# General Mandolin Topics > eBay, Craig's List, etc. >  Ever regretted a Gibson?

## mrmando

"Some had started regretting the instrument but did not know how." 

Yeah, I know the feeling. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gibson-A-mod...UAAOSwT5tWJrLI

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## pointpergame

That was awesome!

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## Marty Jacobson

I wouldn't know how to regret an instrument like this either.

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## journeybear

Well, it would be easy to regret it if, once it arrives, you find it has issues that didn't show up in any of the many close-up photos the seller provided, along with lengthy in-depth detailed descriptions of them. Oh, wait - on closer inspection he provided a front and back photo and a rather brief paragraph without much information. Hmmm ... yes, I can see how it might be really easy to regret this.  :Wink:

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## objectsession

Regret is what you get if you fret while you refret.

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gtani7

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## vates

Someone should make a song out of this description...

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## journeybear

I dunno. Gonna take some serious tweaking to get the meter right. Then there's the rhyme scheme ...  :Disbelief: 

Available for purchase is a teens Gibson A model mandolin project. Crack free. Some had started regretting the instrument and did not know how. This instrument is being offered "as-is". It is a project. I ship via FedEx ground to the mainland US only and the buyer will receive free shipping. Arkansas residents to pay sales tax. No international shipping.

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## Jeff Hildreth

I regretted selling my mint 1915 A-1
I regretted selling my late 1922 Snakehead
I regretted selling my WM-45
I regret the theft of my 1946 J-45 (stolen in1965)

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## ollaimh

tell us how it turns out because it looks suspiciously like birch back,  that should be a cannon.  I suspect at that price it's well worth fixin' up and playing.

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## journeybear

It was just a matter of time until someone answered thee title question as if it were typed, not typoed, that way. I'll admit, that was my first thought, too - in fact, that's what caught my eye - and thought about what could one _possibly_ regret about a Gibson. (Not including those who know me,  :Grin:  but keeping the focus on instruments.)

But I did buy a 1922/23 Gibson A2 of eBay a year and a half ago that was supposed to be in very good condition. It had a neck bowed enough that it was neither playable nor reparable. It took some serious wrangling including several stern messages and opening a case with eBay to get the guy to accept it back. And his messages to me were full of vile vindictive verbiage. It dragged on for over a month. In the end he did refund my money and also the return shipping charges. But it was by far the worst experience I've had there, and really soured me on eBay for months. Not sure I really regret the Gibson itself, but all that came with it - yow!  :Disbelief: 

I also regret that Mandy Lynn, my late lamented late 70s F-12, was stolen just over eight years ago.  :Frown:  We'd been together for nearly 30 years, and we'd been through a _lot_ together in that time. We wrote a lot of songs with each other, we traveled lots of places, met lots of cool people, played lots of gigs, saw each other through some tough times and enjoyed lots of good times. She had a few regrets, too, I'm sure, as well as a few refrets.  :Grin:  Then again, her departure led me here as part of my search process. That led me to the wonders that abound here in terms of people and discussions and information _ad infinitum._ And the tips regarding eBay led me to find a replacement for her, a plain A that is very like my first mandolin, and a couple of MandoBirds and a Fender five-string Mandocaster as well, so it hasn't been all bad. A mixed blessing, I reckon.  :Wink:

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gtani7

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## vates

I have no mandolins by Gibson (yet), but I proudly possess their acoustic, electric and bass guitars (an older Montana-made CJ-165 and two LP DCs respectively). 
Never regretted a Gibson  :Smile:

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## jim simpson

I still miss my old J-100 & F5G

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## mrmando

> But I did buy a 1922/23 Gibson A2 of eBay a year and a half ago that was supposed to be in very goo condition.


Indeed?



> It had a neck bowed enough that it was neither playable nor reparable.


Sounds pretty gooey to me...

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## journeybear

It was, indeed, _way_ too gooey.  :Frown:  Couldn't be played or fixed.  :Frown:

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## mrmando

> I dunno. Gonna take some serious tweaking to get the meter right. Then there's the rhyme scheme ...


Pretty easy, actually, since Irving Gordon and Nat King Cole did most of the work: 

Unregrettable 
That's what you are, 
Unregrettable 
Tho' near or far. 

I’ll wipe off the dust that clings to you, 
Replace the rusty strings on you. 
Never before 
Has something been more... 

Unregrettable 
My Gibson A, 
But unplayable—  
Hello, eBay!  

So long, Gibson, it's incredible 
That though I find you unrefrettable 
I still think you’re
Unregrettable, too.

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allenhopkins, 

Bernie Daniel, 

DataNick, 

hank, 

journeybear, 

vates

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## journeybear

Oh, my!  :Disbelief:  Someone has had his morning coffee and got good use from it.  :Coffee:  Inasmuch as the original proposal was to transform the listing's description into song form, this is much better, paraphrasing a song custom-made for the job. Well done!  :Mandosmiley: 

Now, if someone wants to take another stab at this using the Tom Rush classic, "No Refrets," go for it!  :Grin: 



So you know, despite the presence of water fowl, no egrets were harmed in the making of this video.  :Whistling:

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Bill McCall

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## Mando-Mauler

No sir, I have never regretted buying a Gibson (or other) mandolin. I live in Australia, they come from the USA Some are good, some are ordinary, a few are bad. Regardless, with the help of a few gifted craftsmen who are really magical artists, we get these battered scraps of old timber and refurbish them to close approximations  to their original  selves so that future generations can enjoy and play these musical masterpieces which would otherwise be lost for all time. I don't give a rat's Rse if I win.lose or draw on these deals. If someone doesn't bestow the love & care these handcrafted gifts from an earlier age justly deserve, mankind will deserve everything it doesn't get. Artistry, including preservation, has to continue regardless of cost. Ask any kid if he can play something that doesn't have to be plugged in.  Care for these treasures - they ain't making them any more.

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## Bernie Daniel

> Regret is what you get if you fret while you refret.


Fretting often happens with regretting too!

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## journeybear

Just bide a wee and dinna fret.  :Smile: 

Grief sharper sting doth borrow
From regret: 
But yesterday is gone, and shall Its sorrow
Unfit us for the present and the morrow?
Nay: bide a wee and dinna fret.

 :Smile:

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Mark Gunter

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## allenhopkins

Still regret *not* buying an F-7 I had a shot at 30 years ago; hadda have an F-5, and am glad for my '54, but that F-7 was sweet...

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## journeybear

I do regret leaving my first mandolin behind, a plain A pumpkin, at my ex-girlfriend's place in Berkeley ... I'd recently picked up my F-12, and I was hitchhiking, so two instruments plus a backpack was a bit much. She probably sold it to make up for the rent I hadn't been paying.  :Whistling:

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## WW52

I never met a fret
I couldn't regret.
Nor a gret I couldnt' refret.
But unregetted,
I could only refrain as the 
withdrawal from sustain
drove me to regret 
the fret
that caused me untold pain
of such or no sustain
until
I refretted the unrefretable gret

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## Bernie Daniel

> Still regret *not* buying an F-7 I had a shot at 30 years ago; hadda have an F-5, and am glad for my '54, but that F-7 was sweet...


But don't fret in your regret...

Have you  re-graduated your '54?   

Not that I see a reason to do so as I rather like the dark tone of the '50's Gibsons.

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allenhopkins

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## Bernie Daniel

> I do regret leaving my first mandolin behind, a plain A pumpkin, at my ex-girlfriend's place in Berkeley ... I'd recently picked up my F-12, and I was hitchhiking, so two instruments plus a backpack was a bit much. She probably sold it to make up for the rent I hadn't been paying.


OK so you lost the mandolin but that's a small price to pay for painlessly shedding the GF right?

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## Steve Ostrander

I regret  that I had a A4 in my hands that belonged to a coworkers father. The father said he wasn't ready to sell, but his wife later sold it for $300 when he was incapacitated. I had offered WAY more than that.....

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## journeybear

> OK so you lost the mandolin but that's a small price to pay for painlessly shedding the GF right?


Hmmm ... Hadn't thought of it quite that way. (A corollary to how to get rid of a "friend" who bothers you too much - lend him $20. He'll make a point of avoiding you.  :Wink:  ) But I didn't really break up with her, just got involved in something that meant travelling across the country. It hadn't occurred to me I might not come back for a while - but it ended up being years.  :Whistling:  I just figured she'd have had no use for it and would have sold it to make up for my living there due to her good graces. And actually, considering what these go for nowadays in decent condition, she did pretty well on the deal.  :Wink: 

At any rate, it had more sentimental than real value, especially since it had a badly cracked back, thanks to stupidity on my heart. OTOH, this was an early repair job by George Youngblood. Maybe that's meaningful to collectors?  :Confused:

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## allenhopkins

> ...Have you  re-graduated your '54?  Not that I see a reason to do so as I rather like the dark tone of the '50's Gibsons.


Nope, it's "as original."  _Very_ bassy mandolin.  Not playing it too much over the past decade, as my musical wanderings have taken me away from bluegrass.

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## Bill McCall

Only the one I didn't buy.

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