How much would you sacrifice...

[Unicorn Warrior]

I vote do it. Only of the premise of wanting to see it on this thread

[JSett]

[Steadyriot.]

Cracked binding, cracked pickguard, finish damage..
Waste of money!

[JSett]

So.

Having slept on it (well, a restless night partially sleeping and thinking), spoken at length about it with my partner, and my good friend GaryPtaszek this morning, I have decided against it. Some valid points were made about the economic climate at the moment and some rational talk about how £11'000 is simply a lot of fucking money for a guitar when I already have a fantastic example of almost the same thing here (that's just not a vintage), and other guitars to play as well. Plus, it's kind of gross to be spending that much on something superfluous when I have good friends, that shouldn't be struggling, that are struggling to just even pay to heat their homes for their families or put food on the table. That kind of behaviour just isn't very punk rock of me, is it? Guilt aside, my old MIJ Jazzmaster always comes up trumps as #1 regardless of whatever new toy comes through anyway, seeking to replace that is likely a fruitless exercise as it's never worked before. A guitar this expensive is going to be a constant worry.

This was the guitar in question. All original '67 in the most perfectly green'd shade of LPB...



The way I treat guitars isn't fair on an all-original example. I'm better-off with refins or things that have been fucked with. So I'm going to buy that mental LPB Coronado II with a back panel cut into it on Reverb instead (that's 1/5th of the price). I wont be scared to take that out or use it in anger. And the money is already there and no sacrifices needed. And then I'm going to go and buy a trolley full of food and put it in the fucking food bank donation box to try and balance the karma a little.

I'm going to email the helpful gentleman at Hyper Guitars, Tokyo, and let him know now. If anyone is interested, they can do it for ¥1'800'000 + ¥60'000 DHL shipping.

[simonhpieman]

If it helps, the 73 LPB I used to own was sold via eBay last year (I think it was last year) for about £3300. Either way it was peak pandemic mental spending time. It looked at least as cool as that. I wish I knew where it went, actually, I'd quite like it back.

Anyway, long story short I feel there are better deals put there if you're in no great rush.

And if you intend to play it out you'd surely just worry the whole time or get in a bad mood if you accidentally twat it on a cymbal mid gig or something.

[JSett]

if you accidentally twat it on a cymbal mid gig or something.

This is definitely something I have done, and will likely do again

[marqueemoon]

Sounds like the right call to me. Yeah, a valuable vintage guitar can be both ostentatious and limiting (if you care about maintaining its value).

I’m glad I spent my 20’s eating rice and beans to afford guitars, but the market and my own priorities are different now.

[cestlamort]

Sounds like the right call to me. Yeah, a valuable vintage guitar can be both ostentatious and limiting (if you care about maintaining its value).

I’m glad I spent my 20’s eating rice and beans to afford guitars, but the market and my own priorities are different now.

I'm still mostly eating rice and beans...

You made the right call in that you ultimately weren't comfortable with it.

Others have made all sorts of good points above. I'll add that, especially if you enjoy the hunt (I definitely do), having the be-all-end-all guitar means that you don't really get to do that anymore in good conscience.

I'd still suggest bringing your own lunch, even if (or especially if) it just means you can have a nicer dinner or two while on vacation.

[SignoftheDragon]

I've held my peace on this thread, just to read what others thought before throwing in my 2 cents:

I've sold off a lot of gear to grab some upgraded vintage dream-stuff, but never had to scrimp in other areas or squeeze the wife's budget. Frankly I don't think it would go over well with Mrs. Dragon unless (like you and your missus) preluded by a healthy discussion and a hard-fought mutual agreement.

I have been lucky though- there's a thread on here somewhere where I detail finding some old Yu-Gi-Oh! cards after we moved, that turned out to be worth a small fortune in guitar-buyin' money.

Another thread where I sold off a bunch of THOSE guitars to fund a holy-grail-level purchase, which the pandemic then morphed into a quest to play EVERY DAMNED 12-STRING ELECTRIC ON THE PLANET.

I've started to slow down over the past couple months, but the Bro-Price Emporium in the for sale section has now moved nearing 40 12-strings since its inception.

There are still a few out there that I'll always dream/chase, and maybe one day I'll actually get my hands on one (or two) more of my legend-level geets!

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I think you dodged a bullet there....or did you just dodge a shrewd financial investment?

Obviously, we're all different, but I really struggle to get hot under the collar about the phrase "all original". While I was just writing elsewhere about trying to thin out my collection, I really think my badly-finished parts guitars will be the last to go. What's so good about an older version of a tool that's still made by more or less the same process (or can be adapted to such with a respray or parts swap)? And if someone replaced nylon bridge saddles with brass ones at some point, because that's their preference, then so what, ultimately? Provenance excepted, that is; I can totally understand Paul McCartney buying Bill Black's double bass that was on Heartbreak Hotel, for instance (though, obviously, no sacrifices had to be made in that instance).

Having recently got to play a '64, I was just musing about trying to find and fund a ('65) birth year Gibson 330 - probably with a neck repair and other issues - by selling my Chinese Casino and lawsuit 335 copy (and then wondering if I would also be willing to sacrifice my Ric 330 as part of the fundraising drive), and though I can see the sense in distilling several guitars into one absolute cracker, I found myself wondering just how much better the Kalamazoo would be than the Casino I already have but never play - cue Larry Mal - and also how much better a 'real' 335 would be than my humble vintage knock-off, which sounds and feels pretty damn fine to me.

It seems from your recent NGDs that you've been assembling a decent clutch of vintage beaters, and it would've been a shame if you hadn't had any time to bond with any of them for the sake of owning something you might very reasonably be scared to ever take out of the house.

[JSett]

It seems from your recent NGDs that you've been assembling a decent clutch of vintage beaters, and it would've been a shame if you hadn't had any time to bond with any of them for the sake of owning something you might very reasonably be scared to ever take out of the house.

"Vintage beater" seems to suit me more than "all original" to be honest, and is something I'm way more comfortable with. I think I've resigned myself to that now

[Highnumbers]

Sounds like you reviewed it carefully and made the right call for you. I’ve learned that you cannot talk yourself into a guitar, and grappling with the “should I?” can kill your enjoyment of the guitar after getting it.

That said, if you’re not finding yourself questioning the whole thing, I can say that every time I’ve “consolidated” a handful of guitars into one bigger purchase, I’ve been very satisfied with the outcome. But I’m not using daily living expenses or family funds to do that (mostly just continually shuffling the deck of guitars).

That JM is cool and has been on their site for quite some time. Hyper Guitars is great, I’ve bought a few from them - Ryusuke Sasaki is a true gentleman.

[Mechanical Birds]

Had me up until the losses exited the realm of gear and entered yr personal life. Time is precious and trading experiences and quality time with yr wife is infinitely more important than what I assume is a vintage example of a guitar you could get or might already own a modern version of for way less money

[Ceylon]

That was one fucking beautiful Jazzmaster though. I mean I think you're making the right call. But what a looker.

[Marc]

I had a LPB dots/binding 1965 JM that I bought from someone on here for about £4000 around 2007 and ended up selling back to him a year later. There’s no way I’d pay what They go for now. It was a very clean example with no fading and very little checking and was a nice guitar but was not an amazing guitar other than it being a near mint custom colour. The point I’m making is that it is just a colour and without being able to try it out first you might find you scratch the itch but it’s not at all your go to guitar.

Lastly - the 2016 Firemist Silver USA reissue 65 JM I still have is unbelievably similar to guitar I describe above. Fender really got those guitars spot on.