Miscellaneous what was your first "real" guitar?

Terry B

Humble student of the blues
First guitar was a used Harmony Sovereign acoustic (dreadnaught) when I was about 10. It had a big crack just below the pick guard and action so high.... well I'm sure you get the idea.

First electric was a few years later when I took the entire proceeds from my first summer job to buy a brand new Japanese SG copy.

I still have both. :cool:

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aleclee

Tribe of One
My first guitar was a POS that I got from Service Merchandise.

A couple years later, I got an Aria as my first "real" guitar on my 16th birthday. Unlike @Zzzen Dog, I don't regret the Kahler I added about a year after I got it. Still have it though I haven't seriously played it in nearly 20 years.

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Grateful_Ed

Student Of The Blues
My first guitar was a $40, Japanese copy of a Martin nylon string acoustic. I bought it in late '72 or early '73. My best friend in high school had just bought a steel string Lyle dreadnaught and thought I had to have one too. The 000 nylon was the only Lyle they had left so I took it home. I learned to strum all the cowboy chords on it and could play a passable Brown Eyed Girl (squirrel) and House of the Rising Sun. Still haven't gotten far past strumming and arpeggios.
A few years ago my son asked me if he could have the guitar. I had already bought him an electric and an acoustic, but he fancied the nylon string Lyle. He still has it, so I still have it...kinda.
My first electric was a solid body Ibanez copy of a Les Paul double cutaway in about '83 or '84 (one of the guitars that survived the lawsuit era). It is very heavy but still one of my favorite players. The amp I bought with it, a Kustom Lead II tube amp (not the vinyl/naugahyde tuck and roll) is still a good amp but in need of freshening.


-ed :Beer:
 

Slofinger

Blues Junior
My first guitar was this 1953 Gibson ES135. A 3/4 scale like a ES175. I was six years old when I started on it. I actually started on ukelele, which I still have. I had the Gibson till I was 13 or so, and then traded it for a Fender Jazzmaster. This was at Ernie Ball’s first guitar store he had just opened in Tarzana, Ca. And no, I don’t have either guitar unfortunately.3796BAE6-2B57-486D-9B72-9BDD15EBF200.jpeg
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
okay, I am gonna say it.....I am in my 50's and some of ya all , I gotta know, what was it like when dirt was invented ?

just kidding, I wish I had some of those classic guitars you had
 

CapnDenny1

Student Of The Blues
Hagstrom III

I played a Alvarez Yairi that I could not believe how good it felt and sounded. It was $1200 and they were going to set me up with payments. I was 16 making maybe $70 a week. I wanted a Strat, but they were over $200 so I couldn't swing that either. They had a used Hagstrom III in sky blue, that has a great neck, but horrible pickups and electronics. As you can see I made a few changes.

DSC_0422 by Dennis Kelley, on Flickr

I recently bought another Hagstrom III to steal the pickguard and possibly other parts to get it back to original, as much as possible anyway.
 

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
okay, I am gonna say it.....I am in my 50's and some of ya all , I gotta know, what was it like when dirt was invented ?
Now this made me rofl! I was actually talking to Mrs Snarf a week or two ago about something we were discussing on the forum, and she said "they sound like a bunch of old guys like you." I told her that I brought the average age on the forum down at least a little since. If I remember right, I realized back in October that Griff and I are the same age...like 3 weeks off.
 

Grateful_Ed

Student Of The Blues
Now this made me rofl! I was actually talking to Mrs Snarf a week or two ago about something we were discussing on the forum, and she said "they sound like a bunch of old guys like you." I told her that I brought the average age on the forum down at least a little since. If I remember right, I realized back in October that Griff and I are the same age...like 3 weeks off.

It would seem that the future of Blues is in good hands...;)
 

Shodai

Blues Junior
My very first guitar was a Yamaha nylon string classical acoustic. One of those student models, you know? It was ok, and I actually still have it. Lots of debts and scratches over the years, but still here.

Back in the 80's I was playing drums. Still do, actually. Guitar was kind of a side thing and I knew a few chords, so owing a guitar was not a priority.

At the time the low cost guitar of choice where I lived was "Hondo". My brother had a Hondo Les Paul copy. I didn't want to have the same thing he had, so I bought a Strat as my first electric. It was a 1986 Fender Contemporary Standard, made in Japan. Black with a maple fretboard.Great guitar, but I was young and there was rent to be paid, so it was sold.

I've owned several more over the years, but never one that was as nice. I now have an '85 in sunburst. Still a joy to play every time I pick it up.

Thank you snarf, for the trip down memory lane.
 

CaptainMoto

Blues Voyager
Before Steve unveils his Childhood memories, I thought I'd toss this on the heap.

This thread took me back to my youth.
I was thinking about my early guitars and then............
I remembered my first amp:ROFLMAO:

We lived across the street from the church and grammar school that I attended.
They tore down the school building and eventually built a new one.

It looked like this:
School.jpg

The story continues.........
At the age of 14 or 15 I bought an Epi Les Paul, because I have to have an electric guitar.
What was my first amp?
It was the PA system from the old school house:LOL:
When I lit that thing up it would fill the house with a rotten burning odor.
Damn thing was probably made in the 1920's and looked like something from Frankenstein's laboratory but, it amplified my guitar and I was a happy kid.:)
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brent

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
My first acoustic was a Washburn D-10R with a spruce top and cherry back and sides. All laminate, but it sounded great. For proof, I had several friends at the time who were much more advanced players than me and they all offered to buy if from me. I don't have it anymore because the bridge came unglued from the body. I took it to my local shop to see if I could get it fixed. They told me it would cost more to fix than it was worth. A neighbor across the street heard my story and said, "I bet we can fix it ourselves, I've got some wood glue and clamps." He was an electrician by trade, not a luthier. We ended up cracking the top because we clamped it wrong, or too tightly. I really miss that guitar. Being my first, it was pretty sentimental.

My first electric was a Samick Strat copy. Also in red. I gave it to my son several years ago. He still has it and I have asked that if he ever decides to get rid of it, to let me know, cause I would buy it back from him. I played it a couple of years ago and realized that the neck is really great and it's got a good weight to it. I didn't realize at the time I gave it away that things like pickups could be replaced.

I bought both of those guitars about 10-12 months apart when I was in the Navy around 1995.
 
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