If I could just visit that old Guitar again!

[rllink]

I've told this story here a few times but it really is applicable to this thread. When I was in the Navy in 1972 I bought a guitar at a little shop in Mallorc, Spain. I played it a few years and one day I got a temporary transfer and had to go light. I loaned it to a shipmate to take care of it for me. While I was gone he got a transfer and rather than just leave it where someone might steal it or mess with it he took it with him. His intention was always to get it back to me but our paths never crossed again.

I would love to have it back but it was a long time ago. Then the internet came to be and in 2012 the fellow found me and contacted me. He lived in New Jersey. He wanted to pay me for it. I told him that I would rather have the guitar but he didn't have it anymore. I couldn't even remember what I paid for it. I thanked him for thinking of me after all those years but it was gone. I couldn't really replace it.

[raysachs]

My first good acoustic, decent even - it was my second and my first was a horrible pawn shop guitar, was a 1968 D28, the last full year they used Brazilian rosewood. I bought it in 1978, already well used, slightly beat up, but well repaired. It was my only acoustic for 25 years, until a little less than 20 years ago. I sold it during a long layoff when I thought I was really finished with playing guitar. When I got back into playing again about five years ago, I briefly regretted that I'd sold it, but then when I started playing more guitars, I realized I'm not really comfortable playing a dread anymore and I don't need or want the volume. So I don't wish I still owned it, but I'd love to spend a couple of days with that old guitar again, see what kind of shape it's in. See if it sounds as good as I remember it to my somewhat more educated ears now. See if I love the neck as much as I remember. It was a wonderful guitar that I don't wish I still owned, but I'd love to visit with it, play it again for a bit, just see how close the reality is to the memory...

-Ray

[wisedennis]

Perhaps a 1950’s Martin Brazilian rw guitar that I bought few years ago but I failed to appreciate it before..

[mcmars]

Since you asked,...... I wonder where is the 59 fender esquire I got back in junior high school? I got the esquire after my brother stole my 8 track tape deck I had rigged in my bedroom with a 1 amp battery charger for my home stereo. My brother stole and then traded my 8 track to a buddy he knew wanted to trade an esquire for an 8 track deck for his car. My parents heard what happened and made my brother give the esquire to me. Before I got to enjoy it, the parents decided a classical guitar was going to be a better guitar for me, so the Esquire got traded to a local music store for a new yamaha classical guitar and I got some lessons from the guy next door that was the best classical guitarist in houston at the time.

There was a happy ending, my brother found an early 60's jazzmaster and I got a 63 gibson SJ few years later that was my main guitar all my life and I still own and enjoy. But what ever happened to that old esquire????

[Tony Burns]

Actually no !
The great ones are still with me , the rest are gone !
and you cant look backwards anyways -
life moves one - don't regret getting rid of something ,
99 times out a hundred you did it for a good reason !



.

[Goat Mick]

I'd like to see my old '72 Telecaster again. That thing was a sweet guitar.

[jaymarsch]

No regrets but I sometimes wish that I had kept my ‘71 Yamaha FG160. It was a bear to play because I didn’t know about set ups back then. That guitar had good tone and seemed impervious to the elements. I have no regret trading it in for my first Martin but on the sentimental side I have great memories of playing that guitar.
Best,
Jayne

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by rmp

yes, my 71 Blonde Tele with a Maple neck. I was 14 when I got it

I remember the day the store called the house to tell me it had finally arrived.

I lived about a mile from town, I ran down to the store in mid june heat, then walked home with it which was just about all up hill, learned pretty fast how heavy the tele and case were. Didn't care.

Still wish I had that one.

What a sweet Tele and great story about bringing it home. Guessing you don't know where it is now (i.e. didn't sell it to a friend).

[fredsj200]

Oh boy, great question! Over the past 30 years, I have been through quite a few guitars (100+). Constantly trading up and selling up. Always looking for the next best thing. Unfortunately, I was not able to keep everything. Many great guitars had to be sacrificed. Some I would love to see again/play are as follows:

1936 Martin D-28 1938 Martin D-28

38d28f019.jpg 36d28f022.jpg


1934 Gibson Jumbo 1939 Gibson J-55

34jumbof011.jpg 39j55.jpg



1941 Gibson SJ-200 1995 Gibson J-250 PRESENTATION

41sj200front.jpg FSJ-250Full.JPG

[Mr. Jelly]

Originally Posted by Goat Mick

I'd like to see my old '72 Telecaster again. That thing was a sweet guitar.

This! Years ago, I had a rosewood neck '72. It's been a legend in my mind ever since.

Otherwise, yes, an old Martin D-18V I once had and a Santa Cruz 1929 00 all hog.

[FLRon]

Two that I let go still haunt me. An HD-28 and a Larrivee OM-50 made with a ‘mistake’ 1 11/16” neck. Hard to put a price on stupid sometimes.

[Glennwillow]

My original guitar was a nylon string Kay guitar. It wasn't all that great. I doubt that I could make it sound particularly good even if I had it in my hands today.

My 2nd guitar was a Harmony 12-string, a model H1270 from 1966. It was a pretty good guitar for the $100 it cost me for the guitar and case. I traded it in 1975 along with $300 for a used 1972 Guild F212 which was a vastly superior guitar. My son has the Guild F212 today, so I have access to that guitar if I ever feel like it. I don't miss the Harmony 12-string. It was a great guitar for years, but it was pretty limited and couldn't be tuned to normal concert pitch. It needed to be tuned 3 or 4 half tones below normal pitch, and I never liked that down-in-the-basement sound. I played that Harmony 12-string with a capo most of the time.

My third guitar was a 1967 Martin D-35. I still have that guitar and value it greatly.

So, I'm not feeling like I am missing anything important in not having my first two guitars in hand. I'm very glad I still have my '67 Martin D-35, however. I have sold off some other guitars over the years, but not many. The ones I got rid of I really needed to get rid of, and I don't miss them at all.

- Glenn

[Bridgepin]

Sellers remorse is something I don't want to experience, I still have my very first guitar that I bought 42 years ago and still play it.

I was very fortunate to end up with this guitar, I went to the music store with all intentions of buying a certain make and model of guitar and and told this to the sales person and he got it down for me, I was playing away and he asked me, can I show you something I just took in on trade you might like it?.....No thanks, I came for this and I'm good, give me five minutes to show you this one and if your not interested ok I will sell you that guitar. I figure what do I have to lose....Ok show me what you got, he went into the back room and brought out this.



Well that lead to this happening over the next thirty years



I ended up collecting all but one of the Hohner HG-900 Arbor Series all aged wood guitars.

[L20A]

After a couple of cheep 12 string acoustic guitars, I bought a nice
Guild D-25-12.
The problem was that I knew nothing about tune ups or truss rod adjustments.
I used a single note tuning fork to try and tune it.
After a few frustration years, I sold it.

I would love to be able to play it now with what I have learned about guitars and with the aid of an electronic tuner.

[dnf777]

Nope. Through very lucky happenstance, I still have my very first guitar that Santa Clause gave me, via my mom, in 1977. Udder’nat, many have come and gone, but no regrets. The price of not getting rid of guitars is a house littered with cases and guitars with dead strings. Not necessarily a bad thing, if I could just convince that other person who lives here…