Have you ever bought a guitar you used to own?

[Drummertist]

Interested to see if there are any stories where y'all re-bought not just the same model, but the EXACT same guitar you had sold days, months, years or even decades prior.

[LAPlayer]

Here is the same question asked 2 months ago. I knew it looked familiar.

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...ht=repurchased

[CASD57]

You can never go back..It's never the same

[JAMKC]

I've done it twice!! A John Walker 00 and a Fairbanks 00.

[MBee]

Yes. My Avalon. And am I ever glad that I did.

[para_adams]

I was recently on the flip side of that question...sold a guitar back to someone who had previously owned it and regretted it. I felt great about the sale back, it was a wonderful guitar but I was ready to move on to something else. But the fates did not give us a happy ending, no sir, not at all. It might have been a Shakespeare tragedy...FedEx destroyed the guitar in shipping, the buyer nearly cried when he saw his old dream guitar returned but shattered in its case, and I had to return the sale funds I had planned to use. I have no idea what the moral is to this story, and I'm hoping for some compensation from FedEx but am losing confidence daily. Ugh.

[Bowie]

Only the first guitar I owned. I wanted it back for sentimental reasons and because I had painted a mural on it (an electric). I generally really like all the guitars I've owned in the last 10 years and selling them doesn't mean they aren't great. But, I probably won't buy them back because I think trying different things is very healthy for me.

[abn556]

I have not, but there are a few of my old guitars out there that I would love to get back. A Custom Shop L-4 CES and a flamed out ES-175 come immediately to mind along with a red Tele Deluxe. I sold/traded these guitars for no good reason other than the fun of horse trading guitars.

I also sold a buddy’s Ambertone OM-45 and I could have easily bought it from his family. Should have made that deal. Falls into the regret category with the others that I shouldn’t have sold.

[RP]

I've done it several times...

[Guitars44me]

Originally Posted by RP

I've done it several times...

Yes, I have bought a few back.

If anyone out there owns and wants to sell John Kinnaird #99 I might own it for the fourth time! Hahahaha

Cheers

Paul

[Slothead56]

Below is the story of how I got my Gurian JR back. It is, admittedly, a long read but I think I may be able to claim the prize for the most amazing re-purchase in AGF history.

Just to add to the story I now work a part time retirement job and discovered one of my co-workers owned the long defunct shop I originally purchased the guitar from. He is likely the guy that first laid the guitar in my hands.

Originally Posted by Slothead56

I posted the follow thread last August:

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=440802

"In 1978, while I was looking for a good guitar to replace my $195 Guild D25 that I played all through college, I became enfatuated with a great big rosewood guitar made by some guy named Gurian in New England. It was so simple in design and had a thundering thumpy bass and crystal clear highs--it was exactly what my ears wanted. Had this cool 'Earth, third planet from the sun' label on the inside.

Always one to take a different road I spent my $600 on this rather than the Martin I'd always coveted.

I had that guitar until 1992 or 1993 when I sold it and several others (including a '68 D12-35 and a '90 Strat) to cover the costs of a messy divorce.

It was sold on consignment by Stan Jay at Mandolin Bros. I about broke even as I recall.

Like many of you, as I've gotten older I wonder about past friends, lost relatives and those instruments that got away.

I just now found a letter that Michael Gurian wrote me on July 18, 1978 congratulating me on my purchase.

Here's the kicker....any one know the whereabouts of Gurian model JR serial number C3182? If so, look closely; my name and phone number (back then) are on sticker inside the body...maybe."

It got several encouraging responses and I didn't think much about it until a few weeks ago when I received the following PM from AGF member Brewbaker:

"Hello
Some one named Rudiger in Germany told me about your thread seeking a line on the Gurian you used to own. I've owned it since 1992, and am now selling it in the Emporium, which is how Rudiger became aware of it. What a mind blower, serial number C 3182. There's not a sticker with your name and phone number however, but it must be the same guitar. I bought it from Lark St music in Albany. Here's a link to the listing-(deleted)

It's still a great guitar!

Cheers,
David"

Here is the original Forum ad:

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=464527

We corresponded several times and I'm happy to say that this long lost, but never forgotten, guitar is now back in my home. There is a short period of lost time-several months I think-between my consignment to Stan and David's purchase from Lark St. I've contacted both shops and records are not available.

There was a neck reset 8 years ago and the guitar is currently in the very capable hands of a wonderful local guy having a little maintenance work done. As you can imagine, the guitar is a little worn--but not too much--and maintains all original parts. It still has the booming bass and wonderful sound I remember.

I originally bought that guitar when I was 21, a kid just out of college, no job, no plans, no idea what was in store. Now, 39 years later, I'm staring at 61, happily married with three great kids, a wonderful daughter in law and a lifetime of memories. There have been other guitars, of course, my most cherished being the Martin HD28vs my wife gave me for Christmas almost 20 years ago...that she bought from Stan Jay.

But the Gurian, after all these years, is back, a connection to a time in my life that at once seems so long ago and yet also feels like just yesterday. I played that guitar at my brothers wedding shortly after I bought it. He just retired. Played it at my first wedding. Wrote and recorded my song tribute to my Father that he got to hear shortly before he passed.

I'm somewhat sentimental by nature...having this guitar back in my hands really has given me pause.

My thanks to members Brewbaker and Rudiger for taking the time to reach out. (Please go to the link above for the ad and pictures posted by Brewbaker. I couldn't do better than that.)

Don't give up on your dreams kids, and don't ever say never. Some times the impossible can happen.

[J Patrick]

Yes….I’ve done it a couple of times and there is a guitar I sold to a buddy I’d buy back in a heartbeat if he’d sell it back to me….which he probably wont.

[Zissou Intern]

I traded for a new Martin Custom Shop HD18LSV at the shop I worked in back around 2000. I eventually traded it to a friend and fellow AGFer. I got it back in a trade maybe a year later. Then I sold it a couple years after that.

There was an opportunity to own it a third time, when the then owner tracked me down on UMGF a year or so ago and offered it to me. I was tempted, but I love my modified D18GE and don't need two D18s.

It was for sale recently on Reverb, through a shop in Oregon. Someone got a great guitar.

[NotveryGood]

I traded a guitar, (in PX for another) only to buy it back from the same store 2 years later after someone else had owned it then done the same thing. I thought Id made a mistake letting it go, and was glad to get it back.
Quite tellingly though, I now again no longer own it.
I think the problem I had is "absence makes the heart grow fonder"

Or something like that

[EZYPIKINS]

Yes, bought a 1961 RI SG in 2010. Sold on consignment in 2020. Found hanging in the same store, a year later. Bought back.

The guy who had it in 2020 wanted it back, so sold it back to him directly.

Found it hanging in that same store, last year. Didn't buy it again.