alt tunings. String choice seems to be important for these little guitars. If they keep going up I may move mine and get an LG-2.

[dilver]

Two guitars haunt me: a custom shop Martin Koa small body acoustic (it was on the cover of their magazine that year) and a Gibson Historic R4 Les Paul Goldtop with factory humbuckers. I just couldn’t afford them at the time.

[markcrawford]

I was in a rock band back in the early 90s. WE were in Boone, NC doing a couple of dates. We went into a music shop to look for electric guitars, pedal, whatever that world needed, and I noticed about 5 people playing acoustic instruments in the middle of the store in front of the counter. My fellow band member and I were the only "customers" in the shop. The folks spoke to us and kept playing. I noticed that one of them was an older blind gentleman. I could have stayed and listened or even sat in with them as I think it was just some locals. Anyway, a few weeks later I am watching PBS with my dad while visiting at home. I looked at the TV and told my dad that I recognized that blind man as being the same man I saw in the store playing.....yup....you guessed it. It was Doc Watson....I would love to have that day back...******* hairband fool I was.

[kbraker]

Not knowing what I needed instead of what I thought I wanted. And thinking I had to sell in order to buy . Trading can be a different deal though. There have been plenty of guitars I should have gotten when I was able to do so. Notably an early 20’s Martin 0-28 or 18 for like $2,200 back in the 90’s.

[kbraker]

And…. Not appreciating small body acoustics earlier. I had a Larrivee Parlor when they first came out. It’s was really nice , maple too. I’d love to have it these days .

[Jeff Mc]

Back in the day, Hill Country Guitars had a 1936 Martin D18 on consignment.
They were asking $60k. Bill Collings borrowed it for a while developing the Traditionals and told them not to take less. I was not a big believer in the vintage thing until I played that guitar. I think they eventually sold it for 45. My wife would have killed me but I still think about that guitar.

[Br1ck]

Not a regret other than not being able to afford it at the time, but the best guitar I've ever played, also riddled with extensive repairs, was for sale at $7500. Oh how I wish I had that 39 Gibson J 35 today. Fair J 35s were going for $12,000 at the time.

[Skydog]

My wife surprised me with a 2001 Taylor Fall Series Limited 710CE (whoof, I think I got it right! &#128580 cocobolo/Englemann that was a dog that wouldn’t hunt. Beautiful, but the tone sucked.

[Scootch]

Not too much. Typically my regrets have been music shop wonders that sound like tripe when I get them home.

The most expensive was a $2200 used Gibson Songwriter Deluxe. Sounded like angels singing in the store. Then at home, it sounded like a $200 guitar. Then at a point where I was having money problems, I had to sell and only got $850 for it at Sam Ash.

Right now, I've another one but not as expensive, a Godin 5th Ave with a P90. I just can't get it sounding the way it did in the store. Hmph. I just bought some OEM strings to see if the does it. If not, I might list it on FB Market Place.

[Birdbrain]

Originally Posted by PeterM

Selling off my Gibson LG0 many years ago for what I paid.($75)
I had it for 10 years and it was not a good guitar so I let it go. NOW I see what they are going for. YIKES!!

If it makes you feel any better, I did the same thing with the same guitar, bought for the same price in 1970. But you are right, it wasn't a very good guitar. Nice tone, but little volume and the neck was too tight for fancy picking. If I'd have kept it, it would have continued to hold my playing back, so no regrets.

Now selling my ES-120T for $250 in the Nineties, that I regret. I took it to Gruhn's and George said it was nothing special, just a beginners' archtop. It was a nice player, if limited in tonality, and they're worth $2-3 grand now.

[Pickcity]

I would like to have my first electric guitar back. I was 11 and bought a ‘68 SG for $300. It was a cool guitar and I ended up selling it or trading it…I don’t remember exactly, but I should have kept it.