Your first guitar, and your first "real" guitar

[SkipBurz]

My first electric was also that Teisco in the OP, but I had the three pick-up version. My first acoustic was an Airline my dad bought in Hawaii in the 50s when he was in the Marine Corp. It came home without a case in a seabag. I then went to a '67 335....Not much of a step-up from the Teisco except for...well...everything!

[Cunamara]

First guitar I owned was a 1978 Takamine F-340S dreadnought. $199 with case, bought in November 1979. I still have it, it's a really nice sounding guitar. Had it refretted about 10 years ago which cost more than buying the guitar new, but it plays way better than it did for the first nearly 30 years. It's the only flattop steel string I've ever owned.

My first "real" guitar was a 1981 Ibanez GB10 which I bought used in 1986 for $650. Still have that one, too. Wonderful guitar, arguably the best neck I've ever played, although no longer the sound I am looking for and I don't take it out of the case very often. But I am sentimentally attached to it.

[Cavalier]

I suffered on a Stella remarkably like the one pictured then got a thinline electric 12 I still have followed by a Ibanez bolt neck Les Paul copy that became the rat rocker. It had a head start being well used but tolerantly survived every experiment and got me into college jazz band after high school. Everybody back then had Ibanez guitars because as high school students nobody could afford Gibsons. These guitars still surprise me for sound and were a good effort. we learned a lot about pickups and wiring.

[rolijen]

My first was a Crest solid body very much like the OP. The neck was so fat that a friend nick named it “The Log”. It was an exceptionally crappy guitar with very little sustain and super low output through the little Vox amp I got with it for $30, total.

My amazing big brother saw that I was taking to it so he let me borrow his Lyle Gibson Dove copy to learn on. Later, he gave me the $200 I needed to buy my first real guitar—a Gibson SG. That was in 1976. I don’t have that guitar any more but I still have the best big brother ever.

Roli

[Tom Karol]

My first guitar was also a Stella like the one pictured above, bought by my parents for $24 in 1960.
It was soon after replaced by a $52 Harmony Broadway to which I later added a DeArmond "Monkey on a stick" ($32) - didn't have an amp yet, so I plugged it into my Dad's "HiFi".

[Doctor Jeff]

The Hi-Lo pictured above looks more like my first full-size guitar--I am pretty sure it had a rodlike tremolo, not flat, and I recall the headstock as being Strat-ish.

I would probably still have it, but we had a fire at my house back over 30 years ago, and my mom threw out everything that wasn't salvageable and practical.

Though she still has that 3/4 size no-name guitar in the cardboard box.

It's impressive how similar our experiences are.

[oldane]

I started on my dads mandolin. Then I got my first guitar 13 years old - an East German Musima round hole cheapo. 3 years later I found a Hofner 456 with the black plastic covered PUs at a pawn shop. At the time it was considered cheap, but they have since then gained more recognition. My frst high quality guitar was a 1961 Gibson 175 which I bought in 1973. I still have it though I don't play it much anymore. The very slim "fast" neck (from front to back) is not as much to my liking as the fuller necks on my later guitars. A few years later I got a used Gibson 79RV tube amp which I also still have, tucked away in the basement. It's undescribably ugly and, frankly, don't sound very good. But back then, for me as an inexperienced youngster, anything marked Gibson was worth having.

[brad4d8]

My first guitar was a cheap Kay that my mother got for Top Value Yellow Stamps, 1962. Had at least one other okay guitar, but my first good guitar was Guild F-212. Got it new in '65, still have it.
Brad

[MarkRhodes]

My first guitar was a Harmony acoustic that cost $25 in a pawn shop. My older brother had it first, gave up on it shortly thereafter, and it came to me.
My first real guitar was an Ovation Deluxe Balladeer acoustic. My dad was a car dealer in Nashville at the time and took it in trade on an old station wagon. Lovely sound, though its round back took some getting used to. (Kept sliding out of my lap. Which lead to my first strap...)

[bohemian46]

1939 Martin 00-17
I paid $4 (four dollars) for this in 1961.. no case, kinda felt ripped off : )

Came with flat-wounds so I "upgraded" to Black Diamonds , then LaBella Silk And Steel

Stolen in 1965 so replaced it with a 1946 Gibson J-45 Banner.. again no case and had to pay $100.

[darkwaters]

My first guitar was a cheap Sears acoustic that my parents bought me for Xmas in, about '70. Long gone.

My first real guitar was a MIJ Squier '52 re-issue Tele that I bought new in '82 when I got my first job. Had it for about 2 years and then sold it again to buy an acoustic (also long gone). Funny, I don't miss the Tele. I have one now that's much more to my taste. It did come with a tweed case that I do wish I had kept. I bought a Fender amp at the same time, that, looking back, I believe was a Princeton, but I could be wrong. At that time I had zero interest in amps. They were just something that you needed to amplify a guitar. Wish I'd kept the amp, but how was I to know.

[Kirk Garrett]

The distinction, as I look back over my guitar life, is so relative: my first “real” guitar. That definition has changed a lot over time as my sensibilities have changed, and as my goals and abilities and awareness have changed.

For the most part, my guitars have always been better than I myself am as a player, even when they have been rather humble guitars.

Maybe that’s my working definition of a “real” guitar. Something that’s considerably better than I am, an instrument I have to grow into.

Lately it’s a Santa Cruz OM. I’ll never be as good of a player as it is a guitar. But if my musical goals change, I guess you never know.....




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[TKO]

My first guitar was a German laminate classical guitar (Musima, IIRC), and I still have it.

It's pretty robust, because it is still playable even though it worked as a toy for my two oldest kids when they were small (gotta start them young.. ).

At some point I realized that it would actually be fun to play classical again so I rescued it back to my use. Played it for a while and now it's retired on top of a cabinet at my home office.

My first "real" guitar was an Ibanez RG550, from the 90's. I sold it to a friend who still has it, and won't sell it back to me even though I've asked. But it's in the "Family" still, so that's fine.

[Thumpalumpacus]

My first guitar was an awful little MiK plywood 3/4 acoustic, Franciscan was the brand, crappiness was the vibe exuded. 1/4" action at least at the 12th fret ... 'tis a wonder I stuck with playing.

First real guitar was a Lyle-branded Matsumoko Strat that was pretty good, considering, got it for $110 at a pawn shop in 1982 with HSC. Stolen in 86.

First Gibson was a 73 LP DeLuxe, bought in 87 for $375. It was my #1 for 15 years.

[savofenno]

My first was Höfner Colorama-type in December 1964. It was a 2 humbucker red plastic alligator skin covered solidbody. I was a beginner, i didn`t knew anything about setup, so it stayed with very high action and was horrible to play. I swapped it to Höfner Model 4560(?) archtop with 2 humbuckers and cherry sunburst finish in April 1965. That was much better, could be good even today, but i sold it 1969 when i was in army because i needed money. I was living in Finland where i was born, military service is obligatory for all young men of 20 years age.
I played bass a couple of years after military service, had Fender Precision early 50`s reissue for it. Moved to Sweden in 1976 and began to play guitar again. I have now 51 guitars, mostly electrics, and 13 basses.

[savofenno]

I want to delete 3rd pic in my previous post, but don`t know how. Help!
It shows a guitar i did not owned, it`s 1st pic which is the right one.

[cosmic gumbo]

My first was a used Kent thin hollow, very funky. It got stolen so I saved my pennies for a real guitar and got an Epiphone acoustic, w/bolt-on neck, and adjustable saddle!

[Michael Kaye]

technically my first guitar was a beater no name nylon that sat unused in my brothers room.

my friend was the first guy I knew that got an electric guitar - a Teisco del ray that had tremolo and switches and knobs galor but terrible neck (I realized later).

so when it was my turn to get one I got an Aria SG copy, like this one, which was the first guitar I owned with an actual neck with decent frets. it was shocking.


sometime later I bought my first "real" guitar - a 1970s black fender Strat. Hated it after about a week and traded it at a jam session for a Les Paul goldtop which I loved for years (until stolen in a house break in).