What was your first ever guitar?

[Gitfiddler]

My first was a sad acoustic flat top, that had to have been made by the company formerly known as "P.O.S., Inc.". But hey, I was 12 and loved it. Dragged that thing to grammar school, then walked a couple of miles afterwards each Wednesday for 2 years of guitar lessons.

Then at age 14, my parents drove me to Wallach's Music City in Hollywood...


We came home with a well used Harmony H48 Stratotone Mercury. During my college years, I had it "customized" at Guitar Villa, ripping out the single DeArmond gold foil pickup (doh!), and installing two Gibson paf's (woo-hoo!), tune-o-matic bridge and tone/vol. controls like a REAL Les Paul (NOT!). I played that thing in nightclubs and even toured a bit with it during the late '60's through the '70's. (Yes, I'm an old fart).

Here's a photo of a vintage Harmony H48 that I recently bought in memory of my original unmolested instrument.
(I still have the original "customized" guitar and use it for slide playing.)

[lammie200]

I think that I had the exact same guitar at the exact same time and did the exact same thing. It was too noisy for my tastes, but I would have liked to reap the rewards of selling it much later. I think that I paid $1000 for it because "CC's weren't as valuable as straight 175's - not as versatile." Sold it for $1200 too I think.

A 1979, or so Gibson ES175 w/a CC pickup. Acquired in '93 for $1200. After taking a few lessons locally, having begun piano 4 years earlier I had too much on my plate. Sold that guitar for the price of purchase 2 years later. I had no idea that guitar would be worth 3 times its purchase price today, or I'd have kept it.

[Drumbler]

My first was a sad acoustic flat top, that had to have been made by the company formerly known as "P.O.S., Inc.". But hey, I was 12 and loved it. Dragged that thing to grammar school, then walked a couple of miles afterwards each Wednesday for 2 years of guitar lessons.

Then at age 14, my parents drove me to Wallach's Music City in Hollywood...


We came home with a well used Harmony H48 Stratotone Mercury. During my college years, I had it "customized" at Guitar Villa, ripping out the single DeArmond gold foil pickup (doh!), and installing two Gibson paf's (woo-hoo!), tune-o-matic bridge and tone/vol. controls like a REAL Les Paul (NOT!). I played that thing in nightclubs and even toured a bit with it during the late '60's through the '70's. (Yes, I'm an old fart).

Here's a photo of a vintage Harmony H48 that I recently bought in memory of my original unmolested instrument.
(I still have the original "customized" guitar and use it for slide playing.)

I'd really like to see a pic of your original guitar if possible. Thanks!

[D.G.]

My first guitar was a nylon string I bought from my guitar teacher when I was 17 in 1980. I forget the exact model, but it was made for a store out of Chicago. I traded it up for a Hirade 7 which I used all through college.

My first electric guitar was a Korean built ES135 clone branded for Jed's Music Shed in Independence Mo. I think I got that in 1983 during my Freshman year in college. I "customized" it till it died.

My first amp was a 1965 Princeton, also purchased in 1983. Paid $150 for it. I kicked myself for selling it for 20 years till Fender finally came out with the PRRI. It's my current main gigging amp

[Headshot]

Hhmmm...well, my mom bought me a guitar for Christmas when I was 5 because I wanted to play jazz...bless her heart she got me a 335. Before anybody cries foul...lol...never got to play it because it was way too big for me. A month later was my birthday, turned 6, and she found a guitar teacher that was a jazz session guy that had moved from Nashville to Miami to work at the 2 recording studios down here. He immediately traded her out of the 335 into the smallest guitar in the store...Telecaster. I have been a Fender guy since....sshhhhh, don't tell my 335 or Wildkat or Les Pauls......

[50Hz]

First started playing on my mom's old Yamaha FG-335ii flat top but my first personal guitar was a '03 Mexican Strat I got for my birthday in 2004 I believe. Still have them both and they're not going anywhere.

[Vladan]

My first acoustic was some Soviet Union junk, a lot like this one, only with 6 strings

(http://www.junkguitars.com/stories/v...ars_rus.html):

" The thick, un-reinforced necks were attached to the body by a single bolt through the heel, an outdated design left over from the old Russian parlor guitars. While theoretically this made the neck angle adjustable, in practice the neck wobbled up and down as well as sideways. So the strings ended up running off the fretboard and the "self-variable" action that resulted ranged randomly from fret-slapping buzz to three-inch egg slicer. Periodically, the guitarist would have to stop playing and adjust the neck with a key. Staying in tune for over two minutes was virtually impossible. One photo of the famous underground street-song performer Arkadi Severny shows him with such a guitar, a large comb jammed under the bottom of the fretboard in a vain attempt to stabilize it. "

My first electric was this one, Jolana Galaxis (The only guitars I had after it are these same 2 Squiers I play today.):



JunkGuitars.com
"The Jolana Galaxis of the late 1970's took after the Fender Stratocaster. This model copied the basic Strat outline, but wreaked havoc with the hardware and electronics. The vibrato tailpiece, recessed into the body, was the same primitive Japanese Jazzmaster copy found on the early 1960's Star I, while the bridge was the standard Jolana floating type. The guitar came equipped with two oversized double-blade humbuckers called the "Sapphir", each with its own volume and tone controls. The 6-in-line headstock had a "towel bar" string retainer, as also found on the Star I and some early Japanese guitars."

[Gitfiddler]

I'd really like to see a pic of your original guitar if possible. Thanks!

As you wish...
Left is the highly modified first electric guitar of my ill-spent youth; and on the right is the recently scored vintage, unadulterated Harmony Stratotone model. Oddly enough, these cheaply built, student level guitars came with beautifully figured Brazilian Rosewood fingerboards. Different world back in the '60's.

[Scotto]

Kent! Bought it for $25 from my future guitar teacher when I was 12. Saw it hanging behind a blue vox and had to have it but was a bit bummed when they pulled it all the way out and the right side wasn't also violin shaped like Paul's Hofner. In the back of my mind, I always wondered if I should have picked up the vox... regardless, since I had made the honor roll my dad said he would buy me a new guitar of my choice so I took full advantage of the offer and got a black Rickenbacker 330. Still have it.! Not only carried me through my Beatles faze but also my Who faze, Byrds faze, Zombies, The Jam...

[oldane]

.... a black Rickenbacker 330. Still have it.! Not only carried me through my Beatles faze but also my Who faze, .....

But it didn't carry you too far into that Who fase, since you still have it - in one piece.

[cosmic gumbo]

My first guitar was a Kent thin hollow exactly like this, with bolt on neck, used for $50 back in '74. It was the cheapest guitar at the music store. Got stolen from the back seat of my buddy's 64 Impala six months later...

[Drumbler]

Thank you for the pic of your original guitar.

[krusty]

My first one was a Made in Japan Strat, mid '80s. I wish I still had it.

[Sacco]

My very first guitar. Yes...a Harley Benton Vintage LP....I pimped it up many times (fret level, roller nut/bridge, Duesemberg LesTrem II tremolo) and I still love it. Plays awesome and keeps intonation like a champ.

[Gretschman66]

My very first guitar was a no-name Asian import, probably from the 60s, with a 1" thick plywood body. Bought both it and a small amp for $20. Was completely unplayable.

My first REAL guitar was a tobacco sunburst 1978 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, which my father purchased new for my 12th birthday. I was a lucky kid.

[robbro@coastwifi.com]

my first was a rental stella with a cowboy painted on the top and action impossible for a nine year old