Friday LR

The weekend is almost here. The white stuff is going fast. That's good, because I've gotta drive to Atlanta Saturday [100 miles away] to go see my Falcons whup those Packers. My son & I have 50-yard line seats up high. I think the birds can take them, but the Pack has been playing mighty tough lately.

LUNCH: Going for a turkeyburger with some serious condiments, boiled cabbage & onions, yogurt & berries, & wash it all down with some green tea.

YESTERDAY's WINNER: Man, those had me howling. Even the one Tim posted that I'd heard before. I'm sure we all appreciate everyone's honesty & forthrightness on the replies. This was SO tough to pick a winner, but giving the edge to Philby because I think I just reacted the strongest to it as I read it. What a hoot. I even read it to my wife & we both had a great laugh together over it. OK, Philby, send your address to jaystrings@aol.com and I'll get one in the mail to Australia when I mail out the other winners this weekend.

Y'all remember to post those answers on the same 3 questions for 2011 on http://www.gasexperiences.blogspot.com and compete there, too. Best overall responses there this week will win a G&L deluxe gig bag. Only open to GbL'ers. You have until noon Saturday to post there.

FINAL LR POST FOR THE WEEK: We all know the agony that can accopmpany the release of a great guitar. I'm not talking about the ones you're kinda burned out on or disappointed in.... I'm talking about ones you think are keepers, but you find yourself toying with letting it go. Maybe a friend wants it. Maybe it has appreciated & you can make something on it. Maybe you are GASing over something & this would give you what you need to get it. The thought runs thru your head that you'll regret it if you do. We've all been there, too. So, you waffle, ponder, debate, even get counseling from your best resources. This is the backside of a GAS problem - letting go a good one.

Ever been there?

I'm kinda there with this sweet thing. I got this ASAT Trinity new & it is a wonderful guitar.



The late George Fullerton fondled it when it was new. Here he's checking it out.



Will Ray did some pickin on it when he visited me in my home. First one he'd played.



It is of the highest quality of anything I own & has amazing tone plus a huge tone range. Other than letting a bunch of pickers at a Michigan Jam have their way with her, she's stayed right in my home & been played & admired by some of my friends & me.

So, why am I in a delimma about such a great axe? Well, I'm not REAL crazy about 3-pup guitars; but Will advised lowering the middle pup & that helped. It goes unplayed too much & I have seen few guitars that just begged playing likes this one does. And it delivers when played. I guess another factor tugging at me is that I have someone who has been GASing for it for a while. I even told him I wouldn't take one cent less than I paid for it & he didn't back off. He's kinda at bay right now, looking around. But he could return & he did get me to start thinking. There is no financial reason for me to sell it, but that seed was planted.

Let's imagine that I'm faced with the very real possibility of selling it for what I gave for it 5 years ago & I come to you for input & advice. Choose your path: "SELL" or "KEEP" - choose one or the other - then make your most compelling case to me for the path you choose. Gimme the pros & cons of your choice. Assume you know me, like me, & are trying hard to be helpful. I don't really care whether you mean everything you say or not, just give me your best arguement & reasons to do ONE of those options. I'm hoping this stimulates some real emotional & technical stuff on both sides of this coin. We will all be at this point in our future with a special guitar OR a special friend in a similar dilemma. Maybe something said here will be helpful in trying to sort it all out in your future. What say you?

Well, the second highest honor has been just that again. Thanks for jumping in when you could. As my last act, I'll pass the baton to our good buddy, Kodor. It's been a while since he took the reins. He always does a fine job & has something new to add. And thanks to Jamie D for nominating me.

Jay

Well never been on the regretting a sale thing. I have never HAD to make a sale, and only let go of the one I knew I wouldn't miss. In your case I would keep. Out ears change over the years, hard to predict what you will want next, and if you would regret it even a little, I wouldn't bother. It doesn't really matter if it doesn't get the hours it should, so long as when it gets hours they are thoroughly enjoyed.

My 2 cents there.

Jay,

Since you're on the fence 'bout selling or holding...

HOLD - G&L limited run. As I recall, it's a lightweight guitar, with plenty of tones on tap. A neck with low action that plays itself.

SELL - That darn middle PU is making you crazy. GAS is rearing its ugly head.

You're in a heap of trouble and there is no way out.

The money from the sale will cause you to make a rash choice for the next hawt floozie...err...guitar that winks at ya.

Figure you have Chuck's number on speed dial, along with Tim's at the Bros, and pro'lly more dealers 'cross the country that we ain't heard of.

Hope you'll give us a chance helpin ya decide on the replacement.

Good Luck,

Jamie

Should it stay, or Should it Go?

You gotta keep this one, the situation isn't right. You have some great history with it, even if not just from you playing it; and I don't sense that you have any particular buyer in mind. I think that you will find someone in your travels that REALLY wants the thing. You'll be able to tell. It's love at first feel--and can be spotted from a distance by anyone who has suffered from serious GAS themselves. But there are a couple criteria that are most often met:

1. They can play the thing like they're ringing a bell. It just works for 'em.
2. There won't be to much of a discussion on price (provided you are in the realm of reasonableness, and you suggested that you would be by pricing it at what you paid for it.)

I know for me, if I REALLY love a guitar. Everything about it, I'll pay the freight. If it's close but something not quite their, I'll drive a really hard bargain.

So the right situation will come along, you'll get capital to survive the next spell of GAS; and someone will likely add a great addition to their collection...but it's too cool to just let go all willy nilly.

I don't have many regrets about selling guitars. A couple of times i sold a guitar, including a great rosewood Martin, to pay for semester of school. I bought it with a broken neck in a pawn shop, no case for $350. Traded a Luthier to fix the neck, I insulated and sheet-rocked his garage. Sold it for $2500. You could go to Montana State U for $2500, full-time student in-state tuition. (If memory serves, which it generally does not, i think the total bill for my tuition an fees was just under $2100.)

Hi Jay,

I'm completely with sickbutnottired, you'll have to keep her! The Trinity is such an awesome model! If I would boil down my collection of ASAT's to the essential models they would contain a Broadcaster, pre-BBE ASAT III, ASAT '50, 20th Anniversary, and Trinity: a nice mixture of body, neck, and fingerboard woods, kind of pups and their hotness. And I know you at least have the latter 2.

For myself, I only sold (and trashed) guitars that I truly did not care about at all (anymore) and have not been confronted with the dilemma yet. Hope it will take another 30 years before that point is reached.

- Jos

Trinity, oh Trinity
What now ought I do with thee?
Although you're a beloved friend
My heart knows that you're near the end.

Here now is what I suggest
In response to today's LR request
For advice on what to do with she
Who calls herself sweet Trinity.

Why let conundrums cause you strife?
You live but once - this IS your life!
I'll offer you a neat, sweat deal
We'll both do well, our wounds will heal.

So trade that geetar for my wife
Even up. For good. For life.
She looks okay, her favor's strong
She'll let you "pluck" her all night long!

Yeah, I know you have a gal already
And that mine can be a nag (and petty)
But I'm throwing in some extra coin
So you might watch them go - or join!

- ed

Nice one Ed!

Keep it Jay, that's a real looker and if it plays well, then that just ices the cake.

I think about selling this guitar quite often


It's a 1968 Baldwin Vibraslim. It's a great sounding guitar and plays very nicely. It has appreciated in value since I bought it about 10 years ago, it's worth roughly twice what I paid for it. I don't play it very often and being so old it has its quirks, but everything on it works. Every time I think about selling it I see this and stop



Something about the three dots at the twelfth fret makes me hang on to it. It just looks so cool. The blue crushed velvet case is great too. It's a huge guitar, 41cm across at the hips.

IDEA Jay, I'll swap you for that Trinity!!!

Others have heard me pine over it before, a 1994 Fender strat that I loved, it played so nice, had a lovely birdseye neck and was a sweet metallic red. Loved that guitar, sold it for just about what I paid for it, at the time I was gas'in for car parts, and not the necessary kind. I had just bought my first new car a 2004 Subaru WRX in world rally blue, it was a dream come true, my GAS shifted from music to Auto-x racing and I used the proceeds to fund some go faster bits In the end the guitar appreciated in value and the car obviously depreciated, and was sold a couple of years ago in favor of a more family friendly vehicle.

Once the thought of selling enters your mind it's days are numbered, you've made the decision that if one has to go it's that one, just a matter of when. That being said, I say hang on to that Trinity for now, at least until there is something you just HAVE to have. It's a beauty of a guitar and as others have mentioned you have a good history with it. Selling to a friend always makes the blow a little softer, at least you know where it is. I sold mine to Guitar Center and I left not feeling good and I have thought about how even if I wanted it back, which I do/did, there is no way I could find it, she's gone forever.

-Dave

So trade that geetar for my wife
Even up. For good. For life.
She looks okay, her favor's strong
She'll let you "pluck" her all night long!

- ed

LOLOLOLOL!!! Ok, Z-man, I gotta send ya a book for this clever song. Send me your address. I'm still laughing..............

Nice hearin' from ya on this one.

Jay

Don't worry, the Trinity ain't goin' NOWHERE. She's staying right here to continue gracing my harem.

Jay

Jay, I just had a chance to go through the the rest of your lunch reports for this week and there are some very interesting questions and answeres. First of all, when you are tired of the Trinity, let me know as it is a beauty. It would look great on the wall.

The subject for this week this week has had a lot to do with GAS and the trouble it can cause. I denied having GAS, but I have to confess a little. I grew up in an extremely poor family but a very happy one and rich in many other ways. As a kid, we never wore shoes in the summer unless we went to town. To this day I have no desire for antiques. Every thing I grew up around was antique. Music was very important to me as a kid and I used to listen to WLS in Chicago on Saturday nights. I remember Lulubelle and Scotty were always on. I started playing Banjo when I was probably 4 to 5 years old and won a local talent contest, probably because I was brave enough to do it. So, after raising the kids and educating them, we now have some extra resources to burn on guitars, which I really treasure. Ginny has been terrific though all this and even surprises me with one now and them. So, is it GAS? Probably, but I will tell you that it is a passion and probably will not change until I am looking up at the bottom of the grass. That is my confession for today!!!!!

Stupid things? Yep, Ginny went to Ohio a couple of years ago and I picked up a Hamer Artist when she was gone. It was about the same color as the one it replaced on the wall. Now, many of you are aware of the 48 hour rule, but I would never be dishonest with GInny. When she returned, I was waiting to see if she would notice it. She didn't and a month later I pointed it out to her on the wall. I was thinking that I was about as smooth as one can get. WRONG!!!!!!! It was not received as I had intended and I will not attempt that joke again!!

Another question about the one person on this list that I would like to meet. Thank you Yow, and I would love to meet you. I would also be guilty of molesting your collection of ASATS. There are many of you that I would like to meet. I know there are several on the board from this area and a jam would be interesting. Lets see if anything can develop.

I have been thinking about Craig, his family, and his father and hope that things are getting better. Life is so fragile and many of us don't think about that until we are older, as least I do now. Wisdom tells me that I am no longer bullet proof. So does the Doctor.

Great week Jay and Thank you for the book. Maybe it will give me some new excuses to lay on Ginny. ---- Darwin