Dontcha just hate it when you sell a guitar and think years later, “Why on earth did I do that?” Well, I certainly do. And I’ve unfortunately done this on more than one occasion. I’ve sold my first decent acoustic AND electric guitars. For what?….. I can tell you it was for nothing of any real value.
I first traded my Japanese-made Fender Squire (Candy apple red, painted black) as part of the cost to help myself buy a black Paul Reed Smith McCarty. I “thought” I was buying a significantly better guitar. It was “better” overall, but looking back, it certainly wasn’t worth giving up the first real electric guitar that my Grandfather helped me purchase. He co-signed a $1000 loan for me in 1988-89 for this guitar and a Tascam Porta 05 Four-Track Cassette Recorder (loved that thing too). At any rate, I should’ve held on to both…
I later sold my Sigma Martin acoustic guitar (in 2008?) because “I thought” I was going just to quit playing music altogether – long story. Selling that guitar served as my first experience of buying and selling on eBay. The experience was worth having, that’s for sure (although I can’t really remember the process outright – the selling part).
I’ve unfortunately sold a few others as well, like my Fender Jazzmaster. In this case, I REALLY needed the money, or so I thought I did. Had I waited a few more months, everything would’ve been fine. But it’s gone now…
Acknowledge the Mistake and Move on
Well, too late now… I’ve made several similar mistakes working in the “heat of the moment,” not realizing that I was sacrificing more than just an “object,” a “thing,” but all of the memories that went with it. Again, I learned that I can’t go back in time and retrieve that lost guitar. I just have to “face the music’ (pun intended) and MOVE ON with my life. There are millions upon millions of people in the world with FAR worse problems…
What Are My Options for the Future
One can always buy another (pick your favorite instrument, or item). As much as we tend to like certain guitars in our collection, saying that “only this guitar” can create “that tone” I like so much. In reality, that’s not always 100% true. Most highly sought-after guitar tones can be re-created. If ordinary folks can re-create the tones of very famous players. Then whatever tone I come up with is generic in comparison (in most cases).
There IS NO REPLACING the guitar you (I) let get away. It’s GONE. So, I could continue drowning in my misery, or I could continue attempting to make great music. What’s it going to be?
The music itself “should” be able to hold its own regardless of what instruments are used, if the music, the song, is really that good in the first place. Sure, we as musicians like to associate certain personal instruments with certain pieces of music at times, but our listeners, our friends and family don’t carry that same level of attachment.
How To Prevent Future Regret
The next time I’m tempted to make a decision that involves selling off a “portion of my musical soul,” I will stop and take a really long, deep breath before finalizing that decision. There’s no way to know the future, but I can say it’s making mistakes like this that help me learn. Unfortunately, that’s just the way it is sometimes. There’s no better way to BURN something into your psyche than to realize you’ve made a HUGE mistake, and that ALL of the fault lies 100% with yourself.
Until Next Time,
Featured Image: Me playing my Sigma Martin at Myrtle Beach, SC I think around 1990, or so. I DID use Gemini/Nano B. to “clean up” this old photo without changing the original content. Here’s the prompt I used: “Clean up this photo by sharpening as necessary, leveling out the saturation and contrast and resize proportionately to: 1200×800.” Used the same prompt on the rest of the photos in this gallery (I changed the size on a couple of them).
