The One That Got Away

I think most musicians go through a fair amount of gear in their lifetimes. I know as I’ve collected, and gotten rid of, a lot of gear – I’m reminded of the ones that got away.

My first sad story begins with the recommendation from a friend. He told me about this cool Gibson Flying V that he saw at Bandstand East (the music shop of choice for us east-siders). I hadn’t really thought of owning a V at the time, but I did dig Michael Schenker, and UFO so… I had to go down and check it out. Sure enough, it was a very cool guitar. I played it a little but immediately bonded with this thing. I can’t really remember how I got the money for it, but I did and the V was mine!

I played the hell out of that V. I jammed with friends, played in bands. I was also reading about how Jimi Hendrix was so into his guitar that he slept with the damn thing – so of course I had to follow suite. Uncomfortable as it was, I slept with the new V. I really bonded with that guitar, it was my go-to for a long time.

As time went on I got different guitars, and my focus shifted away from the V. I had no acoustic guitar at the time but knew someone who did. Somehow we agreed to trade guitars, my V for the acoustic he had. Time passed and I kind of forgot about the trade and the V. The whole thing is hazy and I can’t remember the particulars but we both got rid of our respective trades, and the V was gone. After the dust settled, I really regretted not keeping that cool guitar which held so many great memories.

The second sad story concerns my first real rock amp: a Marshall 100w JMP half stack! I was a long-haired, rocker kid from the burbs with delusions of grandeur. My favorite rock stars played Marshall amps, and I had to have one. Once again as I was loitering at Bandstand East, a late 70s Marshall half stack caught my eye. I pestered my parents about it for weeks until they finally relented.

I don’t think my parents really thought about how loud a 100w Marshall half stack would be. Oh, did I tell you my brother also played drums?! Well, needless to say we heard the “turn that shit down” refrain from mom and dad quite a bit after the purchase. But I must say they were really good sports. And they came out to see the various musical ventures my brother and I got ourselves in to.

I played this amp a ton. It was way more amp that I ever really needed since I mostly played clubs. Every gig the sound guy would tell me I was too loud, but I didn’t care. I really loved this amp, and it served me well for many years. But as you might guess, I grew complacent about the Marshall, too. It was big, and heavy – hard to cart around to gigs. So I put it in the want ads and a rocker dude came by and snagged it for what I remember being a pretty fair price.

So these days I try to be a bit more thoughtful about letting go of gear. Maybe you, too, have stories about ones that got away. We’d love to hear about them.