All of you who have played for a while most likely know the pain of for one reason or another letting a valuable guitar or amp get away either by a sale or trade.

I know I have had several "momentary lapses of reason" which today make me look back and think "what the f*** was I thinking"!!

Here is just one: In 1970 I was 19 and a student at Ball State University in Muncie Indiana. There was a pawn shop in the downtown area that I went into a lot. I had bought a Fender Mustang in there for about $75 the year before. I wanted to ugrade to a better guitar so I went back with the Mustang intent on making a trade.

The owner was a guy named Marion. Marion was a good guy and good to deal with. He had (2) 1968 Telecasters. It was amazing because they were both used but both blonde with maple necks and he each marked at $150. I have a Vintage Guitar price guide which lists that guitar's value today at $8500! Anyway, Marion said he would trade either Tele to me for my Mustang and $75, which I did.

I kept that guitar until around 1992 at which time I sold it for about $400. This after I had
"hot rodded" it with some good and some not so good modifications. That one hurts!

I think it would be interesting to hear form other forum folks on some of their similar expereinces during their years as a player, collector, etc.

p.s. I would mention the fact that I passed on a '64 Stratocaster a guy offered me for $100 but I just can't talk about it .

In '72 I sold my '66 Twin Reverb to a pawn shop for about $200. It's not so much the money as much as the fact I just would like to have that amp today. It had been babied up to that point.

_________________
'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

I let a 69 Les Paul Custom go back about 1975.

Back in the mid to late 70s there were 2 times that I let real beautiful classics slip through my hands.First there was a beautiful '61 3 pup SG bodied Les Paul with gold plated hardware and the Vibrola vibrato arm.This guitar had been sent to the Gibson factory for a refurbishing and was a true "Fretless Wonder"because you hardly had to touch the strings to fret a note and the action was almost touching the frets all along the fretboard without the slightest trace of buzzing.I could've gotten this guitar for just $450.I didn't have the presence of mind to take out a loan to get it.

The next items I could've bought seperate or as a package deal.First was a '64 Firebird VII with 3 mini humbuckers and a Vibrola for just $400 in near mint condition.Next was a factory special late 60s Marshall 1959 Plexi stack with 100W 1960 A&B cabinets in White "Elephant Hide" and beautiful Royal Blue grill cloth for just $900 or I could've bought both as a package deal for just $1,100.

I've given myself some firm butt kickings since for letting these gems pass by.A '61 Les Paul Custom is worth about $25,000 these days and a '64 Firebird VII is about $15-18,000 in mint condition and a factory custom 1959 plexi is worth over $12,000.I could cry just thinking about it-not that I'd ever sell them but because they were such iconic and historically significant musical instruments.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

The only one that really bothers me (and I can finally talk about it now, without blubbering, nearly 35 years later) was my 1971 Tele Custom that I bought new at Keeney's Guitar Studio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, two days after I got back from Vietnam. It was a beautiful guitar, the first Fender I ever bought, and it came with a brand new black Tolex case.

In 1979 I was behind on one house payment with another coming up soon, so I called this female guitar player I knew who had remarked several times how much she liked my Tele. She showed up drunk that winter night and I let that b***h have the guitar and case for $300.

I tried to track her and the guitar down a year later, but I never found a trace of her. I have let a couple of other guitars get away through the years, but none that hurt as much as that first Fender.

I am still bothered by my loss to this day.

P.S. I still have the same wife today I had back then and my son bought that house from me about eight years ago.

_________________
Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

I walked in to Rockley Music in November 2001 to buy a Mesa Rocket 44 amp. They had a white Rickenbacker 330 VP, just a beautiful guitar, brand new. I had it in my hands and played it, played like butter. Instead of buying it, I bought the Mesa. Of course, now Ric doesn't offer white, or the VP option. Should have known. You see the right guitar...buy it.

_________________
Fender American Series Stratocaster
Marshall JTM612
Marshall JTMC12
Gibson Vintage Reissue strings
DiMarzio pickups
Souldier guitar strap
Spectraflex cables