My Once in a Lifetime Guitar Story (Page 1 of 2)

That is a great story, and proof that "doing the right thing" pays off in the end.

In these times, it sure is nice to read stories like this.  I wish I read more of them.

I'm still waiting for my once in a lifetime event, but I gotta say, glad to hear that you did the right thing.  That deed will come back to you at some point.

That is such a nice story HoosierRock and something to feel really good about, no one can put a price tag on that! 

+1,000,000

My long lost friend owned a store here in Hickory NC.  I forgot his last name but his first name was Allen.  Anyway he had one of those moments that you discribed with a 50's model Telecaster.  An old lady called him and said she had a guitar she wanted to sell that belonged to her son.  He told her to bring it in and he would look at it. The poor old lady lost her son in the Vietnam War and never cleaned his room out.  She was moving to a retirement home and needed money and found the guitar.  She asked Allen what he would take for it and Allen didn't have such a nice moment. He offered her $200 and she left with a smile thinking she had just won the lottery.  Allen turned around and sold it at a guitar show as it turned out it was an 54' Telecaster that at the time was worth around $12,000.  Allen never the greedy type priced it to sell.  $9,000 is what he got out of it in 2001.   BTW today they go for $34,000 or more. 

I asked him if he felt bad about what he did, and he put it to me like this: "I didn't ask her for it, she wanted quick money, and $200 was all I had.  If she felt like it wasn't a fair deal to sell her sons guitar she should have went else where.  Nobody forced her and she didn't counter offer.  So no I don't feel bad" 

I didn't feel bad either I got to play it before he sold it and not to sound like a little kid opening a christmas present or anything but it was the best sounding Telecaster I had the joy of playing.  The vibe the feel everything was amazing.  Allen should have kept that guitar or at least gave the old lady some more money.   

I lost contact with Allen after that he closed his shop and moved to Seattle to open up a shop there.  I think there are a lot less old lady's with guitars under beds then they used to have but they are still there.  Be on the look out for them and you too can have a story.

I felt bad about the fact that she even told him I don't know what this thing is worth now what will you give me for it.  The poor old lady needed money bad to get to this nursing home she was moving to and she came in good faith that the man would give her a fair price.  I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the same thing but I think I would have told her that this could be worth a lot of money before I offered her $200.  Because its only worth really what someone is willing to pay for it.

Plus I'm still pissed he took that money and opened up a shop in Seattle!

When I was about 10, my parents started noticing I was pretty dedicated to my guitar lessons (I started at 7).  They were looking to get me something a little better than the $20 flea market guitar I started with.  My uncle had just bought a '62 Gibson J-45 from a yard sale for $200, but he also had some sort of old Martin.  Since he had the Martin, he offered me his new treasure for what he paid for it, with the condition that if I ever sold it, it would only be back to him.  It wasn't in the best of shape, and I've had to get some work done on it just to make it playable, but I've had it now for roughly 25 years.  My uncle passed away about two years ago, and as a reminder for his kindness, I keep the program from his funeral in the case, so that it's the first thing I see any time I open it.  He was always one of my biggest supporters, so I owe him that much.  Thanks for the trip down memory lane hoosierrock!

What a great story about the old guitars.  I'm kind of on the fence about what the right or wrong thing to do is.  Usually if you have to ask yourself if it's wrong.....it's wrong.

If an old woman comes to me with a nearly unobtainium type guitar....you know the guitars we see in magazines and dream about.....and I have a chance to buy one at an affordable price, man that's a REALLLLY tough decision.  Like mentioned above, that episode of Pawn Stars was a great example of how people can be.  I mean, if you would have been like, "Oh no no no this is worth way more than $200.  Here I'll give you $2000 cash right now out the door" would that still have been screwing the lady over?  You gave her a lot of money, literally 10X what she asked but it's still not even 1/10 of what it's really worth.... It's so true though, once a seller catches on that they may be holding onto some real treasure the price will take a serious hike.

To be honest, I would have offered her quite a bit more than $200 but only what I could afford for the guitar.  I say the real A-Holes are the guitar hoarding rich collectors that have driven the prices of vintage gear through the roof away from real players who could actually appreciate and use the darn things.