[chilton]

Uh, the subject line was supposed to be "Another reason not to sell a guitar".

So anyway, I'm at home with my ten electric guitars, including not one but two brand new US Fender Strats (maple & rosewood fretboards, gotta have them both!).

And I'm thinking one or two of my older guitars will have to go. It's ridiculous, I don't have enough space in my flat to have them all in use/on display.

The new Fenders are great in every way. They stay in tune no matter what, which is more than I can say about my other US Strat, the 1996 50th anniversary. But that's a limited ed, #92 of 250 leftys made, so I'd hesitate to put that up for sale.

Then I decide to put my MIJ 80s Tele on the auction block since the new Strats have enough twang for me.

But hang on, there's a problem. A couple of my favorite country/roots rock licks sound absolutely horrible on the strats. What's wrong? Well, those licks include bending the G string a full tone while the E and B strings ring out without bending.
The higher I go on the neck, the worse they sound.

It's a Homer Simpson-ish "Doh" moment when I realize that th G string bends will raise the tremolo, causing the rest of the strings to go flat. The only way around it would be a tremolo block which I don't want.

Long story short, the Tele will have to stay.

IMHO that's a perfectly legitimate reason for not selling it. Feel free to use it whenever you need to defend your collection. You might have problems convincing your significant other, though.

BTW, the Bigsby on my Duo Jet works differently, without these issues. But as much as I love it it's not a Fender.