Your first guitar?

[ianwrecked]

These threads are always fun.

What age did you get it?
What was it?


My dad has been playing guitar his entire life, and he asked me if I wanted one when I was around 5 years old, and I didn't really show any interest. So, a few years went by, my parents split up, and I took up playing saxophone when I was around 8 (and played it throughout the rest of my elementary/highschool career), and, after many years of listening to rock/metal with my dad and being around his band constantly, I finally asked for one. So, Christmas rolled around and that's the only thing I really wanted. After all the presents were done, I was pretty pumped, but I was also bummed that I didn't get the one thing I asked for. I found a note on the tree in "Santa's" (dads) handwriting, and it told me to go to the band room that my dad and his band used to play in (garage).

So, I went down there and there was a Fender Strat sitting on a guitar stand with a little Marshall Lead 12 solid state combo sitting there. And, the rest is history. After that, I started putting money into it: Locking tuners, graphite roller nut, and a DiMarzio humbucker in the shape of a single. I loved that thing. I bought a few other guitars after my first, but I always came back to that Strat.

A few years later, I was walking to my car and noticed my car door was open. Weird. CD player, speakers, aftermarket engine parts and everything were stripped from my car. I immediately rushed into the band room where all of my stuff was, and everything was gone. Everything. My first guitar, my PRS, Ibanez 7 string, my amp (little Peavey Bandit 112 with 412) and all of my bandmates equipment, too. Drums/bass/PA. Everything. After countless hours with the police and searching for any signs, I finally gave up. That night, I spent 8 hours on Ebay looking for my Strat to see if someone was trying to sell it. Lame. I was about 17 at the time and I'll never forget that guitar. I loved that thing. After owning so many great guitars, I'm sure it doesn't play/sound as good as I remember it, but even to this day I always stop at a garage sale/flea market to see if my strat is there. Where ever it is, I hope someone's playing it and it's not sitting in a closet or worse.


Sorry that kinda went off topic. Anyway, let's hear your first guitar story- hopefully you're lucky enough to still have it!

[ampliphic]

When I was about 9 years old, I told my dad I'd like to learn guitar. He said he would pay for lessons if I saved up half the money for a guitar. I saved my allowance for a good six months, and finally had enough. I went to a local shop and bought myself an Ibanez Iceman. It was a great guitar and I still played it up until two months ago when the neck broke.

[CD9266]

I got it when I was 16 years old. It was a Harmony electric that nobody knows anything about. $50 bucks at a yard sale. Electronics are shot, I've since pretty much demolished the guitar. Headstock was repaired once but nothing else on the guitar works.

I still have it in a gig bag in my closet. I have the idea to restore it but I'll need to get a new neck and tuners, new pickups, new electronics, a new paint job, and I cannot stand the bridge so I'd need a TOM style bridge and tail piece put on. Considering the guitar's actual worth is like..... 10 bucks for firewood it's something I won't be doing until I'm sitting on some nice cash. My SG getting restored and setup for Eb tuning will come first.

[Deacon Blues]

mine was a late 60s or early 70s bolt on neck japanese made 335 copy that my dad bought at a garage sale in the late 70s. it just sat in our garage till i decided to check it out.


my best friends mom also lent me an acoustic guitar that she bought just to have around. i told her i was going to start laying so she said here use this. really cool lady

[baytamusic]

I got a red Yamaha 80s metal looking strat guitar and a Crate practice amp from my neighbor when I was about 14 or 15. I put one of those Bad Religion stickers on it that has that cross with the circle and line crossing it out on it.

I think it looked something like this:

[Mrjones2004x]

Mines boring lol.

Got a cheap acoustic from a local shop and had it for about 3 months and said i need electric.

I was 25 (Now 29) and had a good job but didnt wanna go stupid for a first guitar so i got a yamaha pacifica 112 in black with chrome parts ltd edition. My amp was a yamaha ga10 from cash convertors for £10. was crap but good at the time lol and i used a boss DS1 with it. Eventually i sold it to buy an epi LP. since then ive sold and brought about 25 guitars i guess in the 4 years gone bye.
Wish i had kept it now as it was v nice looking. Pretty good to from what i remember.



Think ive finally settle on 2 of the 3 i have now.

My LP BFG is a keeper and so is the Charvel San Dimas. Just need a new acoustic .

[austinslider]

I was living in Austin and I wanted to learn guitar, but I was super poor. So to my surprise, my ex-wife bought me a Strat copy guitar from a yard sale in College Station. I was 26. Don't quite remember the name. It was kinda cool though. It had a faded EVH striped body and it came with a Gorilla amp. Probably the worst sounding amp ever made! Although, it's perfect for grindcore. She keep it in the divorce. Guess, she figured I didn't need it. Oh well, Im a better bass player anyways...


Dave

[myboss57]

A super cheap acoustic with terrible action! But I used to always borrow my buddy's red Fender Strat. My first "real" guitar was an epiphone SG, and a little Crate practice amp.

[MaxProphet]

dad bought me a 1987'ish squier bullet 1 thing (not this guitar but the same) when i was 12, MIK. was my only electric for 18 years, survived being dropped on its neck a few times and untold abuse. the covers on the pickups are actually worn down from being played so much. might put a new neck on it eventually because its crooked now and has those tiny vintage frets. and tuners are totally worn out. but it still sounds good to me. could always get crazy squeals w/pinch harmonics, maybe thats a sign of a bad pickup but i liked it.

[Randy Bass]

...my best friends mom also lent me an acoustic guitar that she bought just to have around. i told her i was going to start laying so she said here use this. really cool lady

???

My first guitar was a weird-looking Yamaha SC300T (Strat variant). I don't play it much anymore.

[misterMagoo]

I was 14 and I wanted a guitar. My first guitar was something that my dad pulled out of the shed at my grandmothers house. I don't know whose it was, what it was, or where it came from. All I remember is that it was a heavy hunk of wood, it looked kinda stratish but pointier, it had a carved top, and it had a ton of electronics. It has 3 pickups and from what I remember they were big like humbuckers. There was no bridge, so the strings rested on the bridge pickup. There were a whole lot of switches on it, and iirc it had 4 knobs. It was painted yellow. It was very flashy, but old too. Probably from the 70's.

Due to its poor setup and condition though, it didn't play very well, and was very discouraging to learn on. Fast forward 4 years and I was 17, and I really wanted to learn to play. So I traded it in for like $20 and got a Cort strat copy and a practice amp. From there I buckled down and learned how to play for real. That one is gone now.

The yellow guitar was probably worth a lot more than what I got. Hell I bet it was worth at least $200. But I didn't know and I didn't care.

[blackcloud45]

First acoustic @ 12-13 yrs old = $75 Antares
First electric @ 14 yrs old = $100 Harmony Marquis
First 'real' electric @ 16 yrs olf = $380 Korean Fender Strat
First amp @ 17 yrs old = $300 1978 Marshall Master Lead MKII 212 combo
Second 'real' electric @ 17 yrs old = $200 1975 LP Custom (no, that is not a typo)
Second amp @ 17 yrs olf = $250 Marshall Lead 20

38 yrs old now and I honestly don't know how many guitars I own.

[chinese fork tie]

when i was 6 or so, my uncle bought me a cheap classical to strum on. i didn't know chords or how to tune it so i don't count it as my first guitar. the christmas i was 9, though, mom bought me my strat. this guitar has been through so much, thrown, kicked, slammed against monitors for feedback. it still sounds and plays like a dream, at least i'm guessing it does. i haven't been able to play it since the nut broke in 07 (i know, i know. it's a $60 fix i need to do. i don't have $60 extra laying around). this is the guitar i just posted about in the selling things thread. i don't think i'll ever get rid of it. it's got serious mojo, at least as far as i'm concerned.

here it is!

[Tiny Rocker]

Russian built acoustic, approx 2/3 of full size, when I was about 9 or 10, probably inspired by a Scottish folk duo (I've lost my rock 'n' roll street cred now ) called The Corries, who latterly came to more fame as writers & performers of "Flower of Scotland", a song which fans of the Scottish rugby team are fond of singing. (I grew up in Scotland, mostly.) The intonation was a semi-tone out at the 12th fret. Learned some open chords and learned my way around the first five or so frets, then got bored with guitar until I was about 13.

Pre-loved sunburst Satellite Les Paul copy for £30 when I was 15. I think it was missing one of its strap buttons. It was one of the cheapest commonly available electrics new but, compared to my acoustic, it was an absolute dream. Although my brother (two years my senior) had an electric and a 50 watt Yamaha amp, my Dad knew that it wouldn't be right to expect my brother to share his amp. So my Dad rigged up a Hacker/Garrard record player so that I could play my guitar through it. If I cranked the volume (4 watts or so of raw transistor power, I'd guess!) and cranked the treble it sounded almost exciting. I kept it until I got a pre-loved Gibson The Paul (think LP Studio with even fewer trimmings!) when I was 17 or 18.

[Gray]

A 'Synsonics' guitar I got for my 8th birthday in 1998, it was from Toys R' Us.

Here's me with the guitar.



And here it is a couple months ago when I dug it out of my closet.