Blog

8 March 2007

On being materialistic...

As I mentioned previously, I’ve been listening to more music and playing my guitar again, and this has made me think about the guitars I own.

There’s my first guitar, a cheap Hohner Rockwood Strat copy; my cheap acoustic guitar which I covered in Budweiser labels to make it look cool when I was younger; my Epiphone Les Paul, the one I played most back in the days when I was gigging; and a Charvel electric guitar which I’ve probably only played a handful of times.

I’ve since discovered – thanks to those Jackson/Charvel experts at JCF Online – that the neglected guitar is a Charvel 375 Deluxe with a flamed (maple?) cherry sunburst body. If you’re actually interested, it looks like the orange one in the bottom right hand corner of this catalogue. The reason I bothered to find out its exact model was because I was going to sell it.

Here’s the problem though. I like to keep (almost) everything. I have thousands of emails cluttering my mailbox dating back to 1997 because I don’t want to delete them. I have letters and cards from old school friends in a box in the roof because I can’t throw them away. My first car – a bright orange 1974 VW Beetle – has been rotting on my parents’ drive since around 1998. And I never want to get rid of my first guitar, even though it’s really crap and I’ll probably never play it every again, because it’s my first guitar!

All these things obviously have sentimental value and they’re really not worth anything to anyone else. However, the Charvel doesn’t have the same feeling about it. I hardly ever played it after all. And even though it’s probably still worth a couple of hundred quid, I’m not sure I can bring myself to get rid of it. Also, in the process of finding out its exact model I discovered that the Jackson/Charvel experts think the 375DLX was a great guitar, so I’d surely be mad to get rid of it... wouldn’t I!?

So does that make me materialistic, a sentimental old fool or just a hoarder?

What do you reckon? Should I just stick it on eBay and say goodbye?

(Actually... is anyone out there interested in buying it?)

Labels: ,


3 Comments

If it has no senti value, then hawk it :)- or easier to take down to the local pawn shop or trade it with friends. Try Criaglist too !!

I also have my old guiter, in storage.. for some reason.. I just have it.. kinda senti value !!
by Anonymous Anonymous  

Don't say goodbye to your first guitar. Give it your future kids.

It's okay to be a sentimental hoarder.
by Anonymous Anonymous  

As a matter of principle, you DO NOT get rid of your old guitar. That is something you... just... DON'T do. Give it away to your kids or a relation, but for god's sake make sure you know where it is!