Sometimes things don't go as planned

PunkKitty

PunkKitty

Horny bag of electric meat
Strange two days. As some of you know, I often buy guitars from pawn shops, fix them, and then resell them at a profit. It's just a bit of extra cash for me.
Yesterday I needed to get out of the house, so I drove into the city to visit the shops. My travels led me to a shop on the south side of Chicago that I visit from time to time. I came across a beautiful instrument in good condition. I couldn't connect to my bank to check my finances, so I went home to do some research on the year and authenticity. I called the shop and they said they would hold it for me until today.

So I go to the shop, I'm talking to one of the clerks I spoke to yesterday. They returned the guitar to the wall and did not hold it. An older African American man was sitting on the floor playing it. I struck up a conversation with him. He decided to buy it.
What could I do? For him it was a dream guitar. It was also a dream guitar for me, but realistically, it was a product that I intended to resell. I could have easily doubled my money. But I'm not going to stand there and try to outbid him. It's not his fault that the shop returned it to the wall. So I wished him peace and said good luck. I'll find something else eventually.

The guitar was a 1962 Gibbons ES-125 in excellent condition for its age. Such is life.
 
I sometimes have a really hard time walking away from a great deal (even if I don't really need it), because, well, it's such a good deal. However, I find it a lot easier to stomach if I know that whoever else is buying it genuinely appreciates it. You did a good thing not to get in the way of that.
 
irishstu said:
I sometimes have a really hard time walking away from a great deal (even if I don't really need it), because, well, it's such a good deal. However, I find it a lot easier to stomach if I know that whoever else is buying it genuinely appreciates it. You did a good thing not to get in the way of that.
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+1

You did the right thing, 'Kitty. That guy's now got his dream guitar, and it wasn't your dream guitar. It would have been within your rights to insist you had a prior agreement to buy it, but it would not have been the right thing. Good on you.
 
I've owned a couple ES-125s over the years, each late 50's I think. Cool guitars for sure. I was searching them on Reverb last week, actually, just to check prices. they went up.
 
Honkridge said:
I would have let the guy take the guitar but I would have bitched at the owner of the shop.
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Sometimes it's not worth it. Better to just let it go. I've gotten many good deals out of this shop because they usually don't know what they are buying.
 
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