Instruments you regret NOT buying: the ones that got away? [Archive]

jmp

Dec-13-2014, 12:27pm

I've enjoyed these kind of threads, so I hope y'all don't mind if I jump in and kick one off:

Wondering if others still feel lingering regret from time to time about instruments they've come across that they didn't end up buying for one reason or another, but now they wish they had.

What might have been? What musical boundaries might have been pushed? Will I ever see one like it again? If only....

You get the idea.

Here's the ones that got away from me, but I now wish I had been bolder:

1916 Gibson H-1 blond top
(I was very busy with work and didn't have time to test drive it...have not seen a comparable instrument since)
http://gryphonstrings.com/instpix/42159/

1937 Gibson L-00
(This was the best sounding and best feeling steel string acoustic I've ever played...it's not just the model and year...this one was unique...however the price seemed a bit high at the time...it was snatched up...live and learn)
http://gryphonstrings.com/instpix/43024/index.php

Kowboy

Dec-13-2014, 2:15pm

Some 51 years ago, an aunt let me have her Martin D18 for a week or so to play and keep for her. I can't really remember why she left it w/ me. That guitar was amazing to my young ears. I do not know what happened to the Martin, but would love to have it for my own right now. Sure didn't want to give it back to her. I recall her bringing it over to my home and letting me play on it while she visited with my parents. A nice gesture on her part.

Tobin

Dec-13-2014, 2:30pm

About a month ago, I went to a small local shop to get some small stuff, and they had a Weber octave mandolin F style. I played it for a bit and it sounds amazing. I should have bought it. I sent my wife over to get it a few days later and it had been sold. It's not like it is super rare or special, but it was right there calling to me, and I blew it.

mandobassman

Dec-13-2014, 3:12pm

allenhopkins

Dec-13-2014, 3:27pm

About 30 years ago I had a shot at a Gibson F-7. Didn't buy it 'cause it wasn't an F-5. Of course I didn't realize how rare they are, and though I did later get my F-5, it would be great to have the older, rarer Gibson F.

yankees1

Dec-13-2014, 3:28pm

A friend of mine, many years ago, was in Nashville , TN and I believe it was at Gruhn's that he was looking at guitars. He looked and played on this one guitar that was one of the best sounding and best looking guitars that he had ever seen. It was priced at $1500. and my friend Allan thought that this price was quite a bit for a maker that he had not heard about. So, Allan passed on this guitar. A few years after he was reading a guitar magazine about the fantastic guitars that were being made by a maker who had made this guitar that Allan had played on in Nashville. By the way, this maker was Lynn Dudenbostel !:)

Ed Goist

Dec-13-2014, 3:51pm

Jim Garber

Dec-13-2014, 4:57pm

An early '50s Gibson Southern Jumbo acoustic guitar that a friend was selling. It was by a mile the greatest acoustic guitar I have ever played, but I just didn't have the money at the time. This was about 30 years ago, and I find I still regularly think of my experience playing that guitar.

Oh, crap, Ed! I just sold and shipped my 1949 SJ off -- it was my main guitar for a couple of decades. I felt hesitant to sell, but I could use the cash for other things. Oh, wait, that goes on a different thread. :) In any case I have some other guitars that I play a lot more. I can deal with it.

Let's see: 1928 Nick Lucas for $1200 at Mandolin Brothers back in the early 1980s. Monteleone Baby Grande in the 1980s (when they sold for about $2500. A fiddle I saw a guitar show by the same maker who made my two main ones.

Woodley F2 that was for sale by Will Kimble at CMSA 2004. I played that one for about 20 minutes straight. But no way did I have the cash for it.
127612

mandroid

Dec-13-2014, 5:16pm

De Wick that slipped in and out of the classifieds a few years Back , always wanted to try one
and buying is the only way that has worked before (no one to loan me theirs)

what one looks like : http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/2009/12/c1920-dewick-resonator-mandolin.html

Ryk Loske

Dec-13-2014, 5:30pm

A Martin 000-18 Woody Guthrie at a friend's shop some years ago and a Martin 0000-18 i tried at Gruhn's when i was dropping off two instruments for consignment about a month ago.

I was able to catch up with an instrument that i regretted leaving on the wall a long time ago ... a '28 Gibson L-5. Many years later divorce reared its ugly head and that lovely instrument is in another's lap.

Ryk

Eric F.

Dec-13-2014, 6:01pm

I posted about this in a similar thread years ago, but I was thinking about this mandolin again recently. I played a Gibson Doyle Lawson at FQMS ... must have been more than a decade ago. I played it for more than an hour. It blew me away. It blew away the other Lawson they had and every other mandolin there that day, and they had a lot.

Mr. Sullivan came by and said he could always tell when someone was playing that mandolin, and that it was his favorite. He offered it to me at a nice discount. I probably could have sold my car, but that was the only way I had of raising the cash. A Cafe member also named Eric ended up with it. He said he hesitated to post about it because he could tell how much I loved it.

Frank Russell

Dec-13-2014, 8:41pm

This has happened to me a few times, mostly when I was making the trip to Buffalo Bros once a month. I miss that store, but my bank account does not. There was a Sumi F5 that I played many times, but I was going through an "American made only" phase, so I let it go. I also passed on a Weber plain-jane F (maybe a Gallatin with maple back, satin finish?) because it wasn't flashy enough, even though it blew doors off any Weber I've ever played. That one stings, but the one I can still hear years later was a very simple-looking Phoenix Bluegrass model. It wasn't my thing, looks wise, but it was hands-down the most responsive, easy to play mando I've held, and loud as hell, with very little effort. My priorities have changed, so hopefully I'll make better choices now! All part of horse trading, and the mandolin learning curve. Frank

Jeff Mando

Dec-13-2014, 8:48pm

Actually, the list seems endless.....when I was working at a vintage guitar shop, I had something in layaway every month that I was paying on and I ended up with some great stuff. BUT, I couldn't buy them all! Some I remembered that I wanted but passed on were.....1959 Gibson ES-345 mint condition with original PAF's for $3500, a 1952 Goldtop Les Paul that was sent back to Gibson and renecked in 1969 for $2000, a beatup, players grade 1969 or 70 Martin D-45 for $1500--hard to imagine a D-45 that trashed, big old belt buckle spot on the back, it's like they never used the case or something--but a wonderful sounding guitar that I still think about.

Mandobar

Dec-13-2014, 9:08pm

Campanella F5 with a one piece back. Missed it several times. Still hoping it pops up again.

citeog

Dec-13-2014, 10:35pm

A Gibson K-1 mandocello in Picker's Supply in Fredericksburg, Virginia many years ago that had a (then) ridiculously low price on it. Wasn't much to look at but had a great sound. I was passing through the area and stopped in to kill some time. A week later I rang them up and it was gone. C'est la vie....

Paul

Caleb

Dec-14-2014, 3:38am

Autumn 2009. Louisville, KY at FQMS. Collings MT. Not many days have went by when I haven't thought of that particular mandolin.

Ivan Kelsall

Dec-14-2014, 3:56am

IBMA 1992 - A pre-war Gibson TB-6 to 5 string conversion for sale by Elderley Instruments,going for $5,750 US. I could easily have afforded it.It's still the finest sounding banjo i've heard to date & i've heard a LOT !!!. I recently saw the same Banjo style,a TB-6 conversion for sale for $87,000 US. If it hadn't been for the thought of hauling my Stelling & that banjo around the US for another 2 weeks,i might have bought it. Regrets,regrets !,:(
Ivan:popcorn:

Hendrik Ahrend

Dec-14-2014, 6:24am

Looking back (in my case as far as the late '70s), I'm convinced now that it would have always been the right time to take out a loan for an original Loar.:(

John Adrihan

Dec-14-2014, 7:52am

in last couple of years: a few A5L' s, a couple of Ferns, and at least one Ellis A5 - just not sure what I want and am not ready to pull the trigger, but I am sure those were all great instruments that I missed.

FLATROCK HILL

Dec-14-2014, 7:54am

....If it hadn't been for the thought of hauling my Stelling & that banjo around the US for another 2 weeks,i might have bought it. Regrets,regrets !,:(
Ivan:popcorn:

If you ever find yourself in a situation like that again, you're welcome to swing by my place and store the banjo here as long as you need to.
Of course you'll have to hang around long enough to do some pickin'. Oh, and we'll have to sneak it in when the neighbors ain't lookin'. ;)

Ted Eschliman

Dec-14-2014, 9:06am

Only one. Jethrine.

http://jazzmando.com/Jethrine.jpg

Freddyfingers

Dec-14-2014, 9:34am

For me its the opposite. Too many I bought that I soon realized I didn't need. These days I am very conservative. I might look online at Instruments and gas for them, but I hold out. The local guitar shop has gotten some items In that surprised me. Ones that I always wanted, so I purchased them. But none come to mind over the years that I regret not buying.

CelticDude

Dec-14-2014, 2:15pm

Back in the early 80's I saw a Gibson A-style mandocello, tuned as an octave mandolin. It was in an acoustic instrument shop in Cambridge, MA, and was selling for $800. A bit of money back then, but I could have swung it, barely. I was playing octave mandolin back then, and it would have been much better than the Trinity I ended up with.

Ivan Kelsall

Dec-15-2014, 4:21am

Hey Flatrock - As they say, ''Be careful what you ask for''. If i ever get to the US again,i may never leave. As it is,my late father being from the USA,i could have applied for US citizenship,but what the heck have i ever done for the US to deserve it ? - bought a banjo & a couple of mandolins !!!!!,
Ivan;)

GKWilson

Dec-15-2014, 6:30am

A few years back an L. Smart F5 came up in the classifieds three different times.
It was one of the most beautiful mando's I've ever seen. It was at a very nice
price, but was in Italy. That is why I think it kept popping up. I had just commissioned
a mandolin and would have been seriously strapped had I bought it.
But, I would look at it every day and sweat bullets.
A few months later I drove a 1000+ miles to spend a few days with John Rreischman
at a BG camp. On the last day and last class John brought out his Smart mandola and
played for us. I told him my sad story of missing out on the mandolin. Then the guy
sitting next to me the whole time said 'I bought that mandolin'. It was break time so he
went to his cabin and brought it back. And, indeed it was the same mandolin.
Well, John played it then I played it. There were many fine mandolins there that I
played that week, but this was by far the finest. Just rubbing salt into my already open
wounds. When John had finished playing it he asked the guy why he had been playing
the F9 all week.
The mandolin world is actually pretty small.
Gary

CES

Dec-15-2014, 7:54am

Mando wise, I still pine for the Giacomel I played at Gruuhn's a couple of summers ago. Alas, the price tag was simply prohibitive.

More recently, our local guitar shop got in a Larrivee OMV-3 cutaway. It wasn't the greatest guitar ever, but it sounded very good and was set up well. I've been helping out our youth praise band at church, and we end up capoing around 5-6 often, so the cutaway would have been nice, price was right, etc. It didn't have electronics, so I passed. Got home, realized my baggs soundhole pickup would have worked, and planned to go back, but couldn't make it in for 33 or 4 weeks. Of course, it was gone...sigh...

Astro

Dec-15-2014, 8:03am

My room is full of instruments I wish I could regret not buying.

Jim

Dec-15-2014, 9:09am

Single pickup Gibson Firebird (non reverse) in a pawn shop in Indianapolis for $125 in 1972.

John Duncan

Dec-15-2014, 10:03am

I had a really great Charles Horner fiddle I sold in 2007 I wish had back.

My Dad has better stories, though. He passed up a pair of Herringbones at Fiddler's grove along time ago, one of the first Gallagher guitars, and a pre war D-18 at Camp Springs.

nickster60

Dec-15-2014, 10:55am

I buy and sell lots of different instruments I guess my wish is to have the ones back I wish I kept. The Selmer Alto and Selmer Tenor, The Spector and Stringray Basses, the Original Paisley Strat, some really nice Fender and Marshall amps, a few really nice Les Paul's. I couldn't tell you what I sold them to buy but I wish had a few of them back.

Joe Mendel

Dec-15-2014, 11:05am

I'll second Ted's lust for Jethrine.

Timbofood

Dec-15-2014, 11:20am

So many, I won't even try.

f5loar

Dec-16-2014, 1:05am

I can only think of one I lost a lot of sleep over. In 1991 I was so close to buying an all original near mint condition 1938 D-45 Martin guitar for $50,000.00. When I think about it's current market value I still become depressed over not get getting it.

terzinator

Dec-16-2014, 1:37am

For me it was in 1985. I was looking for my first F mandolin after playing a '24 A snakehead for 10 years and was looking at Mandolin Bros. I played a 1924 Gibson Loar-signed F5 (actually it was the first F mandolin I had ever played). It was selling for $8000. Sure seemed like a lot of money back then!!!
Was just wondering about the value of Loars over the years. Would love to see a graph, to see their meteoric rise, and when that really started.

Also remember back in the late 70's (was in my teens), when I bought my Silver Anniversary Fender Stratocaster (around $425 or so), I used to get a monthly flier in the mail from a place called Guitar Trader in Red Bank NJ. They had mid-50's Fenders and Gibsons, and I remember wondering how I could muster up enough cash (maybe $2000-3000 at the time) to get a 1958 sunburst Les Paul Standard or 1955 Telecaster.

Never had the diligence or foresight to buy one (and it would have been through the mail!). But who doesn't wish they had?

Ivan Kelsall

Dec-16-2014, 3:44am

I had an e-mail from a friend,fellow UK Cafe member & very accomplished amateur luthier,last week, & we were reminiscing over just this kind of thing.I mentioned the Gibson TB-6 to 5-string conversion & he told me he had the chance to buy a LLoyd Loar F5 model mandolin in London,back in the early 1970's, for £75.0 UK. £75 was worth a lot more back then than it is now,but it was still cheap even then. It makes one wonder how it came to be on offer for so little cash,:confused:
Ivan;)

Petrus

Dec-16-2014, 5:30am

A nice used Mid-Mo/Big Muddy MW2 (or MW3, I forget) on Guitarcenter.com for $299. :(

pheffernan

Dec-16-2014, 8:05am

A nice used Mid-Mo/Big Muddy MW2 (or MW3, I forget) on Guitarcenter.com for $299. :(

It still seems to be at the Paramus (N.J.) store undergoing a repair for a humidity-related crack.

David Smith

Dec-16-2014, 9:45am

Though it hasn't happened yet I may end up regretting not getting the Dudenbostel 1-A currently in the classifieds.

pheffernan

Dec-16-2014, 12:56pm

Though it hasn't happened yet I may end up regretting not getting the Dudenbostel 1-A currently in the classifieds.

That one has got me thinking as well, only I don't know if it'd belong in this thread or its counterpart. On the one hand, it would cost significantly more than any other instrument I've bought, by an order of magnitude. I would basically have to liquidate the bottom half of my signature and return to being a one A5 home. On the other hand, it might be the only one I'd ever want to play...

Paul Merlo

Dec-16-2014, 1:20pm

The first time I went to Elderly Instruments, back around 1997 or 98 they had this solid wood finished Gibson Les Paul style electric guitar with no binding. I’m not sure exactly what model it was, but I played it for a long time and just loved it. I couldn’t put it down. The price tag was all of $452, which was a ton of money for me at the time, so I didn’t get it.

That was also right around when I started playing mandolin, and I saw one of those Rickenbacker electric mandolins on the wall for around $800. I thought it was really cool, but simply couldn’t fathom paying a ridiculous amount of money on something like that either.

Missing out on the Gibson guitar maybe wasn’t all that bad, but I’ve never even seen another Rick mando in person – let alone seen one online for less that $1400 since. (swear words)

terzinator

Dec-16-2014, 1:23pm

Paul Merlo

Dec-16-2014, 1:51pm

"The Paul"?

Not sure if that's what you're thinking of, but I always liked those!

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/SlowMRecords/guitar%20room%201mb/P1000405.jpg

I think that's it! thanks!

bigskygirl

Dec-16-2014, 1:55pm

Not really regret not getting it but I just recently passed on a great guitar deal! It would have just been another guitar to sit in the closet while I play my mandolin so it's actually a good thing.

jmp

Dec-19-2014, 12:18pm

I enjoyed reading the responses, it is good to know I'm not the only one with these nagging feelings.

I'm surprised based on the other interesting competing thread that more people seem to have regrets related to mandolins they did buy (buyers remorse) rather than ones they didn't.

Jeff Mando

Dec-19-2014, 12:49pm

Was just wondering about the value of Loars over the years. Would love to see a graph, to see their meteoric rise, and when that really started.

Also remember back in the late 70's (was in my teens), when I bought my Silver Anniversary Fender Stratocaster (around $425 or so), I used to get a monthly flier in the mail from a place called Guitar Trader in Red Bank NJ. They had mid-50's Fenders and Gibsons, and I remember wondering how I could muster up enough cash (maybe $2000-3000 at the time) to get a 1958 sunburst Les Paul Standard or 1955 Telecaster.

Never had the diligence or foresight to buy one (and it would have been through the mail!). But who doesn't wish they had?

I don't have a graph, but speaking as a normal "broke" musician, the "good stuff" was always just out of reach. $3000 sounds so cheap today for a 1958 Les Paul, but my entire income for the decade of the 70's probably wasn't much more than that. Saving money was impossible if you didn't make any. It didn't take much money to live back then, either. Then again, my philosophy was different back then. Money, in and of itself, didn't mean anything to me. If I bought a 58 Les Paul it would be because Duane Allman had one, not because I thought it might be a good investment with the intention of someday selling it. Then again, being a broke musician back then wasn't so bad, either. I got to travel, played music in almost every state, went to Europe four times playing music, and generally had a blast. I was probably 50 before I started to worry about money matters. In hindsight, investing is easy. But, speaking for myself, I wasn't interested in investing. It is only now as I approach retirement, whatever that means, that I see where some investments would have been wise. On the other hand, I always had plenty of cool instruments around!