The One(s) That Got Away

[bagman67]

Lately there have been great threads on first amps and first electric guitars. How about the piece of gear you no longer have, and look back on with sincere fondness and regret for having let it go?

My two biggies:

1. I once owned a gorgeous Yamaha SA2100 semi-hollow, blonde with gold appointments, loud as hell, silky smooth, and far more guitar than I could really make the most of at my stage of development then. I had it for about 4 years and then ultimately sold it so I could pay tuition without taking out a loan. I miss that guitar. A lot. I bought it used for $500 in 1989 - a pretty good deal for the time - and they're going for four or five times that now. I'll likely never own another unless I win a lottery. Here's a photo from Reverb, including the teddy-bear-brown-lined case.

No. 2. is the Yamaha T50C amp I got when I graduated from college (see above for how I paid for school). Some of you will recall this was a sort of poor-man's Soldano combo. Mike Soldano designed these amps for Yamaha in 1989 or 90, probably to get some capital to roll into his own boutique amp business. It was my first tube amp and I just loved that thing. This was the amp that taught me how to play the amp as an instrument instead of just a noisemaker.

When Marriage 1.0 went south, I had to sell a bunch of gear, including this amp, to keep the light on - and the attempts I have made to replace it have been unsatisfactory. I got another T50C a few years later that just didn't have the same guts; sold it after two years and got a T100C that was (a) too damn heavy and (b) too damn loud; and now I'm bereft. There's a dark part of my brain where I fantasize about paying someone (Hi, @mayfly !) to build one from its schematic, which is available online. But that's still a lot of shekels, and I'm still raising a family. Sigh.

Let's hear your tales of woe and longing. Photos appreciated.

Bagman

 

[NedRyerson]

I acquired a blue guitar -- don't remember if it was a Jackson or Ibanez, but it was something along that "metal super-Strat" line. It was autographed by all the members of Savatage.

So we're already talking niche-within-a-niche here

This was also about 30 some odd years ago, so no pics available.

The guitar was listed for really cheap because apart from the autographs, it was in rough shape. All the expected problems: corroded screws, rust spots, plastic pickup rings that were cracked and missing sections, shoddy wiring, etc. I bought it and spent some significant time reconditioning it, replacing worn out parts, redoing the wiring, and just generally getting it back into shape. Then I applied a protective top coat to seal in the signatures.

Then I listed it for sale for 3x what I spent on it. It miraculously sold. But then I immediately had seller's regret.

Savatage is one of my favorite bands and had I known then that they'd go into indefinite hiatus soon after the meteoric rise and success of TSO, I'd have held onto that guitar. And then about a year and a half ago, band leader Jon Oliva made the announcement that they're going to do one last album as a farewell and possibly tour on it (yay!), then he cracked his spine (boo!), then he got diagnosed with MS and will be sitting out their Monsters of Rock show in Brazil (BOO!), and maybe (maybe not) they'll play somewhere in the US before finally saying "good-bye" (???)....

So I have no idea if I'll ever get that last chance to see Savatage again, which makes the memory of selling that guitar even more bitter.

While parts of "Lost Christmas Eve," TSO's 3rd album in the Christmas series, along with their non-Christmas album, "Night Castle" were clear love letters to their legacy as Savatage, it's not the same. It's still not Savatage.

The other regrets, I've since made up for.

Again in the '90s, I stumbled across a boutique brand at Guitar Center. Long story short because I've talked about my basses here before, it's the Conklin Groove Tools series. I saw the red GT-4 at GC, missed out on it, found it online again later, bought it, then bought another GT-4 so I could have one tuned to E-standard and one tuned to D-standard. Then I thought that was stupid, so I sold both and replaced it with one 5-string Conklin GT-5 instead. Still have that one to this day, 25+ years later.

Then I missed having a 4-string bass, so I grabbed another GT-4. So I'm back to having two Conklin basses again like I did 30 years ago, but now with one extra string!

 

[mrpinter]

I have a lot of "shouldn't have sold" items I let go of when I was younger and foolisher (at least younger ). In the nineties I owned and ran a boutique advertising and design agency, and was first to do any ads for Matchless when they were also just getting started. I created their ads through a good part of that decade, and ended up with a couple of amps and a Hotbox. The amps were a 1x12 Lightning and a 1x12 Chieftain. Sadly, I sold all of them. I got good money for them, but still...

Another big "shouldn't have" regret is selling my final prototype Novax Fanned Fret Expression series guitar. I'd traded Ralph Novak for designing and handling the printing of a product brochure he needed. That was a sweet guitar. That it was a final prototype makes it even worse.

 

[mayfly]

Lately there have been great threads on first amps and first electric guitars. How about the piece of gear you no longer have, and look back on with sincere fondness and regret for having let it go?

My two biggies:

1. I once owned a gorgeous Yamaha SA2100 semi-hollow, blonde with gold appointments, loud as hell, silky smooth, and far more guitar than I could really make the most of at my stage of development then. I had it for about 4 years and then ultimately sold it so I could pay tuition without taking out a loan. I miss that guitar. A lot. I bought it used for $500 in 1989 - a pretty good deal for the time - and they're going for four or five times that now. I'll likely never own another unless I win a lottery. Here's a photo from Reverb, including the teddy-bear-brown-lined case.

No. 2. is the Yamaha T50C amp I got when I graduated from college (see above for how I paid for school). Some of you will recall this was a sort of poor-man's Soldano combo. Mike Soldano designed these amps for Yamaha in 1989 or 90, probably to get some capital to roll into his own boutique amp business. It was my first tube amp and I just loved that thing. This was the amp that taught me how to play the amp as an instrument instead of just a noisemaker.

When Marriage 1.0 went south, I had to sell a bunch of gear, including this amp, to keep the light on - and the attempts I have made to replace it have been unsatisfactory. I got another T50C a few years later that just didn't have the same guts; sold it after two years and got a T100C that was (a) too damn heavy and (b) too damn loud; and now I'm bereft. There's a dark part of my brain where I fantasize about paying someone (Hi, @mayfly !) to build one from its schematic, which is available online. But that's still a lot of shekels, and I'm still raising a family. Sigh.

Let's hear your tales of woe and longing. Photos appreciated.

Bagman

Hey! If you really want that amp, I'll do it!

In other news, the guitar I wish I didn't get rid of was a Rickenbacker 620 in Fireglow. Looked much like this one (held by some dude I don't know):

 

[TBurst Std]

Well not let go, but stolen:
1969 Fender Tele
JTM 45
Mesa MK II

 

[JacobJames]

Well not let go, but stolen:
1969 Fender Tele
JTM 45
Mesa MK II

That's a shame. I had a friend "lose" a guitar after he slammed his against a wall doing the cool swing around your neck trick. Offered mine to borrow for the next gig and never saw it again. :-( I'll have to find my senior photo.

 

[Don O]

Somewhere around 2000, I was in a Sam Ash and here was this black beauty Gibson CS f-holed Florentine ! I had a cherry burst LPC and always wanted a BB. So I sit down and play it. What a great sound and feel. I bought it. Fast forward a few days later at home and I put a strap on it and wanted to rock out with it. Now, this is basically a hollow body LP. With a light weight body it had horrible neck dive. I was bummed, so much so that I sold it within 6 months.

Now, I practice and play a lot sitting down and it would be nice if it was still here. Oh, well.

 

[MoreSpaceEcho]

Not quite on topic, but in the neighborhood of the ballpark...a while back I'm out in the studio playing this guy:




My wife comes out, cocktail in hand, says "give me a guitar, I want to play a song for you." So I take off the JM and put it on her.

She's 5'1". It looks ridiculous. It might as well be a White Falcon for how huge it is on her.

So I give her a Musiclander instead, which is better. We play for a bit then head into the house for dinner. I say "we gotta get you a guitar that fits you, what do you want?" Without hesitation, she says "short scale! Build me a Jaguar!" I say a Jag is basically the same size body as a Jazzmaster, how about a little Mustang? "Yeah! Sonic Blue!"

Fast forward a couple weeks, I go down to the local GC on a whim and they have a used Squier Classic Vibe Mustang, Sonic Blue, for $299. Played it for a bit, seemed perfectly fine, I think "lemme go scrounge up some junk from the studio to trade for this."

And of course, a day later it was gone. Dammit! Snooze/lose. Ah well. I ordered one from Fender for another 100 bucks, easy come easy go.

 

[teleme01]

I loaned a 1957 Stewart oriphonic to my god child, to use until she was done playing guitar, haven't gotten it back, as long as she is still playing I'm great with it.

1958 Stewart Oriphonic

CMI Gibsons parent company acquired Epiphone in 1957 and shifted production of Epiphonebranded i

folkwaymusic.com

 

[bagman67]

Somewhere around 2000, I was in a Sam Ash and here was this black beauty Gibson CS f-holed Florentine ! I had a cherry burst LPC and always wanted a BB. So I sit down and play it. What a great sound and feel. I bought it. Fast forward a few days later at home and I put a strap on it and wanted to rock out with it. Now, this is basically a hollow body LP. With a light weight body it had horrible neck dive. I was bummed, so much so that I sold it within 6 months.

Now, I practice and play a lot sitting down and it would be nice if it was still here. Oh, well.

View attachment 63260

View attachment 63261

she's a beauty, all right. Sorry for your loss.

 

[bagman67]

I loaned a 1957 Stewart oriphonic to my god child, to use until she was done playing guitar, haven't gotten it back, as long as she is still playing I'm great with it.

1958 Stewart Oriphonic

CMI Gibsons parent company acquired Epiphone in 1957 and shifted production of Epiphonebranded i

folkwaymusic.com

I'm with you. I am always happy to have a young person discovery their musical identity with one of my instruments, whether I get it back or not. If I couldn't bear to lose it, I wouldn't let it out the door in the first place.

 

[Bruce Campbell]

I didn't let it go by choice, but luckily my worst loss in this regard is probably "losing" a 25ft Planet Waves cable (regular plugs, not those destroyer plugs with compression springs) backstage at a gig. Sold tons of stuff, don't regret any of it. Luckily, nothing else that's "useful" has been stolen, except a few 1/4" stereo headphone adapters.

I'd least want to let go of my Warmoth, but since that came together the most custom of my instruments, I feel like I could get back to that place or better if I had to.

 

[Don O]

she's a beauty, all right. Sorry for your loss.

I made up for it a few years ago by buying a 1977 BB LPC.

 

[Spud]

Well her name was Lola, she was a showgirl,with yellow feathers in her hair, and a dress cut down to there........................

 

[JacobJames]

I found it. Little over a year before my time here. It was a blue burst Epiphone. Had no idea I would go on to make countless necks in my future. Still had dreams of being a musician. Graduated with music honors. PHS Vikings class of 2005. Won state in both jazz and concert choir.

 

[u.9]

One of only two pieces of music gear I've ever gotten rid of was a 1x8 Peavey Rage combo amp. Gave it to a teenager who was committed to guitar. I didn't like that amp much but seeing his face light up on receiving it was gold. No regrets!

The other was my 2nd Warmoth body... a non-bound walnut/quilt maple VIP in clear gloss. It wasn't quite what I was hoping for, but the fault was mine for not doing my homework before ordering. Still, it was a beautiful body. In 15 years, it was the first gear I ever got rid. But I'd only just received it when I was unexpectedly laid off and couldn't complete the build. Eventually resold it but have no regrets since I don't think it would have found a niche amongst my other guitars (though I sometimes wonder what became of it).

 

[rockandroller]

About 25 years ago I obtained a brand new Warmoth strat neck with gloss finish, and it was solid QUILT maple. The most gorgeous neck EVER!
I was moving from New Jersey to Moscow (RUssia) and could only bring 4 guitars. I don't know what possessed me to sell the neck (along with a couple of new Larrivee Parlor models) before I left. Spent nearly ten years operating a guitar custom shop there in Moscow ( TheGuitarCustomShop.com ) and in all that time (I orchestrated about 450 custom 'export' one-offs to clients in 44 countries) I never found a piece of maple quite like that...

 

[Bob Hoover Ross]

Oh, this is too easy: The One That Got Away is the one I've been looking for since it got away 44 years ago!

Call it a pipe dream, but I am hoping to locate the exact guitar that was stolen from my apartment in Boston way back in 1980.

It is a wine-red Gibson ES-345-TD thinline semi-hollowbody, serial number 70418082.

This guitar was purchased new in 1978, and is for all practical purposes a factory stock ES-345, with gold plated hardware, dual humbucking pickups, Varitone rotary switch, stereo output jack, tune-o-matic bridge with metal string saddles, a trapeze tailpiece, rosewood fingerboard with dual parallelogram pearl inlays, etc.

The instrument was a Factory Second, probably due to some flaws in the finish, visible as several discolored streaks running adjacent to the strings just below the tailpiece (near the controls). The word "SECOND" was stamped on the back of the headstock, just below the serial number.

The gold plated tuning machines were slightly more substantial than the stock pearl-handled tuners used by Gibson at that time; these more closely resembled Schaller machines. (I've always assumed the upgraded tuning machines were added to compensate for the Factory Second status of the instrument.)

I'm not positive, but if memory serves the adhesive paper Gibson identification label, normally visible through the upper F-hole (and visible in the pic below), was subsequently removed (by me).

As a stock 1978 ES-345-TD, I assume this instrument is hardly a desirable collector's item. It does, however, hold significant sentimental value to me. (If you must know, it was a high school graduation present from my father. Boo-hoo!) After all these years I am finally in a position where I can afford to buy it back from its current owner at fair market value.

I will ask no self-incriminating questions. I will not seek any legal action. I would simply like to re-acquire the guitar which was stolen from me many years ago, and which means a lot to me. If you currently are in possession of this instrument, please consider selling it back to me. If you have any information as to the whereabouts of this guitar, please let me know.

I would greatly appreciate it, you'd be fulfilling a 44-year-old fantasy of mine, and you'd be supplying some good karma for the universe. Thanks. PM me if you have info.

Picture of 17-year-old me with that guitar the day I bought it in 1978:

 

[Hodgo]

A few regrets:

1. I had a Norlin era ES-345 that was magical. I paid $850 for it in a pawn shop and sold it for $900 many years later thinking breaking even was a good deal. Oops.
2. My first Tele I sold to a friend who still uses it as his number 2. It wasn’t anything special, just a MIM with ceramic pickups but man it did the Tele thing well. Miss it for sentimental reasons mostly.
3. I also had an early 90s RG550 that I adorned with Paul Gilbert f-hole stickers… at some point a niece started showing interest so I gave it to her, no clue where that went.