Should I actually sell my Tokai?

Bucket

I was about to post the FS thread for it, when I started to wonder. I mean, this guitar has been one of my main instruments for the past four years, and I have played it for so many hours. It has never let me down, even once, and I've always found it to be a great-sounding, great-playing, versatile and cool guitar.

It's also very rare and I quite like the thrill of having something that no-one else has, or has even seen or heard of before.

But then reality sets in - my Blackmachine does just about everything this does, differently but in a way that I prefer, on balance. It has barely been played at all since I got the BM a couple of months ago, and realistically it is just taking up space here and doing me out of a good few hundred quid I could put towards other purchases I want or need to make.

But then I remembered that it was the guitar I used for every single recording and every single gig with my recently defunct band - save our very last gig, which was on the day I bought the Blackmachine, so I used that and it nailed the sound, and then some...

I used it to record what remains my favourite solo I've ever done, at 3:18 here:



And for a live-in-studio session, where it looked great, sounded great and played great:



It's beautiful, isn't it.

https://imgur.com/au3ULsk

And it's an amazing instrument, and no-one else has one, and I keep thinking I would actually miss it if I sold it, even though it hasn't been played for more than an hour in total in the last couple of months. I know I'm being ridiculous, but this is the hardest decision I've ever had to make about selling a guitar.

stickyfiddle

Keep it ya muppet  

(edit that was meant to be a tongue smiley not a grumpy face...!)

ICBM

If you don't sell it, will you be having this exact same conversation with yourself in six months?

I sold my PRS which was my main working guitar though almost the whole lifespan of my last band (more than five years), was used on every recording, actually had quite a lot of the songs written on it, and which fitted me more perfectly than any other guitar did before.

But when I got my Rickenbacker 381, and despite that being such a completely different guitar, I just never played the PRS any more. After two years debating what to do with it, I sold it and I haven't missed it once.

Kebabkid

Simple answer Connor - NO!

richardhomer

Sell it - you'll need something to pay the fine for jumping the red light - and clearly the Blackmachine suits you better.

Rebar

If you aren't absolutely desperate for the cash, you should hold on to it. Think about how you might track another one down if you have sellers remorse? You also need to consider what the cash value of the guitar is and balance that against your need/desire to sell. 

Funkfingers

The question you have to ask yourself is this. Is the Tokai a working tool, a status symbol or an ornament? Also, do you need the approximate monetary value of the Tokai to fund something else in your working life?

Badge snobs will always have more respect for a real PRS - even a Korean-made SE model - than for a copy, even if that "copy" is of higher quality than the PRS SE.

If the BM is your main guitar, the smart move would be to obtain a suitable back-up for live performances.

Maynehead

Don't hold on to the past, embrace the future!

Bucket

I'm gonna take it to my parents' house and keep it there for a while.

I could always use the money, of course, but it's not the end of the world.

JDE

Bucket said:

I'm gonna take it to my parents' house and keep it there for a while.

I could always use the money, of course, but it's not the end of the world.

It's the old "putting things in storage" thing I tell my wife. I'm happy to pay for a storage unit on the proviso that anything not looked at for a year gets chucked. She won't do it. 
If sentiment makes you happy with something then by all means keep it, but it is just sentiment. You don't actually need a possession to trigger that feeling, you know. 

Lebarque

For the sake of a couple of hundred quid, keep it for the memories.

Bucket

Rebar said:

Think about how you might track another one down if you have sellers remorse?

It would be all but impossible.

Sassafras

I never sell anything unless I absolutely need the money. I mean haven't eaten for 3 days type need the money.

TTBZ

Sounds like you should definitely keep it. Lots of sentimental value, hard to replace if you regret it but ultimately not worth much money to be worth selling - seems like a bit of a no brainer to me! At the very least store it somewhere you can't easily get to it then see if you miss it.

mike_l

Sell it to someone who'd sell it back - without question if you decide you want it back -  for the same dollar.

Neil

It has sentimental value to you, you can't buy memories - keep it if you are not desperate for money.

BigLicks67

If you like it and it has sentimental value then keep it.

Bucket

It's more the rarity - I think I'd miss it, but if it went I'd never find another one.

I do need to do something to give it more distance from the Blackmachine - not that it sounds the same, but it's another 24-fret fixed bridge guitar with two quite hot humbuckers. I guess a pickup change could do the trick - some more classic-voiced humbuckers.

Winny_Pooh

Being attached to guitars for sentimental reasons is unnecessary. Plus there are many more rare guitars out there that are simarly replaceable if your aim is to make music rather than overthink about guitars (As I have been guilty of all the time) 

Last week I sold a tele that was, at the time I put it together 6 years ago, "the one" with perfect specs.
However, after buying my Musicman and Gretsch it has not been played for at least 9 months. I never thought I'd sell it but don't miss it now that I have as it simply does not do what I want any longer.

Philly_Q

As in all these threads, we fall into two camps - the "only keep guitars you really need" austerity group and the "you can never have too many guitars" collecting, er....collective.

I speak, of course, as a hoarder with zero guitars I actually need, but I'd say unless you really need the money and/or the space, hang onto it. It clearly has sentimental value and I don't think there's anything wrong with that (at least until you get to my age and start thinking hmmm, I'm not going to be around that much longer and this is going to end up in a skip). 

mcktheknife99

Don't do it unless you're desperate. I sold my 1979 Gibson Flying V which I bought new and n 1979. Best guitar I ever owned although I didn't realise it until later. Value today £4000+. Everyone knows how good those early Tokai strats are and they are only getting rarer. Meanwhile quality at the two market dominant brands has tunbled again....