Guitars... what you've got / what you want

this thread is already great--i'm curious about what drove everyone's haves/wants. what motivates someone to get a given guitar is always interesting to me.

I’m dying for a Guild S-300 (not the one with the Dimarzio pickups, the one with the shitty Guild pickups)... in white, if possible.

I have no reason to get another guitar; I already have way more than I can use. But those things look so FUCKING cool, & with the phase-inverter switch I could get the tinny funk tones I want on occasion without any other fuss.

I bought a Guild B-301 a couple of years ago, same body type, roadworn as fuck, a beautiful beast, & I haven’t had any occasion to play it.

I haven’t actually picked up a guitar except strumming a cover or 2 once a month or so since Covid started (except for a couple weeks last fall when indoor gatherings weren’t yet banned, & my keys player & I jammed with a drum machine)

xp I collect Japanese solid bodies mostly, I love how well they’re made and I particularly like getting something a bit cheap or weird and fixing / adjusting until it’s great to play. I also can’t resist something I know to be underpriced compared to its quality. The problem is there’s no endpoint for that kind of process so I have a lot now. Better than collecting cars maybe.

Currently have:

1. 1965(?) Gretsch Corvette, the model with 2 hilotrons. Neck like a baseball bat, fake bigsby only goes down & not up so not super useful for the kind of vibrato you want a bigsby for, lo-output pickups play nicely with my hot little amp (a Tex Bernie CC)

2. Gretsch CVT, the Chinese-made modern version of the Corvette. Neck is wicked, bigsby is great, plays like a dream. Too hot for my amp; I should have just bought a volume pedal instead of the vintage Corvette

3. ESP Hybrid II. Swapped the shitty stock bridge pickup out for a TV Jones & scrapped the neck pickup altogether. Stupid purchase, and it’s a reasonably expensive guitar that nobody wants so I’ll never be able to sell it. It’s nice to play but it’s way more of a lead guitar than a rhythm guitar & I have no chops

4. Gretsch baritone guitar of some description. Was a placeholder for a Reverend Descent when I was in a 2-person band, just drums & bari... band never got off the ground so I don’t have a lot of use for it. Still jonesing for a Reverend Descent tho, for NO GOOD REASON

5. MIM Tele Cabronita. Decent player, lotta raunch. I think I swapped out the stock pickups for TV Joneses? Can’t remember. Didn’t get much stage time since the Corvette(s) came along

6, 7. A couple of shitty cheap Japanese acoustic guitars

Basses:

1. The aforementioned Guild B-301

2. The dumbest purchase I ever made, a 1968/1970 Fender Telecaster bass (one year is the neck, one year is the body but I can’t remember which). Used to belong to Billy Joel’s bassist apparently. Traded a late-70s P-bass plus a whack of cash for this glamourpuss, which looks like a million bucks but just doesn’t have any mojo whatsoever, like dating the most boring model you ever met

Pretty much after I got out of college in the mid 90s, I pretty much have been a gearwhore up til a few years ago, I realized this was nuts. It has taken quite a while to sell off the lot. I actually sold 2 basses, a guitar head, a vintage drum machine and an analog synth today.

I also finalized an order getting this parts guitar put together today, which when it is done I will have 10 instruments (4 basses, 4 electric guitars and 2 acoustics).

guitars...

I got two of other peoples 'failed' parts guitars of fleabay way cheaper than the parts itself would have cost. One is a black 'Gilmour' inspired strat that was wired up all wrong and had a thin neck. I sold the neck off, got a big fat neck made for it. I've had this one a decade now.

The other 'failed' parts guitar was a Warmoth firebird copy body (that they no longer made) that had a single TV Jones Powertron and was painted this ugly white color. I traded a Gibson Flying V (that I had found cheap)and the strat neck to get it repainted and a new neck. The F-bird was a mess as it needed a 'conversion neck'. I got it painted the same color red and the firebird logo from a '74 Transam. It's pretty wicked looking. That said, the neck is not as thick as I was really wanting...so I don't really jive with it like I would like.

The other guitar I have is a 2 Humbucker Tele build that I friend of mine who is a pro luthier put together when he was building out of his house for a few years. It has a pair of Dimarzio zebra humbuckers that I had at one point in a black mexico strat. I've had it also for over a decade now.

basses...

I sold my 78 Pbass and my first year Geddy Lee jazz bass in the past few months. I bought the Pbass for $250 bucks in '91 and a buddy of mine said I paid too much at the time. Could not believe I got $1500 bucks out of GC for the thing...it weighed a metric ton. The Ged I played in the cover band I was in when I first moved to KY.

I got one of those SG reissue basses when they first came out and kinda got hooked on it. I got it and found dirt cheap that Norlin bass I was talking about. Liked the SG one, I ran into one of the guitar of the week sunburst versions - so I got and later on a Thunderbird (Watt/Kim Gordon) that I always wanted. The Firebird is the best 'sounding' bass I got. That said the aircraft carrier case is kinda awkward, so I always dug having the two SG basses. I kinda think humbucker pickups are a bit underrated on basses now. I think they work really well in a trio setup.

acoustics...

I got a mid-70s Alvarez acoustic that I have had probably 15 years or so. It's not a particularly 'loud' acoustic but it has a very sweet sound. I got a used Martin Dx... series acoustic and that one I play ALOT. I love the laminate neck, it is so stable. It has excellent action up the neck.

amps...

I got a couple of Mesa Boogies including a 50 Caliber+ head (knicked named the DOOM BOOGIE) and a Single Rectifier head. I also have a 50 watt'68 silverface Bassmen head. Previous owner had it completely gone over. It's killer for recording Bass and with my Ampeg Scrambler reissue pedal - it sounds DEAD on for Jim McCarty's tone on the early Cactus records.

I have:

1997 Japanese John Jorgenson signature "Hellecaster" (heavy as fuck champagne sparkle/gold strat/G&L Comanche style guitar with Z pickups)

White 90s Japanese Jazzmaster

Teal post-2000-seeming Mexican tele

Want:
A tele that's brighter sounding/a bit less of a slog to play (unless they're all like that, I can't even remember)

A Rickenbacker bass (lol)

I'll probably succumb to the siren call of a Jag at some point in my life but my Jazzmaster is very nice to play so no rush

I've got every piece of music gear (minus the $100 drum set with $150 in new heads that lives in the basement) along one wall in the tiny room that has become my wife's home office over the last year; she gets lots of comments during zoom meetings and has to tell the guys (always guys) that she has no idea about or interest in what is going on behind her.

https://i.postimg.cc/HkrLhkqX/IMG-1139.jpg

1. 1981 Tokai Silver Star, modified with a blend pot instead of the second tone knob and a direct out switch because I hate hitting the volume knob all the time by accident. I posted about this earlier in the thread, never wanted a strat but found this one for pretty cheap and wanted white one with a rosewood fretboard and big 70s headstock (Karoli style?).

2. 1974 Gibson SG. I got this last year right before lockdown. It's in decent shape, I love the skinny neck, and I wanted something from my birth year and this was relatively cheap compared to most other options. I replaced all the pots and capacitors and jack which feels sacrilegious but they were all scratchy and loose but I kept the switch. Ian Mackaye and Carrie Brownstein, some Iommi, not really Angus Young.

3. A 2017 Telecaster Deluxe neck on the routed out body of a 1998 MIM telecaster, with P90s. I had built this with Lace Matt Pike humbuckers and the full 'Jimmy Page' wiring with four push-pull pots but learned I don't like humbuckers that much. I didn't really know these guitars existed til 10 years ago or so and I love the weird hybrid bastardized neck/body combo and 'fuck it just route everything and make a giant pickguard' Fenderness of it.

4. 2014 Epiphone 335 Pro with updated pickups and the Jimmy Page wiring (in a semi-hollow for pure masochism). This was the second electric I got and would probably be the first to go if I was to sell any - I like bright as shit guitars and this one isn't, plus the neck is very square feeling. I honestly don't remember why I wanted to get a semi-hollow - probably some sort of No Age / Bob Weir combination.

5. 1971 Yamaha FG 180 - one of the red label / 'Nippon Gakki' ones that seem to be prized. I got this for $100 a pawn shop. It's not as nice to play as some friend's Martins but it's decent enough.

6. 1998 MIM Telecaster neck and pickups on a wudtone finished GFS swamp ash body. This tele, originally with the black body above, was my first guitar, bought new at a guitar center in Phoenix because of Joe Strummer and Buck Owens and Luther Perkins and Pete Anderson. I owned it for years and didn't play much at all until I got back into it in 2013 or so.

I did the body swap and Tele deluxe spin-off a few years ago on a whim one day after staring at the cover of Born to Run for a while. The body was like $60 and is hilariously cheap with four chunks glued together somewhere in Asia with no concern for matching grains or anything - like the back side looks way better and more cohesive than the front. This has a five-way 'super switch' for phase and series/parallel stuff. If I had to only keep one guitar, this would be it.

7. 2015 Squier Jazzmaster with Fender pickups and a new pickguard. - I got this new in Portland a few years ago at a place that had it priced really cheap and gave me a deal on a case with it and I've wanted one for years due to Elvis Costello, Sonic Youth, Television, Dinosaur JR, etc. I always think I don't really like this one, then I play something like 'Divine Intervention' by Matthew Sweet on it and love it again.

8. 2013 MIM 50s Lacquer Precision with a black pickguard. I have a Jazz bass but was always trying to dull it down in the band I play in to fit around the keyboards and the neck felt too skinny so I found this on craigslist for like $200 less than the cheapest ones on Reverb. It's got a huge neck with a 7.25" radius and tiny frets and a red fuzz lined tweed case and I love it.

9. Not shown - a 2003 Squier Jazz Bass that I got for $75 at the guitar center in Seattle; it's being stripped because I hate sunburst and is going to get something like a big dumb gibson mudbucker added to the neck spot along with the existing J pickups.

Other than that it's a 1978 Fender Princeton Reverb (with the 'pull boost' and death cap removed the ground switch converted to a 0/half/normal negative feedback resistor option), a totally stock 90s GK RB400, a recent used 2x10 GK bass cab, and a bunch of cheap or built-from-kits pedals. There's also a Sunn Alpha 6 PA that a friend left at my house years ago because it didn't work but it just needed a new fuse holder. It sounds good as a bass amp but honestly just kind of looks rad.

Honestly I like to build and fix and modify guitars/amps/pedals about as much as I like to play them, if not slightly more. I have zero need and not much room for anything else but things I would be ecstatic to find at a yard sale for cheap:

- fiesta red Jaguar
- rickenbacker bass (lol)
- goldtop les paul
- one of those short scale PJ mustang basses that showed up a few years ago

Have -

Mid Eighties G&L Lynx Bass
Mid Eighties G&L El Toro Bass
1991 Warwick Thumb Bolt On Bass
Aria Electric Upright Bass

EastCoast cheapy Gibson 350 copy
Cheapy Acoustic, from the antique shop around the corner

Want -

Another Warwick (needs researching)
60s Tele Bass
G&L Interceptor bass (w/whammy bar)
Fernandes Tele bass (for project)
Shergold Marathon 6 String Bass (had two at one point, sold them both, instant regret)

Ampwise I have had various Fenders and Voxes but am happy now with just a Blues Junior.

A lot of the time I end up going direct, because of how many instruments I may end up playing on a given evening. Way easier to use a Para Driver or Blonde Sansamp when I may be switching between guitar, bass, mandolin, bouzouki, and electronic drums.

have: lefties

want: more lefties

(want gibson acoustics more than anything)

i'd like to play a bass vi someday

I have:
(an old picture when everything was out)

https://qc-ckb.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ilx/et_guitars.jpg

1. 1965 Jazzmaster. I've been posting about this one in the Jazzmaster thread.

2. 1975 Telecaster. I've had this since 1984. Unforgiving but sounds fantastic with the AC30.

3. 2005 CIJ Stratocaster XII. Purchased it mostly new from a gray marketer in Costa Mesa and took it everywhere when I was regularly playing gigs at this time. Really nice guitar & stays in tune. Overdue for a pickup and wiring swap.

4. 1999 Am Standard Strat. In 2004 I was shopping for amplifiers and ended up coming home with no amp but the guitar I was trying them out with. I gutted all the electronics, put in a set of 1968 Strat pickups I found on eBay, replaced the pots with push/pull ones for in/out phase switching, and replaced the bridge & tremolo block with a heavy Callaham one. Extremely forgiving and somehow I just naturally play better with it - which is why it's sitting in a closet on the other side of the country rn.

5. 1967 Vox Cheetah. Rescued from a heavy metal supply store in Huntington Beach in 1993. Idiosyncratic and dark sounding. Only sounds its best when it's right on the edge of feedbacking so powerfully that you can feel the glued joints loosen up. At some point I expect it to turn to wood powder in my hands.

6. [not shown] Unknown early 60s electric bouzouki.

7. [not shown] early-00s CIJ JM-66 Jazzmaster. Currently disassembled but will eventually become a "72 Jazzmaster Deluxe" with the CuNiFe WRHB pickup reissues.

I want:

Nothing. Ms. Telecom has two terrific basses (a Musicmaster bass from the 70s and a '62 J-bass reissue from the 90s) so there isn't really anything I want except more time to write and maybe a Bass VI or baritone. Sure, if I had stupid amounts of money I'd love to have an all-original Fender something in Lake Placid Blue or a hollowbody Gretsch.

BTW, we’ll want another of these threads for synths/keys

I have:

1997 Japanese John Jorgenson signature "Hellecaster" (heavy as fuck champagne sparkle/gold strat/G&L Comanche style guitar with Z pickups)

― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Saturday, May 29, 2021 8:09 AM (thirteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

holy shit, i remember seeing this guitar in catalogs. can you tell me how you ended up with it? i was looking and apparently there are only like 500 of them. also, this incredible fact from jorgenson's website:

Due to a factory error, the total run of guitars ended up with an extra resistor on the bottom tone control which made the guitar sound as is if the treble was completely rolled off. After getting many enquiries about the tone of the pickups (my personal guitars were prototypes and didn’t have the problem) I finally had the chance to compare a factory model side by side to my own, and was dismayed to hear the difference in tone! Luckily the remedy is very easy, just unscrew the pickguard and clip out the resistor closest to the bottom of the guitar and voila, it sounds as intended! Most players and owners by now have already done this, but I do believe that this error initially hurt the sales and image of the model.

Elvis, there is a synth zone thread

- '72 tele thinline reissue c. 2000, natural finish, made in mexico. a few months ago i put the new wide range humbucker reissues in this.

- 2005 MIJ '66 jag reissue in lake placid blue. tricked out with duncan antiquties, mastery bridge, and mastery trem before i bought it.

― call all destroyer, Friday, May 28, 2021 6:13 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

would love to see pics of these.

My main guitar is one of those thinline reissues. I plan on installing those creamery humbucker reissues once the guy starts taking new orders again. A couple years ago I got a Trem-King installed on it, which is a lot of fun.

About halfway through a rebuild of a shitty Davison warlock knockoff I got new for 100 bucks a decade ago. Installed a floyd rose bridge and new neck on it. Still have to finish routing a pool, designing a pickguard (gonna install lace sensors), and revamping the electrics.

I've got one of those short-scale Airline Map basses that Eastwood makes. Love her dearly.

I also have an old beater bass that's a hollowbody with no brand name and scratchy electronics but it was supposedly Jenny from Erase Errata's first instrument so I rock out on it occasionally for the good juju. I want plenty more but just don't have the space in our shoebox in SF.

As for wants, I've never played a baritone guitar but have been lusting after that Ronquillo edition of the Rivolta Mondata and regret not pulling the trigger on it before it sold out even though it would've been a foolish financial decision at the time.

here's my gretsch's l-r:
- 2015 Panther Prototype MIJ (center block, hardtail)
- 1995 Brian Setzer 6120-SSU
- 1979 Chet Atkins Country Gentlemen 7670
- 1963 Streamliner 6103
https://i.imgur.com/M2Ccs3d.jpg
got the three on the right at an estate sale a couple weeks back, all are in ridiculously good shape. the binding is usually breaking/coming apart on a lot of 60s gretsch's but this one has no issues. planning on keeping the chet and selling the other two i think. the panther was my parting gift when i left fmic.

Here's that 80s hondo i was talking about. i cant find much info on it but its supposed to be like a kramer baretta. pulled the pickup in hopes it was one of the dimarzio humuckers that were in some early hondos... it was not. it sounds pretty cool tho. $10 at goodwill.
https://i.imgur.com/gIwMqvW.jpg

Here's my list of shame. I could make excuses for any one of them individually, but collectively? no chance.
1950? Unknown parlour guitar
1965 Sadao Yairi classical
1965 Teisco TG-64 guitar
1966 Fender USA Mustang
1966 Mory Jazzmaster
1966 Teisco TB-4 bass
1966 Yamaha SG-3
1967 Morales ZES-300
1968 Höfner Galaxie 175
1969? Canora MIJ classical
1971 Yamaha S-50A classical
1972 Greco TL-350 (shortscale Tele)
1973 Greco TE-500 (Tele Thinline)
1975 Greco TD500 (Tele Deluxe)
1976 Eston (Suzuki) acoustic 12 string
1977 Greco Super Sounds (Strat)
1978 Fender USA Musicmaster
1978 Ibanez Concord acoustic
1981 K Yairi DY-51 acoustic
1982 Squier JV Tele Custom
1983 Squier JV Strat
1983 Squier SQ Tele Custom
1985 Fender Japan Jazzmaster
1985 Fender Japan TL33 Tele
1985 Ibanez Roadstar II bass
1987 Fender Japan TL52 Tele
1988 Fender Japan ST-456
2000? Epiphone Casino MIK
2012 Fender Japan Bass VI

call all destroyer, there was exactly one of those Jorgenson Hellecasters in a music shop in Birmingham (UK) leading up to Christmas 1999, and I basically went all in on getting it via every family Christmas present I was getting and a 12 month payment plan on top. It was actually reduced to £580 just before I bought it but I guess is worth a bit more now. I remember the other music shop across town also had the blue sparkle Jerry Donahue model which I was also kind of tempted by. It's a little more uh elegant looking than mine

People aren't kidding about the muddy tone, didn't get that fixed until a few years later. Once I had it fixed up it plays beautifully though, so easy to get around.

I believe there may have been 500 in the west and 500 more in Japan; mine is 234

that’s so cool. the thing i read said that there were 500 total with 250 staying in japan but either way, very very limited.

Yah I’d never heard of that looks super cool

here is everything except the FGN which is in the other free corner of the room (also observant viewers may see part of my cat as he jumped up while i was taking this

https://i.imgur.com/lPeyCty.jpg

That’s like the exact jag I’d want

i believe ilx user albert broccoli also has this jag!

Definitely feelin the Jag envy

i think the jag is the one fender model where things like the block inlays, neck binding, and matching headstock actually look better than standard fender austerity.

i was just thinking the other day about looking for like a black/white/black 3-ply guard for the tele thinline....it's a rock machine with the new wide-ranges and i'm not sure if the white pearloid is the right spirit. anyone like or hate that idea?

Just go all out with one of these and install some LEDs in the f-hole

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5MIAAOSw8Ipcsv75/s-l1600.jpg

lol oh no. i'll be required to join a 5th tier jam band that plays amorphous "festivals"

Black would look cool. Kinda like a tele deluxe from that era

yeah i was thinking of those, and i also feel like i've seen some natural with black hardware 70s strats that are kind of nice

+1 for I would buy that exact Jag

The Jazzmaster I have has a matching white headstock and block binding and I think it looks p great

i'd love to see it if you can post a pic!

i just find the chrome explosion on the jag body invites excess everywhere else.

i do feel very lucky that i snagged that jag. i didn't plan on buying when i did and it was a little more than i intended to spend, but between the aesthetics and the upgrades that had been done it was tough to imagine finding a better jag for me.

Have:

1950s Martin D-18 (inherited from grandmother)
1950s Martin O-18 (inherited from grandmother)
1976 Guild D-25
2015 Gibson ES-335 Studio
1993 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
Johnson Solara (cheap electric I have for weird reasons but am sort of fond of)

Want:
Some kind of telecaster-style guitar, possibly with a gold-foil neck pickup and a regular tele type bridge pickup

Considering selling the strat - I just recently got it back from someone who had borrowed it for years (long story) and I never loved it or strats generally.
I already feel like

*I already feel like I have too many guitars. No way I would have three acoustics but for the fact that I inherited two, and then bought a third because I felt nervous taking heirloom guitars out to some playing situations.

Actually would also love a Gibson ES-175 or L5 type full hollow, and maybe a baritone guitar.

https://i.imgur.com/NHsP3gn.jpg

Yamaha FG 380 acoustic
Yamaha Revstar RS502T
Gretsch Electromatic G5120
Ibanez AS73G
Ibanez TMB100 (bass)
Postitive Grid "Spark" amp

Not pictured:
1989 Squier Strat, Late 90s Epiphone double cutaway Les Paul Special (tv yellow), neither of which is currently in working order.
Vox VT100X amplifier, which is more amp than I need, and I've been meaning to sell since I bought the Spark amp.

Also, a cat.

*FG 830

xp holy shit those martins - I'd love to play one but would be terrified to handle it.

xp nice arrangement and that is a lovely and large-looking cat

If I had it to do over, I'd have gotten the Yamaha RS502 without the tailpiece. Would've been more versatile re: modification. But it's a fuckin tank and I'm sure I'll own it forever.

xp I love the D-18 a lot. Definitely has taken some wear - there's a small crack right by the pickguard, and I had to have another crack in the side repaired. I haven't really figured out the O-18, have not found the right strings for it possibly and don't love the sound right now.

As noted I bought the Guild recently at a cheap price (it had some damage but is very playable) because I wanted a beater acoustic that still had a vintage dreadnought sound - something I wouldn't be scared to travel with/use at a local singalong or a small gig if I ever play one again.

https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--IUxrKZ4E--/a_exif,c_limit,e_unsharp_mask:80,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_south,h_620,q_90,w_620/v1426607907/fwmddtneq7o8pxqlzmqi.jpg

This is the Jazzmaster I have. It's not my actual one, I don't own a barn

I don't think that person does either. That's a set if I've ever seen one.

https://i.imgur.com/8cJAm1E.jpg
- 2013 Jackson Soloist
- 2015 Charvel San Dimas
- 2013 Fender Pawn Shop Super-Sonic
- 1983 Hamer Phantom A5 (with the 'triple humbucker')
- 1984 Hamer Phantom 12 (same thing but 12 string)
- 2008 Fender Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster (prototype with block in-lays, MIK)
- 2008 Jackson Warrior

i play the super-sonic and JA-90 a ton, and the charvel quite cos its so comfortable.

That soloist reminds me - I'd also love to get a ridiculous 80s shredder superstrat. It's absolutely got to have the pointy headstock and shark fin inlays and would preferably be neon pink crackle or something equally over-the-top

Monkey grip handle or gtfo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Performer

^^ my ‘80s shredder of choice if I ever found one

I was trying to recall where I'd spotted a Performer recently, and it was in this deeply regrettable image:

https://gayebykersonacid.wixsite.com/gayebykersonacid/gallery?lightbox=image15ci

idk. I don't like holding on to gear I'm not using regularly. I don't love the JC-120; my full-range amp of choice is the Super Reverb, which I don't own (so big! so heavy!) but I am seeing them everywhere for peanuts and stalwartly resisting the temptation to swap out my Princetons. I need more studio space, first. And a van instead of a coupe.

agree with not hoarding and it’s not like there’s a lack of jc-120s in the world if you ever needed one or had a change of heart.

A real post-COVID truth: the cost of local gear rentals has, broadly, increased by a shitload

thx for the confirmation. Going to unload it then - if you or anyone you know wants a JC-120 formerly owned and used by Marty Wilson-Piper from The Church let me know. It even comes with a road case with "The Church" stenciled on it.

The other amp I'm going to sell is a 2000-or so era Ampeg SR-212RT Super Rocket. It's a big loud one, kinda like a 90s Fender Hot Rod done right but better looking too and with a great reverb. Nevertheless, like the Roland - I don't play it nearly enough to keep around.

Aw, I have fond feelings about the JC-120, and I jave a friend who similarly wants to unload his mostly unused one. But it’s just way too much amp for any situation I am ever likely to be in again.

But I would probably bust a move on a JC-90 if one crops up.

I have similar feels about AC-15s.

i struggle with this with my strat, which is in its case in a closet right now. i am unlikely to find a strat i like better in its price range, and the money i would get from selling it wouldn't really be meaningful to me. but it nags at me that it's going unplayed, for sure.

I have similar feels about AC-15s.

No kidding. I love my Korg-era AC30 TBX and will never, ever sell it but good grief I want a AC15 from the same era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZwbyH9A5cU

^^ pretty nice video about Tom Verlaine's 1965 Jazzmaster

some great cranky Verlaine stuff in there. love the mythical Starbucks napkin/taunting him over the mystery sounds

was setting my amp and pedal board back up last night and was disproportionately amazed and proud when I plugged in, turned my amp on, strummed a chord and heard actual sound come out of the amp, so definitely empathised with Verlaine needing Rip to set up his incredibly basic five pedal signal chain for him every single night

poor fred smith and his bass!

I mostly use a JC-22 at home, and every time I adjust the volume on it I kind of shudder to think about how loud a 120 gets. Now I want some kind of gear passed on from Wilson-Piper that's less than 70 pounds / 120 decibels!

Question: how do y'all approach getting rid of things that don't have much sale value? I spent a while experimenting with different options before settling on nice guitars that work for me, so now I'm sitting on, like, Epiphones and Squiers I modded or refinished in weird ways, a couple cheap sentimental faves in poor repair, and so on. It feels like I should clean house and just have a few really good ones, but it's hard to imagine getting much out of a Reverb listing that's like "Epiphone Les Paul with cheap foil pickups and weird-looking aftermarket vibrato." I keep looking around for any local kids' program or rock camp that actually needs donations (which seems like the best bet), or trying to suss out whether it'd work to part things out (Epiphone Les Paul with no hardware + cheap foil pickups + great aftermarket vibrato?), but if anyone has better solutions I'd love to hear it.

i just hold on to everything, tbh. i've still got my cheap guitar that went through a practice space fire and has a crack and nonfunctional electronics, though it lives in the storage space. but we have donated some gear to girls rock, the local branch of which has now changed its name to we rock chicago

ill post stuff on craigslist/FB/offerup and just put a really buyer friendly price or also put that im open to trade. ive gotten all kinds of trade offers. ive traded gear for tools that i needed, or art, stuff you might not even think you need but its a fun way to just kinda see what happens. ive had stuff posted for over a year, no rush. also given some stuff to neighbors or kids friends.

Passing stuff on to people is a really cool thing to do. I sent my first looper to a very good friend who went through a big heroin phase and sold all his gear. He’s recovered, works as an EMT and still plays music daily. He makes funny, decent stuff and sends them to me which I find very rewarding

I constantly think back to when I was a teenager with no gear/money, trying to do multitrack recordings with a warped Teisco and a karaoke machine, and really wish I could give stuff to somebody in a similar position! But in 2026 in the kind of town where I'm living, young people interested in this stuff probably have nicer gear than me, so it might take some searching. I remember feeling like I'd won the lottery when somebody let me borrow a cheap multi-effect for a week and I got to use a flanger for the first time; now I've seen teenagers outside the local practice spot carrying nice hardcases and discussing fancy amp demos on YouTube.

I did give one thing to a coworker who's just getting into guitar, though — really fun Squier Cyclone. (In shell pink, which got me in trouble with my daughter for losing the smallest / pinkest one.)

Oh man I feel this. I’m 46 and just hitting my stride musically because I can actually afford gear. I remember being like how the fuck do I get these sounds in my head out to the real world. It wasn’t until I was in my mid 20s that I met someone with a four track. Everything else was recorded directly into a boom box

to really get rid of something just post it on craigslist and price it to move....various flavors of vulture will descend but for a parts guitar you might be able to find a fellow tinkerer who seems cool and will at least do something constructive with it. if you plan to get no more than like, a nice night of takeout sushi out of it you'll be fine.

craiglist still kind of rocks if you hit it right--i recently got a pair of B&W floor speakers for 40 bucks to act as complete overkill in my tiny home office. the dude had them set up to demo for me and blasted latin dance music in his garage for 5 minutes while we chatted.

Cosign on this. The neck and body for my Jazzmaster Deluxe project came from a lucky craigslist posting

beautiful gesture Heez

Picked up a 70s Fresher Mustang copy cheap, to go with my 70s Tomson cheap Mustang copy.
https://i.imgur.com/M6ygbTp.jpeg

Ever seen a Jaguar with leprosy?

https://reverb.com/item/94095232-fender-custom-shop-1964-jaguar-super-heavy-relic-olympic-white?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=94095232

that might be the worst heavy relic custom shop finish ive ever seen

i just bought a couple of monopoint piezo clips at $5.99 per, and plugging my acoustics in and cranking up gain and reverb and chorus has been fun as shit. it can make sounds i really dig. a guitar buddy in hearing me said that i was very scott pilgrim lol

If you need to put that much gaffer tape on your $6k guitar it just might be a flawed design

Just “touring band” cosplay like the relic job

Re getting rid of gear, have you got a local DIY venue, studio or community music org you could donate to? Bound to be some weirdo noise scrappers only too happy to get their hands on some inexpensive gear they can muck around with, even modify. I remember bringing my Teisco in for jams with students, which was hilarious, cos they all had much fancier new gear and didn't really get the DIY/noise thing. But if it gets them to rethink their bougie music school ways then all the better.
Alternatively, there a FB gear sell/exchange group for your area? I've found those useful in the past.