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Do you recall "The One that Got Away"?

#61
There are many of these in my decades of instrument collection. The most recent was here on TB about a year or two ago. I sold my Moog Taurus, as I was no longer touring with it, and made a pretty good chunk of change. I told myself I was going to buy a really nice bass with that money. I looked at all kinds of listings. But there was this beautiful Sandberg Patchwork listed here. I’ve seen many of their patchwork models, but this was the most beautiful I’d ever seen. It hit all my checkboxes. Began talking with the seller- super great TB’er. We negotiate close to each other, but we’re about $2-300 apart on price. We kinda hit a stalling point. I decided to think it over. While I was, an incredible deal came up on a 50s Am Original P, and I jumped on it. Paid about a third of what the Sandberg was gonna cost me, and got to utilize the extra funds for “real life Adulting.” I kept looking in on the Sandberg ad, and it stayed up for quite awhile. A few months back, I had the funds to pick it up, and I said “eff it, let’s hit the guy up.” But when I clicked on the listing, it had been sold. I was pretty bummed out about it. I definitely should’ve bought it back then. As much as my 50s P has become one of my main stable horses, I could’ve grabbed one down the line. Probably won’t see that bass for sale ever again. Not having a car payment anymore is nice though. Oh well, c’est la vie.
 
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#62
drjlux said:
Before discovering reverb.com I was regularly going through the bass guitar listings on ebay when, one evening, I came upon this uniquely natural yellow stained (as I thought) precision bodied bass listed out of Australia. Turns out the body wood wasn't stained at all but got its beautiful golden look from its Huon Pine, a protected wood from the Tasmanian Rainforest area of Australia. Reasonably priced, it seems like I thought about it throughout the night with the idea of purchasing it first thing in the morning. Much to my sadness....it had sold. Making it worse, still haven't seen anything like that since.....the one that got away.
Click to expand...
Not too many, Lucky I got most of them,but That 1! Ihad just read an article in bass player the Bassist, IDR, said get an old 60's beatle bass copy! They are awesome!" so I found 1, that night! A little over price & needing some work it was a beauty! different from the rest of the fodder on ebay. it was dark green dyed & a little more stylized than the field! deeper cuts or more defined or exaggerated& kinda pointy/ sharp , but not a "Metal" type Pointy. Just sharp, crisp corners, nit not spiky dangerous ends! I thought that since it was not typical & needed some love or light repairs. it wouldn't get much attention, I made my bid, but didnt keep a close eye on it. in fact I might have forgot to keep trackn of the auction even though I made a good sized bid, or a bid larger than I usually would for a fixer upper! About a week later I got that email,"You Lost your Bid!" :woot: OMG! I went in to see the bidding went kinda nuts then shot up over my large Bid, at the tail end of the auction, as they do! I instantly felt the lossof having that one get away! it sold for $50 more than my bid, I would have easily bid more.I thought "Oh well the'll be more, next Time."but Alas, Inever saw 1 Again! It started gas pangs for other basses! for some reason it evoled into gassing for an G&L ASAT & Fender Telebass! which were acquired much later! still looking for that bass though.:roflmao::)
 
#64
In the early days of eBay there was a 1967 Telecaster Bass with a maple cap neck and the pieced together logo decal with the body finished in Sherwood green. It went for around $1,300 which seemed like an insane price to send to a stranger from the internet. So that one got away.
 
#65
It was about ‘95 and in a Music Store in San Antonio, TX (Krazy Kat) was a really nice late 70s Jazz bass in a Sunburst finish. They wanted $1,100 for it! I was a teenager (& a devout Marcus Miller fan) barely out of high school and man I wanted the bass but $1,100 was a lot back then. I was able to get a ‘77 back in 2010 for about that price and since then moved on but I still do think about that bass every now & then.

Considering how overpriced almost everything is these days I think anything I didn’t buy 10 years ago easily qualifies as a missed opportunity!
 
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#66
Not a bass, but I keep missing out on chances to buy a used Ampeg V-4B. They tend to be around $850 used. But because I rarely have $850 I can just drop I need a local GC to have one I can put on layaway. That's actually happened twice. But both times I was flat broke. Didn't even have the 25% to put down.
 
#67
Find a nice light colored body and stain it with tumeric powder. Mix it with just enough water to turn it into a paste. Wipe on, wipe off. Here is my Peavey G Bass with a basswood body, finished with Tru Oil.
PXL_20220213_032957764.jpg
PXL_20220213_033053079.jpg
 
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#69
The one that got away was a guitar...

I was in a band with a guy who got one of the first batch of EVH Musicman guitars. They were my dream guitar. The band never went anywhere and split up. IT was all amicable, but I didn't stay in touch. Then one day I saw an add for someone selling an EVH Musicman, and another guitar I knew he owned, so I instantly knew it was his. Double check the phone number and yes - definitely that guitar... for £800... and I knew he was the sort of guy who'd take a bit more off that if I asked...

I knew it was a killer deal, even at £800, and it was the guitar I wanted more than any other... but I don't really play guitar. Like a lot of people here I can play basic guitar, but its not my main instrument. I had a very expensive bass, I'd just bought a house, and while I COULD have scraped together that kind of money, it was a lot for me to find in '93. I knew I couldn't justify spending basically all the money I had on a guitar that I wasn't going to play much, just because I thought it would be cool to have it.

That guitar will be worth at least £4000 now if you could find one. But its not the money, cause I still want that guitar. I've got an AX40 which is about as close as I'm going to get, and its a lovely guitar. I'd probably not be able to tell the difference, as I'm still not much of a guitarist, but my wife is sick and tired of hearing the story of the one that got away!
 
#71
I spent a couple weeks deciding if I wanted this model Travis Bean guitar which was in a pawn shop listed for $200. By the time I had convinced myself I wanted it it was gone.
They now sell for 8 or 9 thousand dollars if you can find them.
jugt9afj4bsgrjdka1bh.jpg


My avatar bass was something I really wanted when I was starting out but a friend talked me out of and he was right too. It would have been a mistake and I bought a '73 4001 instead. I thought about that bass for 40 years or so until I tracked one down.

IMG_0308.jpg
 
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#75
Mine doesn’t count but I found a 60’s Gibson Melody Maker and Vox AC30 on Craigslist for 300 total. I hesitated and they were gone 2 hours later. As far as bass stuff probably an 70’s stingray in a pawn shop for 800…. I had no way of getting it home from where I was on vacation and my wife was watching me….
 
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#77
drjlux said:
Before discovering reverb.com I was regularly going through the bass guitar listings on ebay when, one evening, I came upon this uniquely natural yellow stained (as I thought) precision bodied bass listed out of Australia. Turns out the body wood wasn't stained at all but got its beautiful golden look from its Huon Pine, a protected wood from the Tasmanian Rainforest area of Australia. Reasonably priced, it seems like I thought about it throughout the night with the idea of purchasing it first thing in the morning. Much to my sadness....it had sold. Making it worse, still haven't seen anything like that since.....the one that got away.
Click to expand...
I can think of two. The first was a really nice early 70s Fender Jazz bass I was buying from a TB’er, but he found another buyer who would pay him right away (I asked for two weeks) so at his request I said he could return my deposit and sell it to the guy. The second time was a vintage Ampeg scroll bass that I was trying to buy and thought we had a deal but the seller went MIA.
 
#78
So, I once owned a 1966 Fender Jazz Bass with lollypop tuners and clay dots. I sold it to get a G&L 1000, big mistake. But Que Sara Sara. The one that I really should have got a loan for was a 1960 ( Concentric Pot) Fender Jazz that was selling
for $4,000.00 here many years ago. At the time Alembic's were only @ $2,000.00. So it seemed incredibly overpriced, little did I know that it was one of the most sought after basses of all time
 
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#79
I had a fretless Ibanez EX... It was smooth as butter but ugly as sin. It was lost in a complex tale where I was being held hostage in Southern California... I ended up trading it and a 6 string Soundgear for the return of my car and gas money to drive back to Massachusetts.
(The Ibanez EX is the white bass with all the stickers in the upper right and bottom left photos)

Practice.jpg

Like I said it was ugly, but it played so nice. The Red Ibanez CT was traded to get the Soundgear... It was ok.
 
#80
YES!!!!! The year was 2013 and I was 16! I had an Epiphone Viola Bass (still do, long story but it's coming) That summer I worked at at Subway, made ok money. My local guitar shop, Mammoth Music, had a GORGEOUS Squier Classic Vibe 60s Precision in FIESTA RED with the TORT GUARD for $250!!! The Pino special on a budget!!!

Well, I wasn't bonding with the Viola Bass at that time, and did a partial trade on the Squier Precision, INSTEAD OF DOING LAYAWAY. For the next couple months, I LOVED the Precision, but had HORRIBLE seller's remorse! To the point of having sleepless nights thinking of that Viola Bass. Eventually I took the Precision BACK and had to do a PARTIAL TRADE and cash payment to get my Duchess (the Viola) back.... Initially there was no lost sleep over the "Just another Squier"...But nearly 10 years, the scarcity of FIESTA RED and subsequent increase in value have made me regret NOT BUYING THE BASS ON LAYAWAY from the start!!!!
 
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