Back in the mid-1980s, I bought myself a brand-new guitar. I was taking lessons at the time and had big dreams — I was going to be that guy sitting around a campfire, playing “Stairway to Heaven,” impressing everyone with smooth chords and soulful strumming.
Well … that never happened.
After a while, the lessons stopped, and the guitar found its way into its case — a case that would spend the next four decades tucked neatly in the back of my closet.
Fast forward to 2020. Like a lot of people during the COVID lockdowns, I decided to dust off some old hobbies. I found a great YouTube teacher, bought the accompanying lesson book, and gave it another go. Unfortunately, my progress could best be described as “real enthusiasm, poor results.” Every time I played, my family and even our dogs would leave the room.
Eventually, I came to a simple, honest conclusion: my guitar deserved better.
It was a beautiful instrument, and it should be in the hands of someone who could actually play it — not hidden away as a monument to my musical ambitions.
So, I decided to sell it.
At first, I took it to a local music store. They made an offer right away, but it felt low — though, to be fair, I didn’t really know what it was worth. Next, I brought it to a national chain store. They looked it over, checked the serial number, and came back with an offer twice as high as the first. That’s when I learned my old guitar was now considered “vintage.” They even showed me what price they would list it for if I sold it through them.
That got me thinking. If it had real value, maybe I could handle the sale myself. I decided to give it a try on my own, using a website that specializes in buying and selling music equipment. I cleaned it up, took some clear photos, wrote an honest description, and listed it.
A few days later, I got a message from someone who had been looking for this exact model — not as a collector’s piece, but as a guitar they truly wanted to play. When we met, I could tell they genuinely loved it, and watching them strum it for the first time was a full-circle moment for me.
Letting go wasn’t hard after that. It felt right.
That old guitar found its way into new hands, ready to make music again. And I got to clear a little space, both in my closet and in my heart.
Sometimes, parting with something you’ve held onto for years isn’t about loss — it’s about giving it a second life.