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View Full Version : Equipment Non-Purchases That You Regret



Garden Dreamer
12-06-2012, 01:02 PM
Tell about the opportunities you had to purchase musical equipment that you didn't pull the trigger on, and regretted later.

In the 80's when digital synths were becoming all the rage, Sam Ash Music in Hempstead NY had a floor model MiniMoog they were getting rid of for $150. It would have been great for playing the synth lines in "Farewell to Kings" and the like. I didn't buy it. I regret that decision.

Another was an Ibanez Musician bass, the rarer "bean" model from the early 80's that I tried out in a Guitar Center circa 1998. Nice wood grain finish, neck-thru-body, fast neck and growly tone perfect for playing Rush, all for only $450. The salesman saw the drool running down my chin and said take it for $400. I didn't. I finally did get one a few years back on Ebay for only $310, but not as nice - black painted finish, beat-up, a few "wolf tones" on the fretboard. I've still got my eyes open for another one but they don't go for cheap anymore...

arabicadabra
12-06-2012, 02:07 PM
Something called a "Roto Chime" - a 3 legged bell of some kind that was supposed to have its own vibrato when struck - never saw it or tried it and the company is long gone but I was intrigued.... and also broke....

trurl
12-06-2012, 02:29 PM
I could have bought a Prophet-10 for about $150 in the mid '90s. It had some issues that would have required repair but still, what a deal. I didn't go for it because of the weight and size of it, and I couldn't afford to get it retrofitted properly. I do sort of wish I had it though.

Progbear
12-06-2012, 03:20 PM
By far, the $50 Minimoog they had at Leo’s Music in Oakland circa 1988. What was I thinking?

More of a “dodged a bullet,” but a guy offered me $500 for his Rhodes Chroma. It seemed like a deal until he examined it and noticed that the reason it was having trouble was that the battery had leaked all over some of the internal components. That could have turned into a real money pit!

-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

"Parece cosa de maligno. Los pianos no estallan por casualidad." --Gabriel Garcia Marquez

N.P.:“Goodbye Blue Monday”-City Boy/Dinner at the Ritz

Norman Phay
12-06-2012, 05:24 PM
I got offered a broken minimoog for 350ukp about 12-13 years ago, I hummed and hawed about it during which time someone else bought it, what a fool.

Years ago, I saw this thing in a cheapie used guitar place, and Antoria les-Paul shaped thing, with a scroll effect on the upper horn bit and loads of abalone inlay, it looked quite beautiful (& was VERY cheap) I didn't know if it was any cop or not, so I was going to as Mark to try it out, it dissapeared though, about 1mo later I was out in Newcastle with Mark and we saw the exact same intrument in another guitar shop for like 5 times the price (which it sold for reasonably quickly) Mark tried it and it played great, I wish I'd bought it, I never saw anything like it since.

Mikhael
12-06-2012, 06:05 PM
A Pearce G2x, which is a guitar preamp from the Pearce company. I figured that I'd never go direct (you know how guitarists love their 12" speakers), and now I hardly ever use speakers. I would love to get my hands on one of those, but Pearce is long since out of business, and they didn't make too many of those. Crap.

everythingtoexcess
12-06-2012, 08:11 PM
Going through it right now. I have the opportunity to buy a MINT older Music Man Silhouette for $550. It has an ash body, which I've never seen before, and someone loaded it with some pretty nice Seymour Duncans. Under normal conditions I'd dive on the thing, but the holidays are upon us and I just replaced my ENTIRE pa system. No $ to throw around right now. It's KILLING me.

fictionmusic
12-08-2012, 11:53 AM
I have indulged myself with gear so there isn't any thing I really regret not having gotten, BUT there was a painting I was considering buying. I decided I'd get a coffee and make up my mind. I hadn't walked out of the shop for more than 5 minutes when I figured I'd buy it but as I got back into the gallery, the staff was wrapping the picture up for the person who had been right after me. Too bad too.
The same thing happened with a sculpture of a bull I saw at another gallery.

mogrooves
12-08-2012, 12:31 PM
I had a chance to acquire both an early 70s patch-cord Moog synth and a 60s vintage
Hammond B-3 at reasonable prices and passed on both. Dumb.....

progmatist
12-08-2012, 01:45 PM
In the mid to late 80's, I was stationed at a Naval Air Station near Fresno, California. My favorite music store in Fresno had a new Schecter Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Guitar. I ultimately decided against buying it. Turns out, there were only a handful of these guitar made and they're now worth considerable cash.

Baribrotzer
12-10-2012, 06:31 AM
Quite a few years ago, a friend had a Memorymoog in his basement. It belonged to some other friend of his, and that guy would have sold it for $750. The DX7 and other digital synths had just come in, and bulky, heavy, fragile, unstable analog monsters with limited polyphony seemed like dinosaurs at the time. But I always regretted not buying it.

Vic2012
12-10-2012, 12:37 PM
This friend of mine had a beautiful, old Fender Precision. It was cream colored with a tortoise shell scratch plate. He was selling it but I think the price was a little steep. But at the time I had a P-Bass copy and I wanted something I could be proud of. I passed on it. What was I gonna do with it? I wasn't in a band, nor was I looking for a gig either.

rapidfirerob
12-10-2012, 05:49 PM
A Pearce G2x, which is a guitar preamp from the Pearce company. I figured that I'd never go direct (you know how guitarists love their 12" speakers), and now I hardly ever use speakers. I would love to get my hands on one of those, but Pearce is long since out of business, and they didn't make too many of those. Crap.
Bass players also love 12" speakers. I have two Gallien-Kreuger Neo 112s, sound great, weigh 30 pounds each.
The rhythm guitarist in the band I was in in Fresno, while in grad school, told me he had an SG in a pawn shop. I could have it if I wanted to, he said. He thought it was a 63, but it is a 67. I'm a mediocre guitarist, but very happy I bought it. Now worth some coin.
Like so many things in life, timing is everything, or certainly very important. That certainly applies to equipment purchases. Of course, sometimes GAS gets the better of us.

Supersonic Scientist
12-26-2012, 01:21 PM
Passed on buying a mint Roland Space Echo for $50 back in 1994. On the opposite side, I borrowed a 1972 100w Marshall half-stack from a friend omine in 1982 and I still have it and he lives FAR away now will little to no chance we'll ever hook-up to pass it back.

Garden Dreamer
12-28-2012, 10:28 AM
Of course, sometimes GAS gets the better of us.

Gear Acquisition Syndrome for those who don't know what that stands for...;)