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The One That Got Away


ebuljan

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Anyone have stories of great guitars that slipped through your fingers? Here's mine:

 

I was 20 in '88 and had only been playing for about a year. I had a crappy white Hohner strat copy with a Duncan Distortion in the bridge, and a bone nut. I finally had some decent money coming to me, and decided to look for a good guitar. I found a print ad for a Les Paul, and, without any money yet, drove an hour and a half away into the Santa Cruz mountains to check it out.

 

The guitar was a 1976 Gibson Les Paul Custom, Wine Red with gold hardware. It was in good shape, felt broken in (in a nice way) and had the aura (and possibly smell) like it had spent a lot of time in smoke-filled bars. The seller was a nice guy, and fit (to me at the time) a hippie stereotype. He wanted either $600 for the guitar or the equivalent in pot. It sounded like a good deal. I wasn't a pot guy, but I told him that I would be back in a week with the money. That week I got a loan from my mother, hopped in my '74 AMC Hornet, and headed back to find...

 

He had sold the guitar for $600 to a collector who had the guitar shipped to Japan!

 

Now that I've played for a while I would consider myself more of a Strat than a Gibson guy, but to this day I wish I had done something to buy that guitar before it was gone.

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Originally posted by rhino bucket

bout 85 i was looking at drums, and the place had the ibanez destroyer with the 3 humbuckers. i came so close to buying the thing, even though i didn't have an amp or anything.

 

 

Here's an Ibanez Destroyer with three pickups that I am selling:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7317270943

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She was a short, buxom latina with a beautiful soul and a disarming smile... :(

 

Oh, the guitar? I was in Music-Go-Round in Louisville on the day before payday, and noodled around on a cool Danelectro Innuendo baritone. That tone was rich and deep, but the clarity was phenomenal. The neck was like buttah. The price was right.

 

24 hours later, with paycheck freshly deposited, the {censored}in' thing was already sold. :mad:

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Originally posted by ebuljan

Anyone have stories of great guitars that slipped through your fingers? Here's mine:



The guitar was a 1976 Gibson Les Paul Custom, Wine Red with gold hardware. It was in good shape, felt broken in (in a nice way) and had the aura (and possibly smell) like it had spent a lot of time in smoke-filled bars.


I wish I had done something to buy that guitar before it was gone.

 

If it makes you feel any better, a 1976 Les Paul was a "Norlin Era" Gibson guitar. The Norlin era guitars are known for their shoddy workmanship and all-around {censored}ty playability. This was the time when Jap guitar manufacturers like Ibanez and Aria were making MUCH better Les Pauls than Gibson, and Gibson sicked their lawyers on them for it. Hence, these "lawsuit guitars" from the 70's had really made a name for themselves. It's the catalyst that put Ibanez on the map and they've been growing ever since.

 

I don't think you missed a great deal, it's more like you dodged a bullet!!! :D

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I was playing a blueshawk at GC and really liked it. put it down and walked around the store to mull it over. (was low on funds at the time). After I decided I was gonna take it home, I see another dude taking it up to the counter and walking out with it.:( You snooze you loose, but it all worked out for the best. I got a sweet deal on an SG not long after that, and I wouldn't have had the funds had I bought the blueshawk.:p

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Around 1986 I answered an ad for an Aria, Charvel-clone, "The Cat" maybe? The guy turned out to be a vintage guitar dealer and even MADE ME pick up and hold an actual 59 LP Sunburst. That was pretty big bucks even back then.

 

He was interested in helping me out finding my first guitar. He had a late-70's-early 80's Les Paul Standard---either wine red or cherry sunburst, I don't remember. All of the finish on the back of the body only had been removed and a protective leather cover had been put in place attacted to the straplocks. That bugged me so I didn't want it.

 

The price. $250.

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I lost one like that in a shop up in Oregon a few years back...a MIM '69 RI Thinline, sunburst, dead mint for $299.

 

I played it for a half hour in the shop while unbeknownst to me, someone was quieting waiting in the wings, listening as they browsed through the music books. I asked if they could do $275...WHAT was I thinking??? As soon as I left...bang! Mr. Book Reader's plastic was down and the guitar was sold, gone. I came back several hours later to pay full price; too bad.

 

[Post script: Since then, I have discovered the Protone Thinline and managed to snag one off Ebay for $225 :p . Maybe my karma came back around.]

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Around '94 or so we were on the road and I found a old Guild Starfire single cut, Bigsby, that had been home finished black krylon in a shop in Alabama. $325

 

I made them run my VISA like 6 times, hoping we would catch them asleep or something and it would go through.

 

I think I had about $8 on me.

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She was a blonde in a white dress with a beautiful smile..

 

Anyway, about 5 years ago I saw a pair of strats (don't know if they were MIM, MIJ, MIA or what) at a pawn shop for bargain prices (at the time the owner didn't know anything about guitars)..I wish I had been smart enough to buy 'em, I propably could've sold them for twice the amount I paid.

 

Another that got away was a Yamaha Pacifica 812WX in aqua marine color, no longer made. Didn't have enough money to buy it at the time so someone else got it eventually. After that I spend about 2 years trying to find another one and eventually got lucky. Almost got a natural Pacifica 812W on sale but I must've been collecting good karma because the store (in Germany) never e-mailed me their bank information. Several months from that I found the 812WX on eBay and got it for a great price.

 

Then there was this ESP/Edwards I tried in Japan last year. I had already bought an old Yamaha SA-1200S (which is a killer guitar so no regrets there) but do wish I had had more gear money so I could've bought it. I've wanted one ever since (even though I've got a really good LP copy already). Such a fantastic guitar..not too heavy (my guess would be around 4 kg at most), beautiful looks, great feel and excellent tone. Looked just like the blue/green one BrokenRomeo (I think?) posted here recently.

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Originally posted by Buck62



If it makes you feel any better, a 1976 Les Paul was a "Norlin Era" Gibson guitar. The Norlin era guitars are known for their shoddy workmanship and all-around {censored}ty playability. This was the time when Jap guitar manufacturers like Ibanez and Aria were making MUCH better Les Pauls than Gibson, and Gibson sicked their lawyers on them for it. Hence, these "lawsuit guitars" from the 70's had really made a name for themselves. It's the catalyst that put Ibanez on the map and they've been growing ever since.


I don't think you missed a great deal, it's more like you dodged a bullet!!!
:D

 

That must be the same with the ES335 I bought in 1980. It left a bad taste in my mouth about gibsons ever since. It played like crap. Maybe that's why I like cheap guitars now. The play better than the one Gibson I ever owned.

 

Maybe I should try one again.....Nah!

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In 1974 I needed a guitar that might be appropriate for me to take to Berklee. I worked at a gas station that summer - This was before self--service gas. I bought an old, red ES 335 with a Bigsby tremolo. It had a V-shaped neck profile.

 

It was an early '60's vintage guitar. But in 1974 it's not like it was really old. I traded it even for an early '70's ES 150 (335 shape, but thicker and fully hollow.)

 

I had no idea how much that 335 might be worth some day. Not to mention it was simply a much better guitar than the ES 150 I traded it for.

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The only one I really regret was a Yamaha SBG2000 limited that had like 1996 at the 12th fret that was PERFECT the guitar guy at the store would have let me have it for$800 otd and I was just getting a new tuner cause my old ones accoustic mic had stopped working, and we were doing a moving job for my wifes invalid aunt and didn't have room to take it with us. Went back and some collector from Japan came in and gave 'em $1200 and they never opend the case till it was back in Japan. It was something! Oh well.

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