What I should have invested in!

[Bret4207]

So last night I was cruising Craigs List looking for a replacement 'Burb. Someone had accidentally, I assume, put an ad for a guitar in the car section. It was a nice Gretsch Electromatic. No price, but a guy at our church plays one, so I got to wondering. Went to a couple of my old musical supply houses. Friends, what I should have done instead of spending years as a crime fighting super hero was to hit every pawn shop I could find back in the late 70's/early 80's and bought all those Gibsons, Fenders, Gretsch and Martins I could have picked up for $75-150.00 and hung onto them. I saw a Gibson ES 355 just like the one I passed on for $85.00 at Cherry Point back in '80 with a price of $9,000.00! I can't remember all the prices but I'm not exaggerating when I say a guy with a couple grand and good eye back then could easily be pretty much a millionaire today. One Gibson I looked at that I know for a fact I could have picked up 2 or 3 of in the $100-125.00 range was north of $15K!!!

I'm a dinosaur.

 

[Cherokee]

Yea, I know the story. There was that 500 ac of land I could have bought for $1/ac, that became a shopping center, and a few other missed opportunities in my 77 years. It's OK, God took real good care of me anyway. It's amazing what some old common things are worth today.

 

[Intheshop]

One of my M/C buds got his PHd in music and played backup guitar as a studio musician on some pretty famous rock albums.....

He's our age so has been a pro for about 40 years. His guitar collection is staggering. He used to spend right much time here in between "gigs" during the riding season.

My boys were little then and they still talk about George playing acoustic renditions in the back room( big high ceiling) while they were falling asleep. His stairway to heaven was always their favorite..... downright chilling.

There's a good utube vid on the history of Martin guitars,easy to find.

 

[popper]

Yrs ago I saw a Mosrite like mine for 3k$. Silly. Buddy had the Gretch in school, little to tinkly for me but great for country style. Kicked myself for passing on a 300$ american tele in great shape. Most are made in china now, a few of the jap models are decent.
Buddy of mine in H.S. - still at it but a little weird now.

Chris Ruhe's Official Web Site

 

[Ian]

My wife just had a 1969 Gibson electric guitar (I forget what model) valued at the antiques road show last weekend, estimated $5500 with a bowed neck. I should have looked at it before she took it and worked the tension rod a little. Dad has a veritible fortune in older, excellent condition, desirable models....and no kids who play.

 

[RBHarter]

I never missed much in music 7 yr of band in school 3 of marching in the fall and concert in the spring and I had had about all the music I wanted .......... I still would like to play some acoustic guitar but the urge fades pretty fast when I realize I can't hear the tuners anymore . Same thing with piano .

Now the one time I really missed the boat on and should have sla........ Yeah well that was a long time ago ...... I should have dropped about $1000 on new pesos when Mexico did the change over . The first 3 days they were 30,000 to $1 and hovered at 3,000 to $1 for about a week after that in 18 months they were down to 3-$1 about where they had been a year before the change . At 300 -$1 it would have been a sweet return ........X1 would have just spent what Uncle didn't get anyway . Good times .

 

[462]

I register below zero on the artistic talent chart. Can't sing, dance, paint, draw, write, nor play any musical instrument. Mrs. Franklin, my 5th grade teacher questioned my attempts to learn the tonette.

 

[Hawk]

I played classical guitar for about 16 years, from about 14 years old until I was 30.
Mostly for fun, friends and family.
Broken fingers in my left hand from an 8 lb. sledge hammer ended all of that.
Never really had a great guitar. Just a couple of Yamahas. About $300.00 each, at that time.

 

[freebullet]

Well, before you know it plastic bumper burbans gunna be all we can get. I'm latching on to metal bumpered units, & I couldn't know or care much less about geetars lol.

 

[Bret4207]

Freebullet, missed a real nice '96 2500 4wd with the 3rd row. Hard to find the older ones up this way without them being rust buckets. I prefer '95 or a little older, that way I avoid the computer emissions test at inspection. You can spend a lot of money chasing OBD codes and still not pass inspection. Looked at Fords, Expeditions and Excursions, but they seem to have a lot of issues and seem to rust 3x faster than anything else, same for the Super Duty trucks. Freakin' salt!

 

[Spindrift]

This is my electric guitar. Many years ago, I had saved the money necessary to get a driver’s licence. I changed my mind, and bought this guitar instead. It is a 40th anniversary american standard stratocaster. It will stay with me the rest of my life. (By the way, I got the driver’s licence eventually )

 

[Ian]

That looks real similar to Mark Knopfler's Strat, the one he used to write "Sultans of Swing". IIRC he re-wired the pickups.

 

[Bret4207]

Nice! I never got the Strat/Telecaster/Les Paul bug. I was always more of a semi hollow body kinda guy. But a to me, in an electric, it's all all in the neck.

 

[waco]

I have a custom shop Epiphone Les Paul and a Shecter C-1 Elite for electric guitars and a nice Martin acoustic. I have been eyeballing an ash bodied Tele.

 

[Pistolero]

Ah, Ian. Sultans of Swing was on my at work rotation on my PC when we could NOT have any
sort of personally owned electronic device in the secure area what. We did figure out that it was
OK to email sound files to ourselves from home and then plug in a personally owned headset and
listen while at work.

That is still on my Accord's USB memstick and a permanent favorite. LOVE that song, great guitar
work.

I had a classmate in HS who was leader of a local band of slight, temporary renown in the late 60s in
suburban Va near DC. It was a very beautiful Gretsch Country Gentleman, and I know squat about
guitars, other than that was one REALLY pretty, fine sounding guitar. I suspect that they are worth
some serious cash these days, too. Old guys who FINALLY can afford that car, gun, or guitar that the
really, really wanted when they were 16 or 18 can now get it, and the hell with the cost.

Bill

 

[Spindrift]

Waco, that is truly beautiful!

 

[Pistolero]

The edge inlays everywhere are awfully fancy! Beautiful top wood, too.

I could buy a guitar like that.....but as Col Cooper once sagely observed. "Owning a guitar
does not make you a musician." Uh, yeah and in my case, painfully obvious. I am a
shooter but no kind of musician. I strum a few chords, but try not to bother other people.

Bill

 

[KeithB]

I’m barely competent to play Pandora...

 

[popper]

Running a line6! Mustang3 here. Line6 bass. ESP LTD 4 & Epi LP pro. Just for my fun. That 62 gibson 125TDS was probably worth something now. That's not a PRS? Sorry Schecter I see. At least not that weird headstock or the funny frets. The old ones had hand wound pups so were very individual. New windings are so specialized you need several for a set.
If I'd just saved the 3 cigar boxes of baseball card (m. m., etc)?

 

[waco]

That's not a PRS?

Nope. It’s a Shecter.