The One that Got Away (Musical Instruments that Aren't Coming Back to You)

[WarpCanada]

I was just telling a story in another thread about the guitar I bought one day while hanging out with my dear departed grandmother.  And I was thinking of another guitar in my family history, that I am sad I never got to see.  So that gave me a THREAD idea.

Tell us about a musical instrument that either you once had and sold, and now regret selling, or had and lost or lent, and now would give anything to get back, but it's not coming back, or, as in my story, where you know that this instrument existed and belonged to a relative or an ancestor of yours that you would have loved to have come down to you, but never did.

So here's  my story.  My Grandfather was a Dutchman, born in the Netherlands and he came here as a child.  He spoke broken english, and had no education to speak of, and had a thick Dutch Accent.  Canadians then, as were most people, were pretty racist, and if you spoke with an accent they looked down on you.   My grandfather worked odd jobs, he was a milkman, a school janitor, and a photographer, but the most interesting thing (to me) that he did was he was a musician. He played guitar and sang Cowboy songs of the 1940s/1950s, as far as I know, mostly covers. He used the stage name "Roaming Pete", and as was the fashion at bars/saloons in Toronto Canada at that time, you would often dress up in wildly impractical cowboy attire, chaps and all, to sell the cowboy image.  Anyways, Grandpa had a guitar, we think it was a pre-war Gibson acoustic guitar, and it would be worth a fortune in today's money, but Grandpa sold it for not much money, in the 1970s when he no longer performed, and no longer played, a few years before his death.  Boy would I have loved to have even held that guitar even once, and played it,  it is not that I wish I could own it (it would be worth a LOT of money) it's just that I'd like to touch that piece of my families history.  But it's gone, and we could never find it.

Here's the only picture I have that I know of that shows my Grandpa in his musical duds.  We have no recordings of him, but some might exist as apparently he did play on some "hootenanny" type shows that may have been broadcast by our Canadian public radio system (CBC).  There was a very popular show on CBC called "The Happy Gang" which was on the air from the late 1930s until 1959, and my Grandfather probably appeared on that show multiple times.



Looking at the guitar in the picture, I don't think it's actually a Gibson.   I suspect the guitar in the picture above is an inexpensive brand of guitar, probably a nylon string classical guitar.  I would absolutely LOVE to own, or be able to hold onto the guitar in that picture, that my grandfather had, which looks like someone glued a homemade buckskin pickguard onto it.

[Hilary]

What an amazing photo!

I'm just listening to this - 1956, I really hope Roaming Pete is on it!

There are a few on Youtube - I'm assuming you've listened to them all??


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIYVnDac-lo

[Farrell Jackson]

Well I've only had one that got away and it was a 1968 Vox teardrop bass, wine red. I bought it new as my primary instrument but soon switched to guitar. Since there was no need for the bass and case, I traded it for 2 x12" extension speaker cabinet. Probably a $100 deal. I've regretted it since but learned my lesson. I've not traded or sold any instrument since.

That is a great story about your grandfather and his guitar!

Farrell

[Mike_S]

That's a great story Warren. What a guitar that would have been to have even held like you say. The history would have just poured out of that old Gibson. The only instrument I have really regretted selling was an Epiphone Custom Les Paul, beautiful black colour with lovely binding and looking back I think the sound was beautiful. Clear as a bell even when strummed without being plugged in. Sold it as I needed the extra money when living in London (about 20 years ago). Was sad to see it go.

The other thing I sold that I regret, but really had no choice was an old JCM 800 Marshall Combo. Boy did that sound good.

Mike

[chapperz66]

I have bought and sold quite a few guitars in my time, but the one I most regret selling is my first Fender - a mid seventies tele deluxe.  It had the best Fender neck I have ever played.





I was about 15 in this picture and this was my first gigging band, pictured here at the British Legion Club in Edmonton (North London not Canada) .  My dad signed the hire purchase agreement for me to get the guitar and I had two after school jobs to pay him back.  In fact my long suffering dad almost certainly drove me to and from the gig.

Some weapons-grade flares going on here on my rather fetching cream 3 piece suit.  Well it was early seventies....
As a bit of trivia, the bloke standing to my right with the Les Paul is Ray Santilli who reached some notoriety as he was at the centre of the Alien Autopsy story and was played by either Ant or Dec in the film of the same name.

[StephenM]

I really love seeing this photo and hearing the story about it.... I have like maybe one old one... I like the fact that we get to see the young you and yes, the style was very different back then.....What kind of stuff were you playing there, do you remember?
I had a 1980 Gibson Les Paul that I should never have sold....oh well... painful lessons

oops I didn't notice the whole thread.... just Pauls part (Chapper) so this is a response to his thing... yeah... I have a picture and a story...will post later.

[Jean Pierre]

I currently have  about twenty guitars, the number of guitars I've had and sold since my first guitar ... I can't tell.... But the one I regret the most...wasn't mine! It was lent to me and unfortunately I gave it back...
it was a Gretch Model Chet Atkins guitar, in 1965 it was impossible to find such a guitar in France (not imported)
How did its owner (the very rich guitarist of a rival band in my area) get it? I don't know, in any case he forgot it in my car one night while I was drinking; I kept it for maybe a month and with remorse I returned it.
It's a vintage guitar that is now worth its weight in gold (one sold on amazone 10 000 euros!).

we see it at 58 seconds in the video



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9rh9btAIhY

[Blooby]

I am not haunted by a guitar, Rather, I never should have sold my first amp that my dad purchased for me.  Just a solid state beast, but I loved its clean sound. I has a DS-1 and a Tube Screamer, and it sounded great to my ears. I remember when I got my first tube amp, I couldn't get used to the sag initially.

I know Mike Stern used them for a spell, and there have been some sites that said Pat Martino and Robben Ford dabbled with them. I doubt the latter as he has had his Dumble for a looonnnggg time.

Blooby

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

Great thread and like a good musicians I bought and sold as my financial standing ebbed and flowed. I sold a Gibson Melody Maker that was an absolutely bugger to tune up and I hadn't got the money to get a luthier to sort it out. It sounded great through a little Fender Tremolux but the guitar I most regret not having any more was a very early Fender Jaguar that was a dream to play. Now I just get another wall hanger although I am running out of wall. Willie

[WarpCanada]

I have always wanted a Gretsch, maybe a Chet Atkins, maybe a White Falcon.

I think that something with Gretsch on the headstock is in my future, or maybe a 12 string Rickenbacker electric.... Oh so hard to choose.