Which guitar do you regret buying?

[NoPicks]

Rickenbacker 4001 Fretless

Completely seduced by the MapleGlo (natural) finish and the Ric tone. Totally stymied by the fingerboard to the point where I couldn't play the thing in tune - the kiss of death for a fretless

The issue with the fingerboard was Ric's weird practice of using a regular dot-inlay fretboard (dots in between the fret positions) and simply not cutting the fret slots, plus position markers on the FB binding for every fret position. I could play it well enough as long as I didn't look at the neck. The minute I had a tricky passage where I needed a point of reference, I got two conflicting messages from the face of the FB and the side dots that threw me off Badly

Struggled with that 4001 for almost a year before giving up and selling it at a loss. Been playing unlined fretless bases ever since (30+ years, now) without a problem. No more mixed messages, and my intonation is fine now whether I'm looking at the neck or not

I brought this up on the two Ric forums (Corporate and unofficial) many years later and was slammed by both. Ric Corporate was simply not interested in player input that is suggesting something different from their accustomed way of doing things - an unlined, no-inlay, fretless fingerboard. The Unofficial forum was.........shall we say, even less appreciative

Still have regrets about that bass, though. There is nothing else that sounds like a Ric. Nothing. Should've kept it and gone ahead with my plan of having a luthier replace that monstrosity of a fingerboard with an unlined ebony board and side dots at the normal positions - 3rd, 5th, etc.

[bluesman3]

53 Years ago, as a newly wed, My wife pointed at a guitar in a music store window and said, " I want that ". Neither one of us knew anything about guitars. The guitar stayed stored for 53 years, unused. A few years later I picked up the guitar and recently my wife said, " Put new strings on my guitar and I will play also". New strings bought and while putting them on, I look closely at the neck. During manufacture of the guitar, the frets were filed to make them even. Filed to the point that fret 5 through 9 are almost level with the finger board and useless. They are flat and file marks are still there. Has a nice tone but only the first 4 frets are usable. It is a Bruno Ventura 1588. Wife lost interest again, but I think I will start looking around for a nice classical guitar for myself. Presently I play a Guild F20 NT acoustic and a Ibanez AF 125 Hollow body electric.

[Neil K Walk]

I'm trying to give my D-16GT the benefit of the doubt but part of me wishes that I'd tried harder to save up for a higher end Martin - in rosewood as well. I was stunned by an MMV but it was slightly above my price range and I fear that if I'd scraped and pulled the trigger I'd probably feel the same. Now I'm thinking that maybe an HD-28 would have been "remorse proof" though I've said it many times that I have a special yen for a D-35 or HD-35.

[jeepnstein]

My Seagull. I wish I'd never seen it. It's such a nice guitar I can't justify wanting to upgrade. Don't get me wrong, it's not the ultimate anything but it does everything fairly well. How does one justify spending buckets of money when they already have a perfectly useful instrument in their hands. Darn it. It'll be years before I come up with a good enough reason.

[drive-south]

I own 2 J185's. One is a 6-string and the other is a 12-string. Acoustically they are bright and not very loud. They are no match to my friends HD28 in an acoustic jam. Plug them in and they are great amplified. Both have Fishman Matrix pickups and they amplify very well with no feedback problems at all.

When I jam along with my HD28 weilding friend, I either use the Advanced Jumbo, or one of my Guild dreads.

drive-south

[Martin_Nut]

I bought a D-40 Martin a five years ago via EBAY for a price that was well below market. It arrived STINKIN of tobacco, with a lose neck joint. I brought that one "back from the dead" with the help of a good guitar repair tech and a lot of cleaning, polishing ,and tweaking. Ended up OK, as I sold it for about what I had in it, and it did play well.

Message - "Bargain" guitars are something to be careful of ...

[music-seed]

a D-15 MexMartin reissue ...the totally green Brazilian mahogany shrunk after less than 2 years owning it and caused bracing to detach...good thing Martin has a superb warranty service...did not cost me a dime to get it reglued back

[ilikeguitar90]

Here we go...I'll give the condensed version...

Back when I wanted to upgrade from my beginner's acoustic (yamaha F-335), I was looking at some Martins. I was getting dissatisfied with the tone of the yamaha, and every time I heard a Martin/Taylor/Gibson live/recorded, I'd always get an intense urge to get something that sounded professional like those guitars I was always hearing on recordings. I've been playing the yammie for 5-6 years at the time, so it wasn't like I was still new to guitar. I ended buying a used Martin 000-15, because I got an incredible deal on one (I'm talking less than half of what it costs new).

After about a month or 2, I decided that the mahogany tone/smaller body was just not for me, so I gave it to my brother as a Birthday present. I always knew that it was his dream guitar, and I wasn't very satisfied with the tone of it personally, so a big win/win in my book.

Then I went out looking for guitars again. I ended up buying a cheap used Gretsch acoustic/electric hollowbody acoustic. I ended up disliking it about a week into playing it, and found myself going back and playing the yamaha almost exclusively again. Again, I was still haunted by the tones of my musical idols and still wanted something that sounded like their acoustics. I thought the Gretsch sounded good when I bought it, but after I had it for a few weeks, I realized it was not the tone I was looking for.

Finally, my brother stopped playing his 1970s Guild D25M after I gave him my Martin, so he decided to give it to me as a present. I have since sold the Gretsch and actually made a profit over what I paid for it. I now hear my favorite music and am not jealous of their acoustic tones anymore. I think I'm finally content, and I think my Guild D25M will be my main guitar for a long time

[scooter jenkins]

I bought a Takamine GS330s a while back. I really regret buying it. At the time I was obsessed with cedar tops, but the more I played that guitar the less I liked it. Glad I was able to sell it!

[barrangatan]

Originally Posted by jeepnstein

My Seagull. I wish I'd never seen it. It's such a nice guitar I can't justify wanting to upgrade. Don't get me wrong, it's not the ultimate anything but it does everything fairly well. How does one justify spending buckets of money when they already have a perfectly useful instrument in their hands. Darn it. It'll be years before I come up with a good enough reason.

Along the same line... really a guitar I wish I didn't have but secretly can't imagine living without - my Yamaha FG-500. It plays so effortlessly and has the bassy, vintage complex tone that I was after. To my ear it sounds better than most of the stock Taylor and Martin I have had a chance to play. And so while I"m GAS'ing for something 'better', I am finding that I have to go quite a few steps up to find a guitar that is appreciatively better than the Yamaha - and I either can't afford them or can't justify the expense given how little I play. Sigh...

[Schemy]

Interesting thread.

Mine is my first guitar. An Indiana Scout. What a piece of junk. I didn't know any better, and thought you only paid for name in guitars. Thought I had a good starter guitar. It played so horribly that I stopped and started so many times. I recently purchased a new Taylor 110, and understand now what quality can do for a new guitar player. I only wish I would have known that 7 years ago, as I have grown as a player in the month that I have had the Taylor, over the 7 years with the crappy guitar.

[Ridgeback]

'09 Taylor GSCE Fall Ltd.

Only acoustic I've ever bought without playing it first. Big mistake. Looks beautiful, plays like heaven, sounds sub-average.

At my age, you'd think I'd know better......

[rod_b]

Ovation Celebrity GC057. Always been fascinated with the shallow bowl so I bought one. Sound is ok at best, but the fact that you can barely keep it on your lap is simply annoying.

[jackstrat]

Gotta be my Composite Acoustics Legacy Raw. We are just not bonding. Currently installing a midi pickup on it and will use it to drive my midi equipment. Should try to sell it but figure I will take a real beating on it given CA went out of business...

JackL

[kohara]

The 3 Taylors I've purchased over the years... great in the shop, progressively less likeable at home until I just didn't like them at all. Don't know what it is with me and Taylors, but it just doesn't work...