I'm Torn...

[CudBucket]

I'm awaiting delivery of my 2nd EBMM, a Luke. I've been so blown away by the last few Ernie Balls I've played that I'm already eye-balling another Petrucci and maybe an Axis or Silo.

The problem is that I'm debating wether or not I should sell my 79 Les Paul Custom to finance some of that. I bought it new when I was 14 and had a Kahler locking trem installed in the early 80's. I don't play it anymore because it's so unlike anything I like these days but it still has a ton of sentimental value.

I really don't have to sell the LP because I've got some side-work lined up that'll earn me some gear money but it seems like a waste to have it sit there.

Anyone here sell an "old friend"?

Dave

 

[beej]

Yeah, that really is a tough question. Only good answer is to consider how you'll feel in a few years when you no longer have it; whether you'll regret it or not.

My stance is usually to hold onto gear until I need the money. You can always sell it down the road if you need the cash. But you can't get it back again.

So if it were me, I'd hold onto it. Put it in the case, or better yet up on the wall in your office, etc. Feel warm and fuzzy to look at it and know you still have it. (And yeah, I've done the same thing!)

 

[NorM]

I sold a G!8$0n to finance my first Morse. I have never regretted it.

 

[Tim O'Sullivan]

I have exactly the same problem! I have just seen a green Axis on ebay that I really want to have! Its made even more attractive that I am going to the States in under 2 weeks, and I could probably pick it up, or at least have it delivered to Virginia so I could bring it home myself. I have a Guild Brian May guitar that I never use. In fact its not been out of the case in about 3 months! Brian May is my guitar hero, always has been, always will be. But I just cant play this guitar, its too odd! Should I sell it, get the green Axis, or keep it? I might regret it someway along the line, but at least I can get a cheap £500 Burns 'May if I ever want that May vibe again (plus they actually sound and play better than my Guild!)

Non biased advice please!

P.S. Keep the Les Paul. I have my old Aria, my first good guitar, and could not part with it!

 

[kbaim]

Nobrainer. If you don't need the money and it has such sentimental value. DON'T SELL.

Better to one day GIVE to a close family member so you can relive lots of good memories by retelling stories of it.

 

[brentrocks]

Nobrainer. If you don't need the money and it has such sentimental value. DON'T SELL.

that is what i would say too!

 

[glockaxis]

I started off like many in that when I was younger I bought what I could afford--------cheap guitars. Once I got a job I then put my money toward better equipment that I'll probably never get rid of. I was thinking of getting rid of my G&L Legacy strat in lieu of just getting the Luke, but I decided that this is a good quality strat and I will use it somewhere down the line. It's paid off and I won't be making any money on it, so why sell it?

Now, I'm a pack rat who believes that every little thing has sentimantal value, so I tend to sell/donate to family members and friends just so I know that the instrument is close by. Keep your Gibson, it might still inspire a song when you're thinking about the "old days."

 

[fogman]

Question: Is this your first guitar? If so, keep it! End of storey.

If it's not, but still has sentimental value and you don't need the money, then just hold on to it. My wife and I have a general rule to avoid being packrats for nothing: If you have'nt used it in a year's time, then get rid of it!!
A year is a good grace period. If you haven't touched it in a year then you're unlikely to touch it anytime after that. Then it just takes space is being wasted whereas someone else could be better appreciating it and using it!

My 3 cents!

 

[ripley]

Anyone here sell an "old friend"?

Dave

I never could do it. with the exception of a few, I have every guitar I ever bought that I care about. here or there you buy stuff sometimes "just because it's different" or because you think you'll use it for something then never touch it again... so those end up getting swapped around for other stuff, but even if it collects dust, if you're attached to a guitar emotionally: never sell it. once it's gone you'll play hell trying to get it back. and besides, it's not like you're a drummer keeping every full kit you ever owned, right? guitar fin in the nicest places... backs of closets, under beds, under sofas...

I'm for hording guitars. no matter how obscure, bizarre, or useless... just ask my pink peavey milestone, my kahler equiped hamer steve stevens, my yamaha pacifica tele with steinberger gearless tuners and bartolini pickups, and my original, mint ovation viper... it sounds like a potato with tele pickups. at some point before I die, I MAY have a use for any or all of these, and if I didn't keep them stashed under my bed, some teenager would just break them on stage.

 

[koogie2k]

Cud.....I was in the same situation. I have a very custom Ibanez that is very "sentimental" to me. I kept it and have no intent on selling it. I thought about it once, but it was a gift from my wife and it is a special axe. I don't play it....once in a while she will come out of the case....just to make sure all is well...... and back in she goes.

I say, you should keep the axe. No need to sell it if you really don't have to.

 

[Colin]

I still have my first guitar and would never sell it (nobody would want it), I don't even know where it is to be honest. It's downstairs somewhere.

Colin

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Dave,

I bleeb you've mentioned this thought before, I must say that my recommendation is to keep the guitar. My very first electric I sold because it was a POS Aria Pro II. A long time ago in a galaxy not too far away, I bought an '87 Kramer with a floating Floyd HSS, and I loved it. I've needed cash a few times since then, but I knew that I would kick myself years later if I were to sell it. I've since replaced the trem with a new Floyd unit, changed the neck coil, and had it refretted. It's still a blast to play even though it doesn't come out as often. It has lots of sentimental value to me, being the guitar I used at my band's first gig, wrote/recorded original songs with, etc etc etc.

Keep it, save up, and buy what you want sometime in the future.

Shoot me an email if you get the chance, gots somethin to chat with you about. [email protected]

 

[tommyindelaware]

I'm awaiting delivery of my 2nd EBMM, a Luke. I've been so blown away by the last few Ernie Balls I've played that I'm already eye-balling another Petrucci and maybe an Axis or Silo.

The problem is that I'm debating wether or not I should sell my 79 Les Paul Custom to finance some of that. I bought it new when I was 14 and had a Kahler locking trem installed in the early 80's. I don't play it anymore because it's so unlike anything I like these days but it still has a ton of sentimental value.

I really don't have to sell the LP because I've got some side-work lined up that'll earn me some gear money but it seems like a waste to have it sit there.

Anyone here sell an "old friend"?

Dave

seems to me that it would be much more valueable to u than anyone else since it IS "an old friend".......youd probably regret selling it.
on the market i'm guessing it's not worth all that much due to the drastic mod.

 

[scottie]

Hey cudbucket,

I say keep it. But, I can be a bit of a pack rat sometimes.
I still have my first "real" guitar: A 1984 Ibanez Road Star II (about the only thing left stock on it was the body and kneck. I spent my youth putting all my hard earned cash adding numerous upgrades to a $400 guitar! File that under: seemed like a good idea at the time...) Don't play it much but don't have the heart to get rid of it.

Take care,

--scottie

PS: How'd that homemade guitar project of yours turn out? Haven't heard much about it lately.

 

[Toto Head]

I am going against the flow here.

If I do not play it, it goes. I have sold some great guitars, in fact one of my favorites is going tomorrow in order to finance the LUKE I have on order. I love guitars and playing them, but I really only need one but I keep two at all times. It would be great to have a guitar to suit all of my moods and musical tastes, but it just does not go that way for me. I like using whatever I have and try to get it to suit the style I am after. If I am after some fat jazz tones, it really comes down to me, and how I sound through whatever guitar I am playing through at the time.

I recently made a list of the guitars I bought and sold and I was surprised with how many were on the list. I think back to few of those, and think "I really liked that one."

All tht being said, the road I have gone down has led me to here to where I am right now and the guitars I play now, and I am content with that.

My wife and I have the same policy s fogman's. If we re not going to use it, it goes.

 

[GWDavis28]

Dave hang on to it for a while and see if you feel the same way in say 6 months. If it hasn't been played and you feel that it's something you can let go, test the EvilBay waters.

Glenn |B)

 

[SteveB]

Cud: keep the LP.

Tim: sell the Brian May.

These are just my opinions.

 

[CudBucket]

I really appreciate everyone's opinion here. Thanks! Last night, I talked to the wife about it and got into a "History Of CudBucket's Gear". By the time I was done, I knew I couldn't sell it. I have friends and former bandmates that would kill me if I did it. During XMas 2004, I brought my Petrucci to a friends house to jam. I hadn't played with him in 15 years. After we were done, he said: "That Petrucci is gorgeous but you look strange playing anything but "that" Les Paul".

It stays. I'm still getting two more EBMMs this year though!

 

[kbaim]

Hip Hip Hooray!

 

[Jonny Dubai]

Another happy ending. Keep the LP and get a fret job on it. It will play like a different guitar.

Tim---sell tha May and go Green Balls to the wall. Amazing guitand and i will be green with NV!

Jonny