The Guitars I've Left Behind

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Back in 77 i bought a gibson sg jr 2 single coils and funky pickup switches at my local music store .. had it for about 2 weeks and traded it for a beat old strat at the same music store ..i was a regular at that store , spent all my money there , records or gear , used to fetch coffee for the guys who worked there , all musical gods in my eyes back then , anyway got this old beat strat for the sg jr which i paid 200 bucks for , and old strats were pretty common back then , no case carried it home wrapped in a green glad garbage bag.. plugged it in to an garnet lil rock amp i had and ..nothing..brought it back to the shop and the guys in the back took it appart re soldered the 3-way switch and it came alive , the date on the pickups was apr 63 , it was also stamped on the neck butt , no big deal back then it was only 14 years old back then .. but it was the best strat i've ever played , i did not know good tone from bad tone then but it had a neck and and feel not to mention hardly any finish left on it , it was totally beat ..i remember taking it appart and applying the stripper to remove the remaining finish on the body then coating it in linseed oil , it then had a natural finish with a beautiful rosewood neck..had it for about two years and then traded it for a ampeg v4 set up ... now i'd love to have it back obviously the value even with its original finish long gone would be somewhere near 8000-10, 000 ,i miss that one more than any other ..6S9L

[Spudman]

6S9L
Oh boy! What painfull memories your story conjures. I have a similar one myself.
I'm not even sure who I purchased it from. I think I was 14 years old. It was an ugly tomato soup orange/red repainted 1964 Fender Jaguar. Pretty much my first decent guitar. The switches all had to be replaced, but it had some cool sounds and was easy to play.
I have a photo of me playing it at 15 yrs old. It was the local Catholic High School's prom and I even remember the song. Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way."
The only thing my feelble mind can remember after that was driving to Morehead Minnesota (by Fargo) and buying my first new guitar, a natural ash hardtail Stratocaster. After that the Jaguar just didn't compare and to this day I cannot remember what I did with that Jaguar. I'm sure that today even for a Jag that has been refinished it would still be worth more than my whole collection today is worth. I secretly hope that after all this time that it has been stored under somebodys bed in my hometown and is waiting for me to rediscover it and tell it how sorry I was to forsake it for "sigh" another guitar. Then there was the 63 Duo Sonic...

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Hey Spud what a cool photo to have ,,, i certainly remember the catholic school dances .... maybe the Jag is under the bleachers or behind the stage somewhere , great story and you never know maybe one day the guy you lent it to 30 years ago will figure out that you need it back ...i'd love to have my first guitar back , no big shakes realy just a sears catalog silvertone i remember how big that neck felt in my hands trying to make a f chord , i can still smell the box that guitar came in ... 6S9L

[Robert]

Many moons ago, I had a cool-looking, black Les Paul, made by some obscure company who's name I am not sure of. I think it might have been a Stagg. It was a crappy guitar, but still cool. I wish I'd kept it. I tried to learn Randy Rhoads licks on it (without success, I should add). It had gold plated hardware. Ahh, I wish I'd kept it!

[marnold]

I wish I still had my circa 1988 Peavey P-bass. I think the model name was "Fury." I sold it in 1994 thinking I'd never play it again. Stoo-pid. Of course, now I wish I had my bass. It was red with a white pickguard and a maple fretboard.

[Spudman]

6S9L
"Smell of the box"?! I'm crying now. Waaaayyyy too heavy on the memories. I can still remember the glue smell from the homemade cabinets we used too. Someone get me a big fluffy pillow. I'm gonna have a melt down.

Who would have thought that so much could be attached to a lil' ol' geetar? This is the stuff songs are made of. John Hiatt, "Perfectly Good Guitar" has some competition coming.

[Katastrophe]

Yep, got one myself... My first electric guitar was from Sears. I also had an amp from Sears that weighed a ton. With the cheap, no name overdrive pedal I had I could get the coolest 60's fuzz tone out of that rig. Sounded great, with good sustain. Went to the music store one day to get the plastic nut replaced, and the repair guy cracked the neck up near the nut, trying to get the super glued nut out. He fixed it with epoxy, and I was too young and stupid to complain about it. Stripped the body on the guitar, wanting to get a new neck and pups for it, and keep it as a beater/backup. The body was plywood, so I didn't keep it. I wish that I had, just because of the nostalgia value, and from all the fun I had as a kid jamming with friends. bought a Maico after that, and don't miss that piece of firewood at all.

The Ibanez was my first, real professional level guitar, and as much as I've grown to loathe Floyd tremelos, I'll never get rid of it. Paint is starting to chip in various places, and it needs a refret pretty badly, but it's staying in the arsenal!:D

[Tone2TheBone]

I will always miss my beloved 70s Les Paul Standard in tobacco sunburst. It was stolen from our apartment when I was going to tech school. I could have killed that day. :(