Longest owned instrument

[Baxlin]

Although I bought and sold various basses until I found three I’m happy with, I still have the Hawk 12-string acoustic guitar I bought new in May 1968 from Papworths (The Music Inn as it became) on Alfreton Road in Nottingham.  I subsequently hardwired a pickup, tone and volume knobs and jack socket - I took a brave pill before I got the electric drill out - but apart from that and the occasional new set of strings it’s still original.

I'm sure among the more senior citizens on here there must be guitars or basses owned for longer, care to share details?

Edited June 14, 2020 by Baxlin

[mikel]

I have a Squire Telecaster I bought in new 1995. Not old in the scheme of things but with sunlight etc the red finish is now faded to almost pink. The back of the body is still bright red. Because it was not expensive it never gets put in a case and spends its life on a guitar stand so I can play it when the mood takes me. Natural relicing.

[gjones]

I still have (most of) my second bass, I bought in 1984.

It was a bass, that the owner before me, made from Mighty Mite parts. It's based on a precision body with a P/J pickup configuration. 

I got rid of the body, as it was made of mahogany and weighed a ton but I still have the neck and the pickups.

The neck is now connected to a Jazz body and the Precision pickup is in my Classic Vibe Squier and, even though it's about 40 years old, is still sounding great.

[casapete]

Marshall 18 watt valve guitar combo I bought in the mid 70’s for £45. Best amp I’ve ever heard, will be with me till I shuffle off.

My grandma bought me a small Spanish guitar back from her holidays in Spain c.1965 which I learned to play on and still have. Also I’ve still got a full sized unbranded Spanish guitar I got from a lad at school in 1969. Think it was part of a swap deal with a small Antoria combo that needed repair but would have been worth a fair bit today.

[gary mac]

Still got the Spanish acoustic that my parents bought for me in 69. It's still got the original strings on😂

[mep]

I bought a new Charvel around 1987 and sold it in 2015 so had it for 28 years.

[Reggaebass]

I’ve still got my first bass , a Jedson bought in 1977 from a friend, so it’s older than that,  and it still works although the jack socket is a bit crackly, it just hangs on the wall of my summerhouse now 😁

[Roger2611]

I still have my first and second guitars, the remains of a Saterlite Stratocaster brought used for £25.00 back in 1984 and a Columbus Les Paul copy brought used in Leicester for £40.00 in 1986 

[BlueMoon]

Still have my second bass,  a '64 Burns Jazz bass that I got around 1973. I traded my first bass - a Japanese Columbus jazz - and paid a little more (£12??) for it.

[ubit]

Status Eclipse bought way back in the mid 90's.It was gigged relentlessly for years. I  Still have it in my music room.

[chris_b]

5 hours ago, Baxlin said:

. . . . .  I still have the Hawk 12-string acoustic guitar I bought new in May 1968 from Papworths  . . . . . . .

You beat me by 10 months. I bought my Fender Precision in March 1969. I still have it although I can't remember when I last took it out of it's case. It was very modded in the 80's, which has hit it's value as a vintage instrument, but with it's replaced pickups, J pickup and preamp it's a far better bass than when I bought it. Within 2 years the nut broke and was replaced. A few years later the frets were almost down to the fretboard and had to be replaced, so it was never going to be an original. That was Fenders in the early CBS era for you!

[Staggering on]

Still playing the 1967 Gibson J50A guitar I bought brand new in 1967 in Toronto. I used it on a gig last year and it has been played a lot over the years. I used it on a return trip to Australia by ship right after I bought it in '67 and countless indoor and outdoor gigs and it has never let me down and still sounds and plays great. One professional set up about 15 years ago.

[NancyJohnson]

I've got an Epiphone FT140 acoustic, new in the late 1970s.  My mum was left some money from her mother, they really didn't get on so she passed it along to me and my brother.  No idea of how much it cost...certainly not as much as £100.

I rarely play it, but couldn't sell it.  It plays OK, but tonally it's not that good... I'd say it's not really contributed to my playing in the slightest and if anything has had more of a detrimental effect.  I would like to get a decent acoustic at some point...a Taylor or Takamine, just to see what I've been missing out on.

[Len_derby]

I’ve still got my first guitar. I paid £4 for it, second-hand, in 1972. It’s quite hideous but it got me started and we used it on our first DIY punk recordings. Once I’d saved enough to buy something better from the Bells Catalogue I passed it on to my younger brother. He did the paint job. Once I’d got a family he passed it back to me - one daughter is now a drummer the other a guitarist/singer so it still has a bit of magic in it.

 

[stef030]

For me it’s a 69 jazz that I bought in 1974;

with the original case,strap and receipt from the first owner,

just a lovely old thing on its original frets ect,

was gigged by me for many many years but was retired four years ago

and now just home use

cheers

stef

[Dad3353]

I should have kept my Hofner President Florentine, and would snap up another if ever I come across one, but the longest-owned is 'My Old Lady', my Hofner Comittee, loving restored, bought from a tat-shop, Weybridge, for £75 in '69 or '70 (it's all so hazy now...). She had the headstock snapped off thanks to me carelessly leaning her in the corner of the room and an over-active nephew, but was made good as new again  (or better...) by a fabulous luthier in Nantes (Alain Raifort...) over a period of several years..! I have many guitars and basses, but she is 'The Special One'...

 

 

 

[Nicko]

Technically I still own the first guitar I ever bought new from a shop in Denmark Street in around '83 - a Hohner Slab bodied telecaster shape with twin high output humbuckers..  Its on permanent loan to my nephew.  I can't remember the model but it's everything I hate about 80s guitars.  Pointy headstock, double locking trem, matt hardware, all black with bright red detailing in inappropriate places.

I also have an old Avon Rose Morris SG Bass which I guess is late 70s.  I'm not 100% sure how I acquired it - probably from my brother.  Its not in working order and some of the electrics have been replaced.  Strangely I've had this at least 30 years but didn't start playing bass until 2007.

The oldest one I have at home and that I use is a Patrick Eggle NY stage from 1994 bought from Project Music on the Great West Road (A4) in Hounslow.  I used it yesterday.

[BigRedX]

I still have the Kimbara acoustic guitar that was bought new as a birthday present in 1974. TBH I only still have it because it's been quite extensively modified - and is very worn and simply not worth the effort and meagre amount of money I would get for it, if I was to sell it.

However all the other instruments to I use regularly (apart from the Bass VIs which are a recent acquisition) are around the 20 year old mark now so hardly very new either.

[Machines]

Yamaha RBX775 owned since new in 2004. Since defretted and refinished, also tuned E to C. Still sounds great. 

I regretted my modding however and have since bought one exactly like my first premodding. 

[Baxlin]

2 hours ago, Staggering on said:

Still playing the 1967 Gibson J50A guitar I bought brand new in 1967 in Toronto. 

Seems the longest owned so far.....

[casapete]

6 hours ago, casapete said:

My grandma bought me a small Spanish guitar back from her holidays in Spain c.1965 which I learned to play on and still have.

 

1 hour ago, Baxlin said:

Seems the longest owned so far.....

Cough....😉

[Bassfinger]

My Hohner Arbor Series Les Paul. 38 1/2 years and counting.

[Deedee]

2 hours ago, Dad3353 said:

I should have kept my Hofner President Florentine, and would snap up another if ever I come across one, but the longest-owned is 'My Old Lady', my Hofner Comittee, loving restored, bought from a tat-shop, Weybridge, for £75 in '69 or '70 (it's all so hazy now...). She had the headstock snapped off thanks to me carelessly leaning her in the corner of the room and an over-active nephew, but was made good as new again  (or better...) by a fabulous luthier in Nantes (Alain Raifort...) over a period of several years..! I have many guitars and basses, but she is 'The Special One'...

 

 

 

Beautiful 😍

[Deedee]

I've had my strat plus deluxe since 1994 and it'll be with me forever.

Bass wise I'm ashamed to say the longest stayer of my current collection is a woeful two and a half years. 😧

[Barking Spiders]

1 hour ago, Deedee said:

I've had my strat plus deluxe since 1994 and it'll be with me forever.

Bass wise I'm ashamed to say the longest stayer of my current collection is a woeful two and a half years. 😧

Yes, most of my gear is culled at a young age before it can get old. I did have a blue Aria Pro II bass for nearly 20 years before  it ended up in a branch of Sue Ryder. Both the basses I still have are less than 2 years old