The One That Got Away

Riffmaster

Riffmaster

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I know all of us have gotten rid of at least one guitar that we regret. Pick just one (I've had a number of ill-advised losses).
Mine was a 1964 Gibson SG, cherry, bigsby type. Would never stay in tune, so I sold it:eek: back about 1980.
Honorable mention- A mid 70's Univox LP type- what a great guitar that was.
 
Strangely enough, mine was a 1964 too. A pristine '64 ES330. :cool:
It was advertised in the paper when I was 15, and the guy brought it over for me to have a look. Let me keep it for a week. He wanted $400.
After the week, I tried to convince my parents to let me buy it (with a loan from them), but no joy. I almost cried when he came to pick it up.
Forward 2 months - I came into a bit of money, and managed to talk the folks into a smaller loan. Called the guy up to see if he had the guitar, and he had just sold it the week before. :(
So I ended up getting a Tele - great guitar, but not like the 330. Still have the Tele, tho', thirty years later ;)
 
I have 2. A 1990 American Made Standard Strat that had incredible tone. I've been listening to some old tapes of jams and I just miss that tone so much. Also had a 1982 (?) G&L SC-3. Pre headstock lawsuit, black with a maple neck. I just liked that guitar. I still have my '81 SC-2, though, so I can't complain too much.
 
two I wish I had back so I could sell the crap out of them:

Les Paul bass serial number #00001,
and a 1954 pre-production Les Paul "Fretless Wonder" prorotype.

Didn't really like either git but I could retire if I had them to sell now.
 
Lt. Bob said:
two I wish I had back so I could sell the crap out of them:

Les Paul bass serial number #00001,
and a 1954 pre-production Les Paul "Fretless Wonder" prorotype.

Didn't really like either git but I could retire if I had them to sell now.
Click to expand...

Are Les Paul serial numbers chronological?
 
I've never researched it but this was a Bass, not a Les Paul per se, and I believe they didn't come out 'till the 70's, maybe late 60's?
I bought it around the mid 70's anyway.
I knew the guy I bought it from and he had Gibson contacts so supposedly the first Les Paul Recording bass off the line was his.
The serial number read either 00001 as I remember it though it may have only had three zeros.
I hated it .... it was short scale and heavy and had that short scale sound which I loathed. So I yanked out the pretty cool electronics and installed them into a Rickenbacher I had and threw the Les Paul bass away!

The 1954 Fretless Wonder prototype had teeny tiny frets (hence the name) because many players back then didn't really bend strings a lot and wanted the speed of small frets and extremely low action.
A wino in Chatanooga sold it to me for $100!
I hated the small frets and traded it for a Hagstrom Swede and a bag of white cross!!!


This was way before anyone had any idea that these things would ever be valuable. You could buy pauls .... starts .... hell, 335's for a few hundred bucks in almost any pawnshop.
 
1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom....or was it in 77?...hell I don't know...I'm an idiot:eek:...what else can I say?

It looked like this 73....

1973%20Gibson%20Les%20Paul%20Custom%20White.jpg
 
true-eurt said:
1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom....or was it in 77?...hell I don't know...I'm an idiot:eek:...what else can I say?

It looked like this 73....

1973%20Gibson%20Les%20Paul%20Custom%20White.jpg
Click to expand...

Those white Pauls are beautys alright-in my last hard rockin' band the other guitar player had that exact guitar! He always got compliments wherever we played.

As for the one that got away, that would have to be a brown Fender Telecaster Deluxe that I constantly played at a local music store back in the late 1970's-it was identical to the picture below. Note that the Tele Deluxe actually has a Strat shaped neck also...
The one thing it convinced me of was that a Fender style neck was one of the most comfortable feeling necks I found that fit my hands so well! I ended up getting a sunburst 74' Strat that was a keeper-still have it 30 some years later.
 

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Anfontan said:
Those white Pauls are beautys alright-in my last hard rockin' band the other guitar player had that exact guitar! He always got compliments wherever we played.

As for the one that got away, that would have to be a brown Fender Telecaster Deluxe that I constantly played at a local music store back in the late 1970's-it was identical to the picture below. Note that the Tele Deluxe actually has a Strat shaped neck also...
The one thing it convinced me of was that a Fender style neck was one of the most comfortable feeling necks I found that fit my hands so well! I ended up getting a sunburst 74' Strat that was a keeper-still have it 30 some years later.
Click to expand...
Oh yah...I love that Tele!!! Too bad she got away!!!

PS...that isn't white Tony...it is a creamy pastel yellow.;)
 
This will be a long list:

197x Ibanez Paul Stanley model
1976 Gibson explorer
1978 Ibanez IC400 Iceman
197x Gibson Les Paul KM
1983 Gibson Explorer
197x Gibson Flying Vee
early 80's BC Rich Warlock neck-thru with all the switches and knobs
'' " BC Rich Bitch " "
Applause acoustic. My mom gave it to me a year before she dies when I was 14. It was stolen.
The list goes on and on.
 
Two. A '60s ES-335 that I traded after a bad experience from a local "luthier" rendered it unplayable, and a late '70s SG standard that had the fastest neck in the West. (Actually I got doubly fucked on the SG since I "sold" it to a "friend" and never received anything close to full payment.)

And I've always wished that I had claimed my first guitar from my parents' house before they tossed it as the worthless piece of trash that it was. It was a 3/4 scale steel-string acoustic of questionable parentage and a painfully abusive action. Still, there was lots of sentimental value in it for me.
 
Too many to list, but some standouts:

'60 Tele Custom, that one stil hurts
'61 ES-335
'41 L-5 Premier Blonde
Banner J-45

I lost a bunch of guitars in a house fine a few years ago
 
About two years ago I sold a little Audition/Heitt/Woolworths sharkfin guitar. Two single coils MIJ about 69 or earlier. I needed money to pay import duty etc on a replacement Bruno.
I'd recorded with the Audition once - it REALLY had a great bridge PU & cut through a mix beautifully - didn't sound great solo - a bit Danelectro in it's way.
I sold it to a friend who wanted a guitar for his daughter. I paid $170, sold it for $110 & within a month spent many, many hours trying to buy a replacement - light, bright and wonderful thing that it was. Saw one go in the UK on eBay for the equiv of $300. The fella I sold it to isn't in the slightest insterested in selling it.Oh, he didn't give it to his daughter in the end - uses it along with his martin electric and other expensive items.
Oh, & my 1st bass - Coronet short scale from '74 cream/ivory SG style. I was disdainful because of the short scale. In retrospect it was the PERFECT size for me (I'm 5' 3 1/2") and, with a nice amp sounded really good.
 
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Just thinking about the thread is prompting some visceral regurg...

First time I was a bone head, I had a cream 62' Jaguar, and a friend and an identical one that we used to swap parts...

Then there was the 1930's Epiphone Deluxe that the guy was selling for $300 because it had a small crack. I saw it 6 months later on a Gruhn column in Guitar Player.

Or maybe it was my first 'real' rig, an Ibanez RoadstarII and a Music Man 212-65.... with the crappy MXR Distortion pedal or the nasty Ibanez Tube Screamer:rolleyes:

Possibly the pristine bone white Model 6 before San Dimas was a San Dimas...

or perhaps the Marshall Lead 20 into the awful Sunn Coliseum head into the late 70's Marshall 4x12 that sounded so g-d- awful

as we get down to the 3000 baseball cards that I gave away for $30






jeez this is getting miserable :)
 
Lt. Bob said:
two I wish I had back so I could sell the crap out of them:

Les Paul bass serial number #00001,
and a 1954 pre-production Les Paul "Fretless Wonder" prorotype.

Didn't really like either git but I could retire if I had them to sell now.
Click to expand...


I remember that bass. It was a walnut brown "recorder" model with the low Z pickups, serial number 0001. I saw it in Baton Rouge back in, jeez, it might have been the late 60's, but no later than '73 or so.

I was at some guy's place (for a jam maybe? I dunno, it was a long time ago) and he brought it out and showed it to me. He told me that Gibson had not meant for it to be sold and was trying to buy it back.

Small world.

From a later post , I see that you gutted it and threw it away. Nothing personal, but if we ever meet, I'll expect you to turn around and let me kick you firmly in the ass. ;^)
 
ggunn said:
I remember that bass. It was a walnut brown "recorder" model with the low Z pickups, serial number 0001. I saw it in Baton Rouge back in, jeez, it might have been the late 60's, but no later than '73 or so.

I was at some guy's place (for a jam maybe? I dunno, it was a long time ago) and he brought it out and showed it to me. He told me that Gibson had not meant for it to be sold and was trying to buy it back.

Small world.

From a later post , I see that you gutted it and threw it away. Nothing personal, but if we ever meet, I'll expect you to turn around and let me kick you firmly in the ass. ;^)
Click to expand...
wow ......... way cool! Yep, I lived in Baton Rouge my entire life 'till I moved to Florida a couple years ago.
Who was it that I bought that from ? ..... David Zammit maybe ? ..... no it was ...... oh crap, they had a big TV dealership/repair shop. Crap ..... it's right on the tip of my tongue ........ dammit. man ..... can't come up with it ....


Anyway ..... the frankenbass I created was way cool. Those low-z electronics really sounded awesome on that long scale Rick bass ....... I had a blackbody and I made a mirror pickgaurd for it. It wouldn't be worth anything like the 'paul bass would have but I sure wish I had that back.

edit TIM LAMONICA!!!! That's who I bought it from!
 
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