Will I regret selling my first “Good” guitar?

[mikbank]

Id like to hear your perspective on this:

Over the last year I’ve been getting back into playing guitar after a break of almost 10 years.

This got started with a Epiphone SG that is on indefinite loan from a friend, and I’ve really been having fun again. I’ve put together a pedalboard and have really gotten “into it”again. The SG sound really fits my playing now, and I have been returning to a Gibson Sg 61 Translucent Teal in a local music shop over and over.

Meanwhile I had my old trusty Classic Player Jazzmaster in storage waiting for me to get around to servicing it (neck was nackered and it somehow ended up with somebody stealing the bridge while I had it at a local venue).

I just got it back from service, set up with .52-.10 strings and adjusted to play in drop C which I mainly do now. ….. and it just doesn’t feel as I remember it. It’s more noisy than the SG, and it doesn’t “Feel at home” as it used to.
Sure the sound is great and big, and I’ve sooo missed the trem, but i *keep* noticing little things that annoys me.

I am REALLY considering selling it, so I can get that sweeet sweeet Teal SG, but will I regret it?
It has been with me since 2009, and was always the center of my sound, but it just doesn’t really feel that way anymore. Should I give it some time?

 

[Wiretap]

If it were something a little more unique and harder to come by, I’d say hold on to it, but since it’s one of the more common Jazzmaster’s out there, sell it and get the SG. I don’t think you’re gonna miss it but if you do, it’s pretty easily replaceable.

 

[Progressive_disclosure]

If it were something a little more unique and harder to come by, I’d say hold on to it, but since it’s one of the more common Jazzmaster’s out there, sell it and get the SG. I don’t think you’re gonna miss it but if you do, it’s pretty easily replaceable.

Agree to this. I had my first ”nice” guitar for way too long, a neck through Ibanez that I never totally bonded with and that was too unique to sell. I didn’t play much for a really long time. Eventually did sell it, got a different guitar and then I’ve been stuck with playing guitar for the last 6 years without tiring.

Sell it and see where it takes you. Life is too short for guitars that don’t feel right!

 

[ragingplatypi]

To play devils advocate, sort of, I say get the SG and keep the Jazzmaster if you can afford to. It’s annoying to have to re-buy a Fender at a higher price years later.

Also playing a new guitar can give you ideas on how to mod an old guitar.

 

[DrewJD82]

I definitely regretted getting rid of my first guitar, period. I still have the first ‘good’ one and that won’t go anywhere for sentimental reasons.

 

[RGB]

Eventually I end up regretting selling just about any gear. Just when you think you'll never need it again...guess what?

 

[AlbertA]

I would say keep it for sentimental reasons - but if those aren’t there then sell it.

What are the current annoyances?

In the past it I was mostly annoyed by issues in fretwork and occasionally h/w (pickups or bridge) - once I learned how to address them most annoyances went away - which is bad because I don’t want to sell anything now

 

[Jarick]

I wish I would have kept (or not butchered) my first good guitar. I do have one guitar I got 30 years ago my mom helped me buy, she was adamant I keep it and not sell it as I sold everything else. Glad I still have that one at least.

So I would vote to keep the guitar even if it's in the background for a while.

 

[Eagle]

Are you sentimental about gear? That the only reason to keep it. Having played for nearly 50 years and owned in excess of 250 guitars over that time I have only regretted selling a couple of them. But I do own a bunch of guitars that I always wanted but either couldn’t afford or find at the time. So maybe that’s my version of sentimental. I also try to get “the” example of a particular instrument in terms of playing and sound. My Suhr Modern for example is a very simple painted white alder version but it plays perfectly and sounds better than any other Modern I have tried. It stays until I find a better one.

 

[Solarflares]

Funny. My first good guitar was a ‘71 SG Standard in Cherry. Kept it for a year. I was 18. Marshall 100 Superbass.
Lovely guitar. But I met a guy that did all the 70’s rock stuff and Hendrix really well, and he had a ‘61 Strat.
I was straight down London, and traded the SG + £40 for a 1976 sunburst Strat and a ‘67 Fuzz Face.

I never regretted ditching the SG, but later realised that my first Strat wasn’t a particularly good one.
Had two others, but still not completely happy, and yearned for a pre-cbs to be honest, but prices started to soar.
In ‘79 I had the chance to build one Strat out of 6 guitars. That was when I truly found my first real instrument.
A ‘78 rosewood neck on a thick-poly black ‘79 body. Very low profile. Wonderful sustain.
That guitar stayed with me until in ‘87 I built two Performance guitars - one with the ‘79 body.
Played nothing else since (although I’ve owned two PRS for teaching).

 

[Jynx]

I definitely regretted selling my Schecter SLS Elite.

So much so that I bought an SLS Hollywood, which arrives tomorrow.

Same specs really. Just with branded tuners and more wiring options on the Fishman Moderns. Including single-coil and out of phase. And a sparkly, purple finish.

 

[Steinmetzify]

Agree with what pretty much everyone else said on both sides.

I’d try and figure out what annoys you about it and if you can change those things enough to warrant keeping it, do so. If not, let it go. There’s almost no use keeping a guitar you don’t ever play, aside from sentimental value. I rebought a guitar that I’d given a friend to help him get started playing guitar almost 25 years ago, just because it was unique and neither one of us knew enough about gear at the time to notice. It was a weird Tesico SG/Viper shape with a ton of tonal options that I still play to this day.

I’ve sold things and rebought them years later at MUCH higher prices and it sucks.

The only time I’ve not regretted letting go of gear was giving it to someone that needed it and couldn’t afford it (buddies in bands that tour and have kids etc).

 

[Rocco Crocco]

My first good guitar was a 1982 Ibanez Destroyer II, which I sold around 1990. Wish I still had it.

Me circa 1984

 

[Devin]

I would say yes


I know I certainly do

 

[Hammerhead]

I miss a Carlo Robelli Les Paul that I sold in 77. Nice Guitar. But there are so many great options and brands today. Just build your ideal collection.

 

[dignlivn]

Yes

 

[GLiDE-BPM]

Id like to hear your perspective on this:

Over the last year I’ve been getting back into playing guitar after a break of almost 10 years.

This got started with a Epiphone SG that is on indefinite loan from a friend, and I’ve really been having fun again. I’ve put together a pedalboard and have really gotten “into it”again. The SG sound really fits my playing now, and I have been returning to a Gibson Sg 61 Translucent Teal in a local music shop over and over.

Meanwhile I had my old trusty Classic Player Jazzmaster in storage waiting for me to get around to servicing it (neck was nackered and it somehow ended up with somebody stealing the bridge while I had it at a local venue).

I just got it back from service, set up with .52-.10 strings and adjusted to play in drop C which I mainly do now. ….. and it just doesn’t feel as I remember it. It’s more noisy than the SG, and it doesn’t “Feel at home” as it used to.
Sure the sound is great and big, and I’ve sooo missed the trem, but i *keep* noticing little things that annoys me.

I am REALLY considering selling it, so I can get that sweeet sweeet Teal SG, but will I regret it?
It has been with me since 2009, and was always the center of my sound, but it just doesn’t really feel that way anymore. Should I give it some time?
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