What's your "one that got away"?

timmypix

Many of us have done it. Walked out of the shop going "if it's still there tomorrow/on pay day". Not bid high enough on eBay. Fallen in love with the ad but by the time you've picked up the phone someone else beat you to it.

For me, this Les Paul was on eBay last year, and it was on for weeks. I was waiting for my birthday for the funds and umming and ahhing whether or not to take the plunge as it had a neck repair... and just as I'd decided, "it hasn't moved for weeks, I'll buy it if it's still up on Friday", it went.

If it were to pop up again, I'd have to buy it. I've never seen that colour or that kind of top on a Les Paul before and since, and I think it went for less than £700 in the end. I've even saved all the eBay pictures from the listing so I'll know it again if I see it!

So, what guitar haunts you? What do you wish you'd not been shy about buying? The guitar that if you saw it again you wouldn't hesitate?

Megii

Was 30 odd years ago, but still hurts when I think about my stupidity - a 1962 blonde Gibson ES175, could have been mine for £650... 

designerseye88

Theirs almost too many to mention and most of them were on this very forum     Manged to get something nice recently off a forum member which is a keep so Im happy with that 

ICBM

A 1956 Les Paul Custom for £3750 in 1999. It still annoys me that I stupidly backed out of buying it.

Sassafras

One of those little solid body Rickenbackers. The neck seemed ridiculously narrow and I wasn't experienced enough at the time to realise I could adapt to it.

GuyR

66 sunburst tele I had on long term loan in 1983. I didn't have the required £180 when the owner wanted to cash in.
more recently  early 70s Jazz bass, modified by Ned Callan with a double bass fingerboard and used/owned by one of my favourite players, Dill Katz. On eBay for £600, it didn't sell. I phoned the number just after it closed and the seller told me he'd just agreed a sale, below asking price and to make it worse, it was a few minutes drive from my office. 

andy1839

I was 16, caught the bus into town and into the local music shop.
On the floor was a beautiful white Les Paul custom, my absolute dream guitar.
I asked how much, £1000 he says.
Fine says I (having saved a load of money working over the summer), I'll be back in half an hour.

So I gets the bus home, collects me monies and heads back to the shop.

I get there and the bloke says unfortunately he sold it just after I left.

Still bothers me to this day.
I know the guy who bought it.
From the same shop.
A week later for £1700.

I reckon the guy didn't think I would have a grand and then just mugged me off when I came back as he knew he could sell it for more.

Now I can't stand the sight of them.

tone1

Definitely @pumkin ‘s Brazillian Olympic White Strat with Tortoiseshell guard.... I literally missed it by 24hrs

richardhomer

54 Les Paul Gold Top - stunning sounding guitar - probably the best sounding electric guitar I’ve ever played. 

£850 was a lot of money in 1983....

Phil_aka_Pip

The ES-135 I saw in Kingfisher music in Fleet probably in the early 90s maybe even the late 80s. £650 iirc

prowla

Hopefully not this weekend when I'm off to by another Ric.

longjaw

Early to mid-90s, left handed MIJ Fender Jazzmaster in Grotts Guitars in Newcastle. £250, think it was second hand but in pristine condition.
Slept on it, went back the next day to buy it and it was gone :-(

mart

A Rickenbacker double-neck 12-string/bass, back in about 1990. I was on a train from Aberdeen to London, reading Guitarist magazine and in the middle of the journey I came across a shop ad that mentioned the Ric, for a bargainous £600.

I’d have got off at the next stop and phoned them if, a) I’d had £600 spare and b) even had 10p to make the call.

As it was, I visited my parents, begged for a loan to buy the most rare and perfect guitar for me, and got told to get lost. For some reason I phoned the shop anyway and found they’d already sold it. Never seen one for sale since.

DrJazzTap

One of the most gorgeous PRS guitars I'd ever seen, it had had a refinish and I think that was putting a lot of people off. It was a stunning tortoise shell with a heavy flame top.

57Deluxe

old DV247 used to have a Monday night B stock Dutch Auction where everything was reduced by a further 15% until it sold. At the time I was saving for a Fender 62RI Tuxedo Tele but this American series Fender Tele in copper came along with a small ding on the bottom edge but was down to about £235 and had been dropping for weeks. I thought I will chance it another week and nab it and then - -  in the week they went bust!

blobb

A one off Andy Manson custom 12 string.

It was like no other acoustic you could imagine, it was bright orange for a start, had pointy 'horned' bouts on both sides and was a bowlback. I wish I could find a picture of it.

Now that might sound a bit unpleasant but you should have seen it, it was stunning. The neck was a work of art. It had hung around on ebay for ages and was relisted over and over again, no one was interested in it. The seller wanted £1000 for it which was the reason I didn't buy it at first but I eventually convinced myself that something like this would never come up again so I got myself organised and went looking for it. Gone. Typical.

Octafish

In about 1993 my local guitar shop had MIJ 50s Strats for about £299. I hankered after a sunburst one and was saving up, but as an impatient 17 year old shot my bolt and went for the Sunburst Squier Silver Series they had reduced to £185. Just realised it was exactly 20 years later I finally got my sunburst MIJ 50s Strat from the very same shop, although this time it was £599....

pumkin

tone1 said:

Definitely @pumkin ‘s Brazillian Olympic White Strat with Tortoiseshell guard.... I literally missed it by 24hrs

Apologies @tone1 you didn't get it and I shouldn't have sold it .... I think the guy I sold it to moved it on to ... hopefully it's in a good place !

dogload

There was the ex-Chameleons Fireglo Rickenbacker 360/12 (double checker-bound, 60's model) in Johnny Roadhouse in Manchester back in 1992 or 93 for £750 which was a little outside my budget but I could have just afforded but thought I'd leave it and see if I could get a cheaper one somewhere. D'oh! 

Then there was the Fender Electric XII that I saw advertised in the back of The Guitar Magazine a couple of years back for £1000. It was local, re-finished and I knew it was the same one I had considered back when I bought mine in the early 90's. I called the guy in the ad and was told it had been for sale for ages but he'd just sold it earlier in the day and was waiting for someone to collect it, but he'd ring if it fell through etc... needless to say it didn't! He did confirm that it was the one from the shop I'd bought mine though, so it would have been nice to have got it!

skullfunkerry

It's not so much 'got away' as 'given away', but I had a seafoam green Charvel Spectrum which I bought from a guy on eBay, and absolutely loved. The pickups weren't really any good for the metal band I was in at the time, but it was so nice to play, and I loved the way it looked. I ended up giving it to my friend as payment for rewiring my house, as I couldn't afford to pay him cash...

Of all the guitars that I've gone through, that's the only one I miss.

jeztone2

Psycho driving instructor in 1988: “I’m thinking of selling my old Strat. It’s a bit tatty so £175”.

Me : “When did you get it”

PSD: “1963, it’s got a couple of dings & I had the machineheads replaced in 1974”.

Me: (without thinking) “Oh no Terry, it’s worth much more than that!”

On reflection I’m glad I didn’t rip him off. He was the sort of guy who if he’d found out would have cut my bollocks off.