Miscellaneous what was your first "real" guitar?

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
Seeing Mark's thread about finding an Epi Strat like his first one, got me to thinking. What was your first "real" guitar, and do you still have it?

I started playing on an acoustic guitar that was loaned to me from a neighbor. Wouldn't stay tuned because the neck butt varied from touching the guitar body to being about an 1/8" away. After about 3 months, I got my first "real" guitar. It was a Carlos acoustic - dreadnought size...about the cheapest acoustic guitar that Lange's Music City (the only music store in town that sold guitars and not school band and orchestra instruments) had hanging on the wall. It was $100 with a chip board case out the door. It was pretty good for a first guitar. To my teenage ears, it sounded fine, but it didn't sound anything like the Martin the lady at church played. I played it for nearly 2 years until one of the tuning keys broke. At that point, an old family friend that had decided to quit playing gave me his D-35...the one I still have and play today. The Carlos, although a good guitar, paled in comparison to that Martin, so I ended up trading it on a banjo that I kept for a couple of years and then traded away for a Takamine.

I haven't seen anyone sell Carlos guitars since then nor have I ever seen anyone playing one. So I'm guessing it was just a short-lived, budget import sold to mom and pop shops around the end of the 80s. All I remember about it is that the sales guy told me that it was a plywood top because "nobody makes a solid top guitar anywhere close to your budget" and that the tuning keys were not that great (after all, one broke after 2 years). Other than that, it was pretty much what you would expect from an entry level guitar.
 

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
This is the one that got away.

My first real guitar was a mid-50's Fender Esquire. I was 13 and teaching accordion at a local music studio in Colorado (yeah, I started learning accordion at around age 8). Clearly, by 1966 the accordion was not the cool instrument it was when I started it. One of the two guitar instructors was heading off to college, so the owner asked me if I would be interested in teaching guitar. He then offered me his own personal Esquire as an enticement. I kept that guitar for several years, eventually trading it for an old tube type Wurlitzer electric piano.
 

Al Holloway

Devizes UK
The first guitar I played for any length of time was a Kaye strat copy that a friend lent me. Eventually he wanted it back. I bought my self an Epi Sheraton II which I still have. This was the late 80's. I was a late starter as I actually played drums at the time and only tried the guitar as I was fed up of hearing guitarists I played with arguing if it should be a diminished or augmented chord. I though I could learn what they were talking about...still not a clue 30 years later:rolleyes:

cheers

Al.
 

Wildwood

Playin' Blues
My first guitar was in high school that was 'given' to me by a buddy so we could jam together. Don't even remember what it was but we played together for a couple years. Then my buddy and I both graduated, stopped playing, moved away, went to college and sort of lost track of each other.

Then I got married, divorced after a year and a half, then married again (32 years this time and still going strong!), and had two great boys (now 23 and 28). On my 40th birthday my boys bought me my 'first real guitar'...an ESP LTD H250 in red and a Roland Cube 30 amp. And that guitar is what got me playing again. I love my boys!

Many guitars later I still have the ESP and play it regularly :thumbup::cool:
 
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mountain man

Still got the Blues!
I guess it depends on what you define as a "real guitar".

Is an entry level Yamaha acoustic a "real guitar"? My first acoustic guitar "was" a Yamaha. No I don't have it any longer. I gave it to my sister decades ago when I got my first Martin. If you don't count Yamaha as a "real guitar", then my next acoustic guitar "is" a Martin HD-28. Yes, I still have it.

My first electric guitar "is" a 76 Gibson Les Paul Custom. Yes I still have it. :Beer:
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
Mid-90s "Wild Cherry" acoustic by Art & Lutherie. No pickup, laminate top, but felt and sounded plenty good for a starter. Sold it a little over two years ago when I got the PRS acoustic; I wanted something smaller than a dread.

DCP01058.jpeg

My first electric was a PRS SE Custom-22 semi hollow, Christmas of '16. Modded the dog doo out of it, ended up selling it (to a youngster who badly wanted a PRS) when I got the PRS Zach Myers signature.
 

Zzzen Dog

Blues Junior
I started playing on a friend's Ibanez DC solidbody Les Paul clone, wouldn't be able to tell you the model number, back in 1982. I picked up a Yamaha Eterna acoustic, second-hand shortly thereafter. The first electric I picked up was a new Studio Les Paul with a Kahler tremelo (why did I do that?), which I put on layaway for three months to be able to afford it, along with a horrible jazz amp who's manufacturer I couldn't tell you.

Those were my first guitars.
 

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
I guess it depends on what you define as a "real guitar".
IMHO, it's a real guitar if it's got 6 strings and makes music. I phrased it like that because some folks consider some guitars beneath them. I don't think we have anyone like that on this forum, but I know there are those on other forums that consider Squiers and Epis and whatever less expensive guitar to be toys. If you consider it a real guitar, then I consider it a real guitar. I actually have a Yamaha classical guitar that is killer. As I think about it, it's made of cypress, so they probably "officially" called it a flamenco guitar.

I also didn't mention, since some are splitting them out, my first electric came around 2004 or so. It was a Parker P-42 setup in a SSS configuration. Got it off eBay. Never bonded with it so I traded it straight up for a Strat (because, despite my pointing it out (just once - figured if he wasn't listening, it was on him) the store clerk was convinced it was one of the nice, MIA Parkers. Still got the Strat.

The guitar or the payment plan?
Thanks for that. Now I'm cleaning sweet tea off my laptop.
 

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
Very first was a real piece of crap acoustic, action so high I could hardly fret past the 3rd fret.
I guess I'd consider my first "real guitar" was a pre-war Martin my uncle picked up at a pawn shop.
I messed that thing up real good...........slapped on a few layers of shellac to make it shinny again.
I was 13, what did I know?
I wish I still had it.
 

artyman

Fareham UK
My first electric was a Watkins Rapier 33, an English poor mans Strat. It had a very nice action and when I got back into playing looked to see if I could find one. They now sell for prices that are approaching a Fender Mexican Strat, so I ended up with one of those. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, I wonder how well it really played.

New%20Rapier1%20(Medium).jpg
 

JohnHurley

Rock and Roll
My first real guitar is still in the living room its a hundred year old knabe grand piano from my grandfathers music store ( player pianos and bigger real pianos mostly ).

My mom was a great musician but i did not want to practice piano.

So i played around some on guitar on various friends never had one until 3 years ago. Started on a mexi strat but switched brand preferences ...

The nice thing about jumping in late is bigger budget well at least for lucky me.

Peace out ha ha gotta practice Let it Be now!
 
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