First guitar you ever PLAYED/HANDLED

fandango

This isn't your first purchase or best purchase (see separate threads), but the first ever guitar you picked up ...

... coulda been your 18th Birthday present from an Uncle or Ma/Pa guitar, or in my case I had a friend who's dad had his own band, and his dad had a white Ovation Deacon. Cool or what? Anyway one day after school my friend got the guitar case out the cupboard and we posed a bit, strummed a bit - no amp - then after a while my friend got nervous and it was packed away. But that guitar memory has stuck with my for XX (cough) years and if it weren't for the fact it's got some funny electrics, I might have got one by now.

http://i.imgur.com/woMYZxU.jpg

Chris_J

I borrowed a mates acoustic (an Eko I think) when I was 16, while I saved to buy my first guitar (Marlin Sidewinder) off of another mate 

olafgarten

My older Sister got an Encore 1/2 size classical for her 10th birthday, never learned to play it though. Not sure where it is now actually.

I was 5 at the time, but when I was around 10, I decided that I wanted to learn something, so I managed to work out an off key version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Around a week later I got bored and never touched it again.

ICBM

A cheap classical, bought from a friend of a friend for £15 in 1984, of unknown brand but almost certainly made in Japan.

Because this year I bought another old classical, a Japanese Aria from the early 80s… and it smells exactly how I remember my first one did inside .

EricTheWeary

Ooh, I'm not 100% sure but I think it was a Woolworths Top Twenty owned by my friend Chris. His father was a bit of a wheeler dealer (I bought my first ever single off him, an ex jukebook copy of Their Coming to Take me Away Ha Ha) so I doubt if it was new. I remember it had a vibrato arm of some sort as there was some debate about what the purpose of it was. 

Bucket

I was quite lucky in that my dad plays guitar, so when I asked for a guitar to have a bash on he gave me this:

http://i1022.photobucket.com/albums/af347/ConnorF1995/Screen Shot 2017-04-15 at 21.15.20_zpslf8wsoyw.png

I've been doing some recording with it recently. Killer guitar.

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

Ooh, I'm not 100% sure but I think it was a Woolworths Top Twenty owned by my friend Chris. His father was a bit of a wheeler dealer (I bought my first ever single off him, an ex jukebook copy of Their Coming to Take me Away Ha Ha) so I doubt if it was new. I remember it had a vibrato arm of some sort as there was some debate about what the purpose of it was. 

If it was the typical one on those it may have had a flat string anchor with two sets of offset holes, three either side of the pivot axis, so its purpose was to rather ineffectually wobble the tuning rather than a proper pitch bend up or down.

Some have a slightly better Fender Jaguar-style one, but it's still not exactly great.

octatonic

First guitar I played was my Dad's nylon string.
I wasn't allowed to play it- he was left handed and was worried I would break it.
I was about 9, I think.

proggy

I can't remember the first guitar I ever handled, but the first bass I played was a Wem Rapier.

spark240

A strat copy....satellite ?....or something like that,,...Harryseven will remember  it...in fact he's still got his first guitar I think !

i used to go with my dad to his mates pharmacist shop, and the guy gave me the guitar to keep me occupied, ...he eventually gave it me to keep, had some amplifier headphones with it .

Nitefly

I was still at school, so 14/15, and my mate's older brother had a Burns Sonic.  

I was round their house and the brother was practicing a song for a gig that weekend, I asked if I could have a go, so he let me strap it on, and showed me a C chord and and A minor.  

What a moment - absolute shivers down my spine!  It took a while after that but I finally got a manky acoustic of my own.  I don't think I've ever surpassed the sheer wonder of that first C chord though!

tony99

ICBM said:

A cheap classical, bought from a friend of a friend for £15 in 1984, of unknown brand but almost certainly made in Japan.

Because this year I bought another old classical, a Japanese Aria from the early 80s… and it smells exactly how I remember my first one did inside .

Sushi?

kin

a bright orange plastic four string with the Beatles on it, not really playable but it did pique my interest

Philly_Q

A really shitty classical which belonged to my sister.  She's left-handed but must have been learning right handed (if indeed she ever played it at all).  

The top was badly warped so the top two strings didn't even touch the saddle.  It was impossible to tune. But I mucked about and played Smoke on the Water on the bass strings.  And haven't learned much else since.

Rabs

Well its not quite my first guitar..  But its the first one I got serious about...

It was an old Kay double cut neck through with a natural finish...  Pretty cool by all accounts..  Wish I still had it..

Looked like this

http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r588/Rabs2010/2008 standard/XjI9Ecq_zpsiq1lmlzv.jpg

nocasternoproblem

I think it was a bass - a Sunn PB copy in 1989.  Lad at school let me have a go.  First guitar I think was a Marlin Strat copy from another lad the bass player knew.  I bought a Kay LP copy and there we are...band formed.  We never actually played together but hey, we were still a band, right? 

rico

My Dads WEM Sapphire in about 2000. I still play it now! 

Sassafras

Can't remember the first guitar I picked up, probably some cheap plywood or even formica nylon strung thing, but the first decent guitar I picked up was a lovely CAR Telecaster.
Thus began my lifelong love of the humble Tele.

ArchtopDave

1965 Yairi Classical Guitar. Bought for me new by the Music Teacher who gave me lessons. I still own it, and it sits on a stand beside my bed. Still sounds good, and just about playable, though the Top has "bellied up"  around the Bridge.

Neil

kin said:

a bright orange plastic four string with the Beatles on it, not really playable but it did pique my interest

Ditto.

 It wasn't even mine,  a mate had had it for Christmas and we used to muck about on it. I have an idea it was more pink than orange though.

A New Beat, it looked like this...

TheMarlin

Mark Kings Jaydee Bass.