New Old Guitar Day
I bought my first proper high-end guitar in about 1997. It was a lovely 1993 PRS Standard 22 stoptail in a deep vintage cherry colour, with a one-piece mahogany body, wide-fat neck with heavily rolled fingerboard edges, moon inlays, Dragon pickups, rotary switch, a comfortable weight at a little under eight pounds and in great condition. I enjoyed it for a few years but having acquired some other nice guitars along the way I decided to move it on and sold it around 2009.
I kind of missed it over the years and for a while now I’ve been thinking it would be nice to get it back. I thought I’d actually do something about that on Friday so I decided to set up an eBay saved search and lo and behold the first guitar that came up on my search looked just like my old one. I messaged the seller and asked if the guitar had a tiny dent on the front top edge, which I remembered doing, and he confirmed it did and sent me close-up pics, so it was indeed the same guitar!
It turned out he was the same guy who’d bought it from me 15 years before and after some friendly negotiation we agreed a price and I paid for it via an eBay offer on Saturday. His eBay listing had said collection only but when I asked if we could meet halfway the seller offered to bring it to my house first thing the next day, more than a 100 mile round trip for him, what a lovely chap!
So it arrived on Sunday morning, less than 48 hours from conception to delivery. The guitar is every bit as good as I remember it and in the same condition as when I sold it, so it must've hardly been played in the last 15 years. It’s too early to say whether it will be a long-term keeper but it’s great to have it back in the fold, I’m well happy with it so far and will enjoy it while I can. Merry Christmas everybody!
The unmistakeable ding I did back in the day.
Comments
I love a happy ending!
Great news & an amazing coincidence.
What's meant for you, won't pass you by :+1: ;)
What's meant for you, won't pass you by :+1: ;)
Super cool that you bought it back from the same guy you sold it to! I did that once myself - the guitar was a cherry PRS Standard 22 as it happens, albeit a satin finished one. It wasn't a 15-year gap, though, and I did end up selling it again.
Great looking guitar, and no-once can accuse it of being blingy! I'm intrigued by the upside-down neck pickup... was it always like that, and are they the original pickups?
Great looking guitar, and no-once can accuse it of being blingy! I'm intrigued by the upside-down neck pickup... was it always like that, and are they the original pickups?
Congrats on reuniting with an old flame; it looks lovely - very classy and understated. HN(O)GD.
That kind of surprised me Nigel - Both the PRS and the date - Just imagined you'd have had a few nice pieces before 1997 - Take carefretfinder said:I bought my first proper high-end guitar in about 1997. It was a lovely 1993 PRS Standard 22 stoptail in a deep vintage cherry colour,
bet you do!drofluf said:I love a happy ending!
Very interesting that the one you bought back was a cherry standard 22 as well! And yes I love the low bling factor on this one, always have.Philly_Q said:Super cool that you bought it back from the same guy you sold it to! I did that once myself - the guitar was a cherry PRS Standard 22 as it happens, albeit a satin finished one. It wasn't a 15-year gap, though, and I did end up selling it again.
Great looking guitar, and no-once can accuse it of being blingy! I'm intrigued by the upside-down neck pickup... was it always like that, and are they the original pickups?
Regarding the neck pickup, good spot, I hadn’t noticed. I’ve found an old pic from back in the day and the pickup was the right way round then. The seller’s eBay listing had photos of the pickups removed, showing the Dragon stickers on the bottoms, so I can only assume he put the neck pickup back in the wrong way round. The guitar needs a string change and a fret clean and polish anyway so I’ll change the pickup round at the same time.
Incredible and happy coincidence that you decided to search for your old guitar just as the present owner decided to sell and the seller sounds like a gent. Happy guitar reunited day.
Meant to be.
Nice. Very nice. Merry Christmas!
That’s awesome. I did the same with an RG550 I sold and regretted. Found it on an eBay saved search and bought it back off the guy that I sold it to in the first place. Never selling mine, and you shouldn’t sell yours either!
Wow - that’s as great as me getting my favourite Rickenbacker back again earlier this year, after about 18 years. Same sort of story - although with mine, the owner contacted me via the shop I worked for, and honoured the promise he’d made when he bought it to give me first refusal. It took literally seconds with it to know what a mistake I’d made selling it in the first place.
We should never sell any of these guitars, we don’t get a third chance to put things right.
I’m still missing my 2002 purple PRS Standard 22, if anyone know where that is… last seen with Duncan pickups and a Trem-Setter. (And a distinctive dent on the front of the lower horn.)
We should never sell any of these guitars, we don’t get a third chance to put things right.
I’m still missing my 2002 purple PRS Standard 22, if anyone know where that is… last seen with Duncan pickups and a Trem-Setter. (And a distinctive dent on the front of the lower horn.)
Very cool indeed, and a great story! Those early Dragon 1-equipped Stds and CUs are fantastic :)
That’s in great condition. Nice story too.
Congrats Nigel.
Enjoy, and have a great Christmas.
Lovely story and some great pictures. Absolutely understated class.
Enjoy
Enjoy
Never mind that Mark, what do you think of the guitar?guitars4you said:That kind of surprised me Nigel - Both the PRS and the date - Just imagined you'd have had a few nice pieces before 1997 - Take carefretfinder said:I bought my first proper high-end guitar in about 1997. It was a lovely 1993 PRS Standard 22 stoptail in a deep vintage cherry colour.
That's incredible and definitely meant to be!
Especially if it's free!drofluf said:I love a happy ending!
Ahhhhh…
I’m a PRS fan and as it happens I always like the Plain Jane models - Enjoy playing itfretfinder said:Never mind that Mark, what do you think of the guitar?guitars4you said:That kind of surprised me Nigel - Both the PRS and the date - Just imagined you'd have had a few nice pieces before 1997 - Take carefretfinder said:I bought my first proper high-end guitar in about 1997. It was a lovely 1993 PRS Standard 22 stoptail in a deep vintage cherry colour.
A lovely story but you seem unsure of whether you will keep it?
Sorry for being cynical at Christmas but perhaps after a while you may remember why you sold it in the first place and the second owner hardly played it? ;)
Merry Christmas!
Sorry for being cynical at Christmas but perhaps after a while you may remember why you sold it in the first place and the second owner hardly played it? ;)
Merry Christmas!
With my Rickenbacker, I sold it because I am an idiot, my musical style had changed and I thought I wouldn’t use it any more, and I didn’t then realise it’s the best Rick I’ve ever played.Neil said:
Sorry for being cynical at Christmas but perhaps after a while you may remember why you sold it in the first place and the second owner hardly played it? ;)
I don’t know why the new owner didn’t play it much, but it’s not because it’s a bad guitar. I’m slightly pleased he didn’t, because it’s in almost exactly the same condition as when I last saw it.
I agree, sometimes second chances remind us why we made a decision in the first place, but sometimes we can put right a mistake. Since it’s Christmas, watch It’s A Wonderful Life :).
That’s a great story. I wonder how many other tFB have a ‘lost love’. Mine would be my first ever FG. I worked through quite a few other acoustics before realising how great that was.
Happy Christmas everyone. What am I doing looking at tFB? Have retired to bed whilst everyone else gets dinner! Great to be a grandad!
I went to sell my first bass, a fender music master when I was about 16.
A mate persuaded me not to. It almost got sold when I was about to move to the US I've never regretted not selling it despite it not getting used loads for the 30 years I've had it.
A mate persuaded me not to. It almost got sold when I was about to move to the US I've never regretted not selling it despite it not getting used loads for the 30 years I've had it.
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