Selling my GB30TR or not ?

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Author Message Jangb30tr Username: Jangb30tr Registered: 09-2006 Posted on Thursday, September 07, 2006 - 7:00 pm:    In 1986 I bought my amazingly beautifull GB30 in the colour transparent red. A few years later I saw an other new GB30TR in a shop but the quality of the finish and the colour was not nearly as good as that of mine. I have played a lot on this instrument during the past 20 years but have decided to buy a Blade RH4. To pay for that guitar I'm considdering selling my GB30. My heart is screaming: don't ever do that but my wallet is empty and so my head is saying: sell ! I'v put it for sale on www.marktplaats.nl and got a phonecall within 2 hours from someone who wants to pay 1100 euro's. Please post sensible advice. Trickeydave Username: Trickeydave Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 12:48 am:    Follow your heart Brother and don't sell that guitar! I say that from experience. In 1976 I owned a beautiful 1970's or older cherry red Gibson ES-330. I sold it to a friend for US $250 because I was playing bass at the time. Foolish me! He later pawned it and I never saw it again. I've regretted it ever since! Currently that vintage ES-330 sells for about $3000+. I'm still not over it. If you love that guitar, KEEP IT!!!! If not, dump it. Jangb30tr Username: Jangb30tr Registered: 09-2006 Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 6:11 am:    Thanks for the advice Dave. This is exactly what I am afraid of. I'm absolutely convinced that the value of my GB30 is going to go up only. Although I always try to use my ears when I choose an instrument, in this case I fell flat on my face for the looks of this guitar 20 years ago. But it sounds and plays very well too so I never could understand why this guitar was never a hit when it was produced. But I think that there are two main reasons for that. First of all its called George Benson while nobody thinks George ever even played on it, let alone designed it. But I think that's a big mistake. When I listen to the album "Twice the love" I hear George playing a GB30 almost all the time. The problem is that his style is so unique that whenever we hear him play, we think we hear him playing a GB10. Furthermore in the eighties most guitarplayers didn't appreciate the "Stealthy" look of this guitar but I'm convinced that as time goes by the opposite will be the case. Guitartim Username: Guitartim Registered: 04-2001 Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 10:25 am:    Jangb30tr~ Man, keep that guitar! Even your user name speaks to your love of it. You obviously are attached to it...and for good reason. It's a very unique, high quality, MIJ instrument. If you are looking for a price or value, just think about NOT having it for a while. What I like about it is it's similarity to the GB10, but with a stoptail. Perfect for high volume blues or jazz fusion. What do you string it with? Round-wounds or flats? Tim Aaron Username: Aaron Registered: 01-2004 Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 10:54 am:    Hi Jang - I've sent you a pic Of George playing the GB30 also one with Frank Gambale playing one. Can't work out how to get the pic up here. Cheers Aaron. Petruz Username: Petruz Registered: 05-2004 Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 12:55 pm:    hi jan i've posted some threads about my 1988 black gb30... actually i sold it and then rebought it back (in the same store) after one year! my advise is: DON'T sell it. imo this model is highly underrated and one of ibanez great achievements. i can think of no other guitar with a dream neck like this, great solid jazz tone, cool looks etc etc etc... i compared this guitar with an as200 (too heavy), am205 (too dark sounding) and am400 (too thin sounding) and it won hands down. i'm actually looking for a second one - hey, now that i think, how much are you asking for yours? (i'm joking...) Jangb30tr Username: Jangb30tr Registered: 09-2006 Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 1:27 pm:    Hi Tim, Thanks for your reply. I have decided today that I'm not going to sell my GB30 . I get emails from all around from people telling me not to sell it and I know they are all telling me the right thing. I'll do without a Blade RH4 for the time being. They are not rare so I can always buy one when I can afford one. I string my GB30 with 010 round-wounds because I play mainly sologuitar in a Larry Carlton/Robben Ford kind of style. Hi, Aaron, Thanks so much for the pictures. Did you take them yourself ? It's for the first time that I see a picture of George Benson actually playing a GB30. A picture of Frank Gambale playing one is also proof of the fact that it must be a pretty good axe. I know John Scofield also plays or played one. I think it was especialy made for him in transparent green. kind regards, Jan (Netherlands) Jangb30tr Username: Jangb30tr Registered: 09-2006 Posted on Friday, September 08, 2006 - 1:55 pm:    Hi Petruz, Yes, I read the threads you posted earlier about Your GB30 that you sold and were able to buy back. You must have felt very happy. I experienced sort of the same thing within a timeframe of 4 hours only slightly different. In 1991 I was parked next to a very big dumpster. I had a lot of things and gear to put into my car and, yes unbelievable, I forgot to put my GB30 into the car, drove off (luckily not over the guitarcase) and left it next to the dumpster. I arrived at my home one hour later and realized I had left it there. I telephoned to a friend near the dumpster to check if it was still there. He said He would check and let me know. When he called he said:"I have bad news and very bad news for you. The bad news is that the guitar is no longer there and the very bad news is that the dumpster has just been emptied. You can imagine how I felt. But actually I considered the very bad news to be not so bad because I felt sure that the men who emptied the dumpster had put the guitar in the cabin of their truck, not in the hold. After a great many phonecalls I spoke to the boss of the men just 5 minutes before they reported back to the office and so he immediately confiscated the guitar to be returned to me. I was absolutely thrilled to hear from him the good news. You are probably thinking; how the hell is it possible that even yesterday I was considering selling this guitar. And you are right. Thanks. greetings, Jan Jangb30tr Username: Jangb30tr Registered: 09-2006 Posted on Saturday, September 09, 2006 - 3:33 pm:    Correction John Scofield plays a black GB30 with tremolo on his CD "Flat Out", not a transparent green one. I'll now try to upload a picture I took today of my GB30. Jan Shel Username: Shel Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 - 7:07 pm:    Ok, esteemed members of the panel.I need your advice. I have an '82 am255 with frets that are on the low side.Nicely dressed frets, but maybe 1/2 the original height. What do you think about refretting with a bigger-than-original fret size?Would I be messing up its value? Trickeydave Username: Trickeydave Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 - 8:01 pm:    Jan...wow,that is a beautiful guitar! I think you're making a wise choice not selling her. It's funny...the cherry red finish reminds me of my old 1970s Gibson ES-330 that I mentioned earlier in this post. Same color. Your GB30 is definitely a keeper! Jangb30tr Username: Jangb30tr Registered: 09-2006 Posted on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - 5:02 am:    Hi Dave, I changed the ad (http://www.marktplaats.nl/index.php?url=http%3A//kopen.marktplaats.nl/watersport _en_boten/bootonderdelen/c978.html) to inform everybody who was interested that I decided not to sell the guitar. The next day I received an email from a person who wanted to pay 1400 euro's to make me change my mind. Circumstances dictate me to make tough choises and I realised that I'm still willing to sell my GB30. It's just a matter of how much money anybody is willing to pay. If you had not sold your ES335 long ago and still owned it today and somebody offered you $3000 would you sell it ? Trickeydave Username: Trickeydave Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - 7:58 pm:    Hi Jan, That's a tough question. I guess it depends on how much you need the money and how much you really love your guitar. Personally, to answer your question, no I would not sell my ES-330 for $3000. Partly that's because I know I could sell it for $4000 in 10 years or so. The value will keep going up, much like your GB30 will. Plus, I loved that guitar. It had a unique vibe unlike any guitar I've owned since. This is a great debate! But I hope that you can figure it out and make a decision that you can live with, because you don't want to look back with regret. Good luck to you Jan! Jangb30tr Username: Jangb30tr Registered: 09-2006 Posted on Monday, September 25, 2006 - 1:48 pm:    Hi Dave and others, I traded my GB30 for an Epiphone Sheraton from the eighties (I think. Headstock says "Epiphone by Gibson")plus a serious amount of money. Effectively the deal meant that the value of my GB30 was considered to be 1400 euro's. In the end there were 2 major reasons for the deal. First of all it turned out that this particular Sheraton was of very good quality and suited my style of playing better than the GB30. Secondly, the (former)owner of the Sheraton is a very nice person who really wanted a GB30 badly. He is a big fan of George Benson and already the owner of a GB12 and a GB20. I can live with this deal. Thanks to you all for your input. kind regards, Jan Trickeydave Username: Trickeydave Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 2:26 am:    Jan, Best of luck with the new Sheraton! Dave Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2006 - 9:21 pm:    Jan, The early Korean Epiphone Sheraton II of 1987 was only ƒ695.- new at Schreeven, Nijmegen. (The GB10 was about ƒ2495.- then, can't remember seeing a GB30, I guess they were about the same price, thus 3.6 x the Epi.) I wanted to buy one after I got my doctoral degree certificat. I showed it to my late mum, saying: "That's her, when I'm ready, that will be my first electric guitar!" Then after a few months, when I had my degree, they had raised the price to ƒ995.- and I was really pissed. I refused to accept a price raise of 43% (within a half year or so) and I bought a MIJ (Fuji Gen) Fender Stratocaster. Later, in 1994 I talked to Erjan (then Musica, now AB Music) about this eighties Korean Epi Sheraton II compared to the nineties Korean Epi Sheraton II. He said the older ones were worse than the newer ones. The pickups were not that good and the tuners sucked, he said. He had replaced them by the dozen. The GB30 is a rarity. The Korean Epiphone Sheraton II is a very common guitar. There are at least 8 of these guitars on the Marktplaats at this moment. The best offers are combinations with an amp or POD €500-625 For these guitars only I wouldn't pay more than €400.- But I believe I saw one like yours too a while ago, not with a Gibson truss rod cover, but with Epiphone by Gibson inlay in the headstock. They seem to be more collectable (that's what the owner said in the add). I hope that your Sheraton is indeed of better quality than the Sheratons Erjan was warning for, and that it brings you only joy. I'm glad to read your first experiences with it are very positive. I admire your guts: trading a GB... but... will that what you have left from it be enough for the Blade RH4? Keep us posted! Ginger Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 5:00 pm:    As I wrote about the GB10 I didn't have my 1987 pricelist at hand. The price was a going price at Musica Music Centre (Joep Egmond). The 1987 list price of the GB10NT was ƒ2950.- The 1987 list price of the GB30TR was ƒ2350.- (All ex case). Ginger Jangb30tr Username: Jangb30tr Registered: 09-2006 Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 7:42 pm:    Hello Ginger, I know that the sheraton is a cheap guitar but at the end off the day all I want is a guitar that plays and sounds good when I play it and that I can rely on it to last for many years. This old sheraton has proved herself and performs really very well and believe me, I am very very picky ! The sheraton you spotted on marktplaats with the epi by gibson logo on the headstock is probably the one that I own now. I know for a fact that the neck is thinner than that of the newer sheratons and that my pickups are very good and in my opinion better that the super 58's on the GB30. You are right about the tuners though and that's why the previous owner of my sheraton replaced them with a very good set of Grovers. The guitar came with a nice original case also. By the way, the 1986 Ibanez price list that I own says that all GB models come with a case standard. I bought my GB30 with case for 2200 guilders (€ 1000,--) in 1986. With the money left over after the trade of my GB30 for the Sheraton I was able to buy a very good 1994 misty violet Blade RH4 with 200 euro's to spare !! I know that I traded a very beautiful and collectible Ibanez Guitar but nevertheless I sort of feel like I won the lottery because now I own 2 very good guitars in stead of one and they enable me to play the styles I want and with money to spare. I guess that after all I am a player, not a collector. Jan Gemberbier Username: Gemberbier Registered: 05-2006 Posted on Thursday, September 28, 2006 - 10:37 pm:    There's nothing wrong with that! I fully understand your point of view. With Grovers on it you have a hell of a semi-acoustic player and a good looking one! The old Levinson Blade RH4 is a very good Strat. Ginger

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