• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Seller's Remorse - what's your tale?

only guitars, but I have a bunch.

1) Jackson SL1- when I got this guitar they were $999 new. Sold it to buy an SG.
2) Fender Highway One Texas Telecaster - sold to help pay for grad school. actually reached out to the guy i sold it to to try to buy it back, i just asked if he still had it... he did and sent me a bunch of pictures enjoying it and so I didn't have the heart to make him an offer, at least it was good hands
3) Gibson Lucille (Red)- Sold this one to fund my Les Paul, which I am *thrilled* and wouldn't trade back for the Lucille, but I wish I had both
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigBluez
From the "Absolute shame" files...
I had a gorgeous 1991 Musicman Stingray. It was pristine. Ash body, maple neck, it was awesome.
But as things were in 2000 or so, I was more into 5 string and even beyond, so that bass was a closet queen. Being the absolute moron that I was at 20 years old, I got the GAS for a bass that appealed to me at the time and decided I should sell that MM to pay for this new bass.
The bass in question: Conklin GT7.

wow.gif


Sold off an absolute work of art for one of the lamest excuses of - oh wait, I can't rag on it, per the rules. But the point is, I was an idiot and if I could go back in time and beat my own ass like a rented mule, I would.

The good news though, I eventually got an 89 Stingray 5 that makes me happy to this day, so I'm not as upset as I once was.

Quickfire regrets, too:
- Every Status bass I ever owned
- Every 80s Ibanez I ever owned (and they all cost me near nothing, which kills me)
- The Warwick Fortress Masterman 5 that my dad bought me when I was 17
- Most Modulus basses I had
- Steinberger XQ 5 string that cost very little and I was stoked to double my money at the time
- NOT buying the Steinberger XL2 I could have bought for $400 (long ago)
 
Did you ever sell a bass only to have it haunt your dreams? I had a Reverend Decision bass years ago. I sold it because (I'm stupid and) it didn't fit the vibe of the band I was in. Here I am, years later, and I have left the band. And guess what? I just bought a Reverend Decision bass. What's your tale?

The only piece of gear I regret selling was my Hiwatt Custom 100 head, but that was 47 years ago. I will say this, I got a lot of use out of the Cherry Les Paul I got for it, the cash that also came on the deal paid of a fairly large game at a local music store, not to mention the EVM 12 I used in an Ampeg guitar combo for 40 years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigBluez
Did you ever sell a bass only to have it haunt your dreams? I had a Reverend Decision bass years ago. I sold it because (I'm stupid and) it didn't fit the vibe of the band I was in. Here I am, years later, and I have left the band. And guess what? I just bought a Reverend Decision bass. What's your tale?


2 of them in '89 or '90'ish
A Status bass and a Kubicki Factor. Both were so freakin' cool and sounded amazing.
The growl on that Status made a Jazz seem so tame when you dug into it.

I really don't sell basses since then.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigBluez
Did you ever sell a bass only to have it haunt your dreams? I had a Reverend Decision bass years ago. I sold it because (I'm stupid and) it didn't fit the vibe of the band I was in. Here I am, years later, and I have left the band. And guess what? I just bought a Reverend Decision bass. What's your tale?
I have one that I found on craigslist a couple weeks ago. Dude's trying to sell it for 5 times what he paid me for it. He paid me 60 bucks. He's trying to get 350. I offered him 100 for it back, he said no, he "really needs the money." Tough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigBluez
2006 German Warwick Corvette $$.....easily the most versatile bass I ever had, so very well built, played and sounded top notch....and yet I let it go because I hadn't played in over 10 years and this was my come back bass, and it overwhelmed me....I stupidly thought I needed something much simpler and sold it....a year later however I knew how shortsighted I had been....definitely a huge regret!
 
I have a few basses that I regretted selling, but none more than the 70's Ric 4001 I bought when I was in highschool in the 90's. I saved up for a while to get it. I eventually sold it for financial reasons, and immediately regretted it.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago, I ordered a new 4003w, and I love it. I'm lucky to be able to own a handful of great basses, and I can't imagine letting any of them go now.

Here's pics of the two of them.

View attachment 5458202 View attachment 5458203
That 4003w is one of the best looking Ricks I have ever seen. Well played.
 
Did you ever sell a bass only to have it haunt your dreams? I had a Reverend Decision bass years ago. I sold it because (I'm stupid and) it didn't fit the vibe of the band I was in. Here I am, years later, and I have left the band. And guess what? I just bought a Reverend Decision bass. What's your tale?

Never sold a Bass, however, I do regret selling two of these;

6ab98dcc80m0229Em2pxKEDakaSCnvGZdboWEwYy.jpg

And, I regret selling one of these;

Moog II.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigBluez
The ones without photos:
• A Carvin LB75. It was my first 5-string ever and a reward to myself for coming out on the lucky side of a dangerous incident involving the police and violent ex-felons. Beautiful neck-through, quilted maple everywhere with a nice black stain. Traded it in with a bunch of other stuff to Chicago Music Exchange for a Gibson acoustic guitar as a gift to my father.

• A Fender Custom Shop '55 Precision bass. Amazing instrument with the best tone I'd heard ever for that style of single coil precision basses but the instrument itself was so light (maybe 6.5 lbs) that it neck dove worse than a Thunderbird. Sad to return it to Guitar Center but that's how I met one of my closest friends and dudes I play with sometimes so something great came out of it.

The ones with photos:
IMG_0139.jpeg


• A Mike Lull T5 in Lake Placid Blue. Amazing sounding and looking instrument but the neck was so wide and thick (even at the nut) that it caused physical damage any time I'd play ANYTHING more complicated that Root-5th. By the time I had to have a physical therapist work on my arm and shoulder after a 90min show I knew I had to let this thing go. Sure sad to see it leave since it was made while Mike Lull was alive and in the shop, but it wasn't great enough to permanently damage my arm and hand.


IMG_6478.png


• A 1972 Fender Precision (the only things original left on it is the wood and paint!). This one really hurt! I lucked into this in early 2019 for $500 and an Ampeg Heritage rig I was trying to sell, and my local tech/lutheir brought it back from really bad shape. Had the perfect tone, neck and look for me (I felt like Duck Dunn in The Blues Brothers). Hated to sell it but had to get some cash to pay for a custom Sadowsky. I can't say I totally regret it because I love that Sadowsky more than this '72, but if I could do it over I'd find another solution to come up with that cash as I'll NEVER get a legit vintage Fender bass that cheap again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigBluez
No real regrets, even where I could have sold something for 10 times as much if I held on to it for 20 more years.

But the bass I learned to play on, which my brother actually bought and I ended up trading in on a guitar... it was some Soviet bloc Jazz Bass copy with Fender logo but a lot of obviously fake details, the funniest one being the black pickguard with a thin white line hand-painted around the edge to make it look like a bwb one. I wish I'd held onto that one longer, not so I'd still have it, but at least long enough that it became easier to post photos online and find information about such things. Would be great to figure out its origin, and if there are many others like it. And compare it to a real Fender Jazz, which somehow is something I don't think I've ever actually played in my entire life yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigBluez