I recently tried to challenge myself to trade up from my Steinberger Spirit to a GIbson Les Paul. I was inspired by that guy who traded up a paper clip to a house. I have for now given up on it. Maybe it’s the area I live in or my timing but had a hard time getting trades or re selling. I look at it more of a learning experience now but the idea of trading up seems so alluring.
This was the original post I had written
So this week/weekend I decided to start a new adventure, to trade up to a Les Paul. I have heard of the red paper clip to house story and that seems like a long way. I think I’ll be better off going gear to gear.
So I have set down a few rules.
- I can only use gear that I have.
- I can use cash
- I can buy modify if I need and sell
- This isn’t a rule but I will not part with my Tele, Taylor, Gold Tone or Bass
- I can buy and sell non music gear items
I may add or remove later but these are my guide lines. My goal is to get to a Les Paul but what I will do is hopefully play a few guitars and have some more things to talk about on my blog.
Right now I have done these things.
1. Started off with a Steinberger I paid $280 for it
2. I sold it for $140 and a Gibson Baldwin Les Paul. It’s a Les Paul but it has some mods and it’s not what I want.
3. I am going to throw in my guitar link interface and probably my Zoom G2.1Nu Pedal. I got everything I needed out of the pedal. It’s got a lot of effects and I like that but I just don’t use it much.
This means I have $140, a guitar worth about $100, a $30 guitar link cable and a pedal worth about $150. So $270 or $420, depending on how much I am putting into it.
My first exchange I went backwards which I didn’t really want to do. So I am about $40 down. Hopefully, I’ll be able to recover, otherwise I’m going to end up with a bunch of shit.
I actually ended up down $80. I finally sold that Gibson Baldwin for $60. If I do decide to start up this challenge again I will start at $200 and I am going to have to get lucky. From what I can see on craigslist there are a lot of people who want 1 or 2 types of guitar. So I have realized if I decide to reboot this I need Fenders, Squires, Epiphones and Gibsons, maybe a Yamaha or a Martin. Also I have limited mobility basically the DC metro area. If I were more mobile I could cast a larger net. Also don’t buy mods if you want to trade and unless it’s a Fender avoid bolt on necks.
So did I give up too easily? I only went through 2 guitars and should I maybe try this again?
I also tried to a Rocky and Bullwinkle style title.