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What Piece of Gear Have You Most Regretted Selling?

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We've all had it happen...you had something that was cool at one point, but then you decided you didn't really need it or use it anymore, so you sold...and then years later, you wish you hadn't. 


Oddly enough, my #1 wish-I-hadn't-sold was the Alesis AI-1 digital converter. I'm working on restoring a couple of my Gibson high-tech guitars, but their FireWire (!) interfaces all work at 48 kHz, and I use either 44.1 or (rarely) 96 kHz. I really don't have anything that does real-time, simple sample-rate conversion. Then again, I guess it's just a question of time before FireWire goes away...


The other one is the TASCAM UH-7000 audio interface. Not because it was an essential audio interface (the drivers weren't that great, so the latency didn't match what else I had) but the stereo mic preamps were really good. As I'm doing more stereo miking these days due to recording acoustic instruments, I kinda miss those matched, high-quality preamps. However, I decided that rather than look around for one and re-buying it, I'll save up for getting a high-end stereo mic pre someday.

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Ugh, I could write a book!!!!


First place is a toss-up between 2 guitars that I should have kept. There is a fairly substantial list of those but these are at the top.

1. 1952 Fender Telecaster neck and body. The neck was missing the decal, possibly refinished but the date was clearly hand written on the end of the neck. The body was ash, had been stripped and then left where some sort of varathane varnish goo would leave a few random drips. BUT, it had "Leo" in the neck route so the man himself held it in his hands and wrote on it. 

I got it from a friend for $80 many years ago, made a Tele out of it and played it for a while then sold it to another friend for $450. I suspect it's worth a bit more now. 


2. 1967 Gretsch custom order single cutaway Viking in black finish with gold plated parts, the Tempered Treble Zone frets and the Floating Sound Unit bridge. I used to get the Guitar Trader newsletter via US Postal Service and one day they listed ths guitar as having been found at a music shop back east. This was a special order that had never been picked up, brand new and still had all the case candy. Case was brand new as well. Imagine a single cutaway version of THIS guitar in black with white black white binding and (link to follow), the factory correct bridge. The Tempered Treble Zone frets were compensated after the 12th fret, slanted to play more accurately in tune. Insane, Gretsch was crazy world in the mid 60's. $1,500 more or less and I bought it. Stereo pickups, more switches, knobs and such than any other 2 or 3 guitars put together including dual 3 string mutes. A spectacular find. 

I sold it for what I paid for it and bought a car. Then the car died. 





It was a fantastic guitar and I have no idea what it would be worth now if I'd just stashed it away and waited. I'll just say "a lot" and leave it at that. 


There's plenty more to lament but water under the bridge at this point. 59 Strat, 62 Jazzmaster, 64 Jazz Bass, 65 Tele. Fresno was pretty close to Fullerton relatively speaking, we had buttloads of old Fender gear. I bought a TV front Fender Deluxe in very good plus condition at the swap meet for $15 once, Rick Neilson from Cheap Trick probably still has it. 


I will add that one of my favorite mic preamps could be used as a stereo rig if you just balance the meters in your DAW. 

It has a sound and I like it - Focusrite ISA Two. Single rack space, two independent channels with variable resistance (impedance?), variable high pass filters, send/return jacks on the back with on/off switches on the front. Plenty of gain. Just a great all-rounder at a fair price. 



It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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This is a tough one. Most people with my history would say the MiniMoog Model D. But my view on it was good riddence. Oscillator 2 would not stay in tune long enough for me to get through a song and towards the end the contacts were bad and the contact bar was warped. Sold it for $500 and never looked back.


Thinking back through my huge load of traded instruments .... Back in the early 1980's I Bought a 20+ year old Fender Tele and had it redone. Completely gone over and refinished by Wilcutt Guitars in Lexington. They did good work. Wish I had kept it. Who knows what I traded it for.

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My first really nice guitar - a Guild S-100 solid-body with a hand-carved top. I sold it to "upgrade" to a Les Paul Recording when I could only afford to own one good guitar. Man, did I regret that; nothing else sounds like an S-100, and the hard-carved version is fairly rare. 

Incredibly, the good buddy I sold it to ended up not using it much, and he sold it back to me many years later....for the same price I sold it to him for.  

My hard-and-fast rule since that experience: I never sell a guitar. No matter what.

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Selmer Mark VI saxophone. I bought it for $600 when I was in school. I eventually traded it in for a Mark VII, an H. Couf, a Grassi, a Yamaha and a custom-built MacSax.


IMO the new saxes have better intonation, and play a lot easier. So I have no regrets about buying the new ones. But The Mark VI saxes have become collectors items and go for big bucks.


I also regret having to sell my Couf, which had the best tone of all the saxes I've ever owned. But they no longer relacquer saxes (the can lacquer cars outdoors, but saxes need a million dollar isolation booth). The Couf has a high copper content in the brass, and living in South Florida near the Atlantic Ocean and without lacquer as protection, it turned green with the texture of cantaloupe skin.


But regret is a strong word for both of those items. They served their purpose, and new ones took their place, and live goes on.


Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com

Style and Fake disks for Band-in-a-Box


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I don't miss carrying them any, but at times, I do miss the chopped Hammond M3 and Leslie 147/145 (147 amp in a 145 cab) I had back at UMass (long time ago).  Consistent with thoughts from others on this forum -- gee, maybe it's the "Hammond smell" I miss???


Old No7

Yamaha MODX6 ** Hammond SK Pro 73 ** Roland RD-88 ** Crumar Mojo Pedals ** Mackie Thump 12A (x2) ** Tascam DP-24SD

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Ibanez AS200. To add salt, I "sold" it to a friend of my brother and he stiffed me for half the money AND had it stolen so I couldn't even repo it. "What am I supposed to do? They stole if from me!" No dude, it was stolen from ME 😤

Operations Manager

Transamerica Audio Group

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I bought a 1.0 firmware Yamaha VL1 in really horrible physical condition a long time ago, and Mike Martin was kind enough to source a 2.0 chip for me. I could not bear the look of the thing because it was so beat up, so when a shiny one showed up on eBay, I sold the one I had. But then the purchase of the nicer one fell through, and that's the last time i saw a VL1 for a sane price.


"For instance" is not proof.


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