What were your first guitars?

[Biz Prof]

A bolt neck mini Flying V that was marketed under several brands, notably Bradley or Samson. Mine was blue and was equipped with Mighty Mite copy of a Dimarzio Super.

 

[HSB0531]

1 hour ago, svl said:

Man, you guys were spoiled rotten. My first "axe" was a Sears Fireball- strings literally an inch off the fretboard, tuners that you could watch unspool when you tried to bend and oh that amazing "tone plastic". Had to work with that sucker for a couple years and prove I was "serious about guitar" before I could "upgrade" to a Kay SG (strings were only 3/4 of an inch off that baby, talk about heaven). The Fireball was a present from the parental units (two Christmas' and birthdays given for that mother) but had to earn the scratch for that SG solo (threw a lotta newspapers and shoveled a lotta Northern Illinois snow for that baby).

That Fireball sounds like my plastic Emenee Tiger guitar with the nylon strings no truss rod and slip~n~slide tuners. 

Edited September 10, 2024 by HSB0531

[HSB0531]

38 minutes ago, Biz Prof said:

A bolt neck mini Flying V that was marketed under several brands, notably Bradley or Samson. Mine was blue and was equipped with Mighty Mite copy of a Dimarzio Super.

 

Wow, a Sammy "without" a Whammy!

[HSB0531]

3 minutes ago, HSB0531 said:

Wow, a Sammy "without" a Whammy!

I didn't know they existed

[Steve Haynie]

1 hour ago, svl said:

Man, you guys were spoiled rotten. 

Hey, man, I forgot to mention that I had to play my guitar uphill both ways.

[RobB]

Some seriously cool guitars in this thread. Univox!

I had a 70s Yamaha FG-something acoustic. Bound neck/headstock (no headstock inlay), wooden trussrod cover with embossed, tri-tuning fork emblem.

My first electric was a SB 63 Strat, loaned to me by my brother while he was off converting the heathens in Chile. I played it all through high school. He purchased it used in 1970 at Whittier Music for $175. Sold to Joe Satriani (with my assist…) in 2006 for $**,***  

First electric I purchased was a 1980 Les Paul Standard 80 Heritage Series. It’s funny; I really placed it on a pedestal, but that guitar was a DOG. Refretted twice (rising tongue), finish issues. Even though it was my first (self-purchased) good electric, I wasn’t sorry to see it go. 

Edited September 10, 2024 by RobB

[cmatthes]

11 hours ago, HSB0531 said:

Kind of the reverse of when, in the early days of Hamer & the Standard, they had to use two sets of Schaller tuner sets before Schaller started making them all 6 on a side.

 

(GROVERS, not Schallers.  😉)

[beezerboy]

5 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

I had to play my guitar uphill both ways.

in the winter.... through the deep snow

[HSB0531]

9 hours ago, cmatthes said:

(GROVERS, not Schallers.  😉)

Yes! you're right, damn I forgot the Grovers!!

[diablo175]

Hondo II Lester. I desperately wanted a "Kiss/Ace Frehley" guitar at age 14. My parents managed to divine just WTF that meant by chatting with a local music store owner and bought a used Hondo from him. Got it for Christmas. Dad had also bought the family a new Emerson stereo. (they didn't know shit about stereos either, apparently) I was told I could plug it into the stereo until an amplifier could be procured. I did so and promptly blew out one of the speakers. Dad was less than pleased. 😆

 

 

[HSB0531]

12 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

Hey, man, I forgot to mention that I had to play my guitar uphill both ways.

In the rain and snow without shoes too!

[tommy p]

One of these bad boys right here!  $299 with a chain saw case.

 

  

My first amp was similar to this, but I moved to a Peavey Bandit 65 within a year or so.

[duncans]

My first guitar was an acoustic, Kent was the brand. Might have been all mahogany, probably about 1968 or so.

The first electric was a  335 copy, with the whammy bar, the brand escapes me right now.Japanese I'm sure.  The first amp was a Fender brownface Deluxe.

Oh I wish I still had that! Next guitar was a Fender Mustang, also upgrading to a Blackface Twin. The Mustang was traded in for a Gibsob SG Special, which was stolen shortly after purchasing. The list is almost endless now.

 

[HSB0531]

1 hour ago, duncans said:

My first guitar was an acoustic, Kent was the brand. Might have been all mahogany, probably about 1968 or so.

My first bass amp was a Kent.

[LucSulla]

Funny how many of these were "cheap knockoffs" at the time and now command pretty lofty prices. 

[LucSulla]

I didn't post a picture because it wasn't technically my first guitar, but my first good guitar was a mid-80s Olympic White American Strat with a rosewood board. 

I was working on the solo for "Let it Be" (original LP version) one afternoon on my red Ibanez, and my Dad heard me on his way out the door to buy a pack of smokes. He said, "You aren't going to be able to figure that out. I tried for years to learn that."

I worked it out while he was gone and played it for him when he got back 10 minutes later. He smiled and said, "Well I'll be damned, you're really getting pretty good at that."

About a week later, I walked in to find the Ibanez had disappeared, and there was that white strat sitting in its place. I really wish I still had that guitar because I love olympic white strats, but at some point, it was traded in for an 88 Les Paul Studio in Alpine White. Also wish I still had that guitar, but it got stolen in 1999. 

We got some insurance money for that, and I used the settlement check to buy the Les Paul Custom that I still have to this day. It was kind of a dream guitar I used to eyeball at a shop in Jackson. I don't have any of those first three, but some of the money spent on that first Ibanez would eventually pay for the Les Paul I do have now, even if every trade wasn't exactly intended. 

Edited September 11, 2024 by LucSulla

[Zork]

My first was a 1959 Gibson ES-125T.

 

 

[MTM105]

1960s Harmony Holiday.

aka Rosebud.

I had during HS. Others had their Les Pauls. Central NJ high per capita income. It didn’t bother me. It should have. But I felt that this was MY tone. Pearl Inlays? 4 knobs? I ended up trading it for a bag of weed.

MXR+ Distortion plugged into living room Sears stereo. I felt that I was rather advanced. That MXR+ was going to RULE THE WORLD! And Maxon Phaser.

1970s MXR+ was considered boutique. And exclusive. SKYNYRD ALL DAY LONG!!

 

 

Edited September 12, 2024 by MTM105

[DaveH]

The 12 year old kid in me stlll wants one of these. 😂 They actually sound really cool, what I've heard on YouTube.

[BrianM]

First decent guitar was my '76 SG Standard in burgundy (red). I remember seeing BTO on one of the News Years Eve shows on TV and Blair Thorton was playing one. Also Barry Goudreau of Boston. My family made a trip to Levin's in DC where they had a brown one, and I inquired about a red one. They took me downstairs to extra inventory and pulled out a red "blemish" one (minor bump out in wood somewhere ). So that's the one a bought for my Christmas present. Got me through HS and college. Only one of 100-200 guitars I kept, with varied modifications.

Edited September 14, 2024 by BrianM

[BillW]

On 9/8/2024 at 1:02 PM, mathman said:

Hondo II. Les Paul copy  decent guitar.  First amp an old sunn amp with a 4x10 cabinet.  Wish I still had the Sunn but not the hondo. 

Me too, cherry sunburst. Had a Crate 10 watt SS ...ah the good ole days. I was 13, I think. This was after having played my grandfathers old cat gut acoustic from when I was like 8 or 9

[BrianM]

Hondo's, Aria's and Ibanez copies - When I was a kid, every time we visited to local mall, I always HAD to stop in at Troup's music (I think it was). They always had LP and strat copies that I wanted to take home, but never did.

[santellavision]

My first 'good' guitar was a '72 Gibson SG. Got it for Xmas from my dad. But, I dropped it and broke the headstock playing 'rock star'. As an interesting twist to this. My dad was good friends with the famous luthier Jimmy D'Aquisto and he repaired it. Unfortunately, I don't have it anymore. 

[Stike]

Whatever the entry level Yamaha acoustic was in 1982, my mother insisted I learn how to play a "normal" guitar first. A year later I got a Memphis Strat copy and a Marshall Lead 12 combo.

[Stike]

On 9/9/2024 at 8:30 PM, Biz Prof said:

A bolt neck mini Flying V that was marketed under several brands, notably Bradley or Samson. Mine was blue and was equipped with Mighty Mite copy of a Dimarzio Super.

 

I bought one of those at a pawn shop in the mid 90s, refinished it though. Still have it even though I could never get it set up worth a shit.