Ever buy a bass back?

Have had the chance to buy back a bass that you have really regretted selling?

  • Yes

    Votes: 87 43.3%

  • No

    Votes: 62 30.8%

  • I wish!

    Votes: 52 25.9%
  • Total voters
    201
#21
I always regretted having to part with my Ovation Magnum I, just to make rent. Back in the late '70s it was such a forward-looking bass, sounded thunderous, and the neck fit my grip perfectly. When times got better I looked for it in vain, but eventually found one like it on eBay.
 
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#25
Mike Vee said:
I was just wondering if any of you have had the chance to repurchase a bass that you regretted selling???

About a year ago I sold my 2006 Stingray in natural because I secured a Sabre Classic. That was fine, the Sabre was amazing. I then wound up selling the Sabre Classic because the only tone I really liked or needed was number 5, the "Stingray" position, and it was worth a lot of money.

After selling the Sabre, I tried and tried to find a Stingray that I liked, going through about 7 Music Mans & Sterling ray 24/34s. I like VERY low action, and every single one wouldn't setup low or had some sort of neck/fret issue where they would buzz with low action. The only one that ever felt right was my 2006!! At the time, I swore off Stingrays and concentrated on my Fenders (which always setup perfectly).

Lucky for me, last week I was browsing Reverb and saw a really nice natural Stingray, a 2006. After checking it out for about 15 second, I realized it was the same bass! My bass!! The guy still had it, and it was still in the same condition. Of course, I bought it back right away (had to stretch some funds for sure) and it's on the way to me right now.

SO LUCKY!!!

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I've never bought a bass back because I have never regretted getting rid of one in the first place except for an early nineties custom ordered Carvin L-70. Funny thing about that bass, I bought it barely used for a third of what the owner paid for it, on the condition I would sell it back to them when the time came. They were hard up for money at the time and 8 years later we had lost contact with one another, I was married, and I finally let the bass go.

And now, another 2 decades later, I have walked away from active basses altogether and play all passive basses, so do I truly regret letting that one get away? No way of telling without finding it and buying it back. And I have no desire to even attempt that.
 
#26
Not a buy-back, but a give back-- twice. My Peavey T-40. I "sold" it to a guy that attended our church a couple of times who was wanting to learn bass. He didn't have the money, but promised to pay. After about a month, he decided to give it back. I'm not sure if he just lost interest or couldn't scrape up the money and did the right thing giving it back.

After that, I gave to my son. He liked it so well, he bought one of his own and gave mine back.

Since it boomeranged back to me twice, I have decided that I'm supposed to own this bass. I bought it new in 1979. It was my only bass for 20 years. It has it's share of battle scars and memories, but is still a great player.

My other story puts me as the buyer who sold back to the original owner. I bought an old Fender Mustang from a Craigslist ad. An older guy who had played many years and was liquidating some stuff. It had a bad refinish job. I didn't know much about Mustangs, but when I got it home, I discovered that that the body had been re-contoured with forearm and belly cuts. NIce carving, but bad paint. A little disappointing, finding out that it wasn't in vintage shape.

About a year later, the guy contacted me and asked if he could buy it back. He had bought an Ibanez Mikro, but it just didn't sound and feel like his old familiar, well-loved Mustang. He offered to pay more than I paid to buy it back, but I sold it to him for what I paid him. He got some new strings in the deal. I felt I did the right thing.

EDIT: The bass I sold back wasn't a Mustang, but a Musicmaster. I also found a picture of it.
 

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#27
There have been times when I probably should have bought a bass back, but I haven’t. Yet. Occasionally you will see an ad where the seller wants first right of refusal should you (the buyer) decides to sell the bass you’re buying in the future. Why would you buy something with strings attached unless it’s a sweater?
 
#28
I had a Roscoe Century Standsrd 6 Plus with jazz pickups and an AMAZING quilt maple top and wenge board made in 2012. I sold it after not even a year. Just didn’t click. Not sure I gave it enough time. Bought it back a while later to “give it another shot” but sold it again. I just played my 5 more. Then bought it one more time for “nostalgia” as it was my first Roscoe build and I thought I should have it along with my other two even if I didn’t play it. Well, it’s dumb to have a bass gig don’t play, so I sold it again.
It was an amazing bass and I wish I liked it more. Here’s a pic of Keith and I when I went to the shop to pick it up.

IMG_5243.jpeg
 
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#29
Oddly enough, I had a 1991 Stingray that was natural ash that I sold years ago on eBay. The buyer said if I ever wanted it back, just let him know.
I sold it to buy a Conklin GT-7 - which was the stupidest mistake I've made in basses to date.
HUGE remorse on that.
Tried to buy it back, but as predicted, I never heard back from the Stingray buyer. Pretty sure he loved it.
On the plus side, I eventually ended up with an 89 SR5 that made me happy. But I never got the SR4 back. So congrats on you getting yours back!
 
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#32
My first bass, a 1961 Epiphone Newport. Sold and bought it back TWICE.
I got it in 72, and cut my teeth on it all the way through high school.
Got tired of fighting the mudbucker, but still loved how it looked, and played.
Hung on to it through several other basses, but eventually got my first Pbass.
Sold it to my best friend. Started pining for it, bought it back.
10 years later, sold it to another friend. And sure enough,...Started pining again.
Begged him to trade it back to me for a Ampeg 2x15 cab. Being a good friend, he acquiesced.
Gave it over to yet another friend who did paint work for him to strip and refinish the back of the neck, which had the old nitro starting to "alligator " pretty bad.
A year later....he passed away. No sign of my old bass.
2 years later, his family contacted me to let me know it had been found, in pieces , and gave it back to me. It stayed like that, deconstructed , for the next 15 years.
I've spent the last 2 years restoring it to its former glory, and its almost finished.
I'll soon be posting its coming out photos.
Thats 3 times gone, 3 times back. I ain't sellin it again! 😖
 
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#33
Yes!

10+ years ago I was in a very tight spot and had to sell basically all my stuff, along with my custom ordered G&L L2500. I deeply regretted it for years, and a couple of years ago I got in contact with the buyer and managed to buy it back. I'm extremely happy I did, as I really love that bass!

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#34
Tied for 3rd place on the list of guitars I regret selling is my 2nd bass: an Epiphone eb-3 in Pelham Blue I got because I wanted a long scale (my first was a Jay Turser Beatle bass). I convinced myself I didn't like the pickups so I got a DiMarzio neck pickup and had the bridge routed out for an SD music man pickup and had the preamp installed. Also changed to black hardware to match the pickups. Unnecessary changes but it ended up sounding awesome especially with the Steve Harris signature strings.

Since my early 20s were all about bad decisions I not only sold it but traded it to guitar center of all places to get a 6 string, on top of not getting nearly what it was worth I forgot to take the expensive strings off before trading it in 😭 I still occasionally look up Pelham Blue EB3s to see if I can find another one (or, by some miracle, that same one)
 

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#38
Well...I didn't buy it back. I stole it back.

Had been stolen from me about 1.5 years previously. It was an old bass, I wanted a fretless, so I pulled the frets out (chips of fretboard included LOL), filled slots in with something, sanded smooth, my first fretless. Yay! Looked like crap, but it worked.

Over a year later, I played an outdoor gig with other bands on the lineup. Saw my bass again. Hung out until after they played. They left their gear offstage to mingle in the crowd. I took it back, easy=peasy.

Woulda/coulda/shoulda talked with the guy, but it was my bass no matter how you sliced it. Gave it away years later to a guitarist's son who wanted to learn bass.
 
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