Where it all began

Yorkie

For me, it all began here. 

Thank you, everyone. 

mo6020

jca74 said:

I am delighted to no longer own my Encore Coaster or Marlin State of the Art that I got started with....

My very first guitar was a Marlin, it is an absolute piece of shit but I still have it here. I played the life of out it for about 4 years, tho, so it did its job. 

guitarjack66

I had a nylon stringed catalogue guitar that I didnt touch when about 14/15 years old. I hardly touched it and then only took up guitar about 4 years back,almost 40 years later! I think my little sister might still have the guitar but only used it at school and that was 30 years ago too. I'd like to find it again though.

Danny1969

I've said before I wish I still had my first guitar so I could bury the f#cking thing and dance on it's grave. I do actually have the first guitar in the house that I remember playing, an old F hole acoustic with an action so high the neck looks like a suspension bridge. I will post a pic later if I get time 

Neil

My first electric was a Japanese  Avon Les Paul copy. Plywood with a hollow curved ply top with single coils hiding under humbucker covers. The specs were indeed crap but it did the job for a number of years.

Sold it when I had no time for playing and after a 17 year hiatus decided I'd like something better so I bought my 1989 Fender US Standard  new and still have it. 

freakboy1610

My first guitar was just like the one in this pic. It was a terrible thing but, as I didn't know any different, I thought it was great. I sprayed it red and got a red curly cable to complete the look. About a year later I bought an early 80s Squier Tele and never looked back. I abandoned the Audition in the loft of a house that I moved out of many years ago. I've still got the red cable though. I wish I'd kept the Squier too.

LionAquaLooper

Sporky said:

Mine was one of these. I played twee indie-pop.

 

Haha identical story to mine and almost identical guitar except mine was an all black Jackson.   

Voxman

I played and gigged a Shaftsbury Les Paul Custom for years that I had modded with a phase switch between the vol/tone knobs, DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge, and Schaller tuners.  But my first pro quality name guitar was a 1969 hardtail Strat that I bought when I was 19 or 20 and cost me £187.50. It had a Mighty Mite pickup in the bridge but I insisted on having the original in the deal.  Took it to Andy's guitar shop in Denmark Street and Andy put the original back for me, put in a 5-way switch & gave it a pro-set up, with the Mighty Mite (pretty expensive in their day) in payment.  I still have the Strat, but sold the Shaftsbury years back when I bought my 1990 Gibson Les Paul Custom.  Still have an old pic of both together, and a more recent pic of the '69 Strat:




It was my main gigging guitar for some 30 years - this was from one of the last gigs when I used the Strat before I retired it from gigging as it was just getting too valuable to take out and risk getting damaged or stolen:

boogieman

freakboy1610 said:

My first guitar was just like the one in this pic. It was a terrible thing but, as I didn't know any different, I thought it was great. I sprayed it red and got a red curly cable to complete the look. About a year later I bought an early 80s Squier Tele and never looked back. I abandoned the Audition in the loft of a house that I moved out of many years ago. I've still got the red cable though. I wish I'd kept the Squier too.

That looks like a Teisco-made guitar  of some description, they were sold under various brand names like Audition, which Woolworths sold. I had a Top 20, which was another brand variation. It looked cool in red/black burst but was pretty nasty to play, although they can apparently be improved with some work. 

ICBM

Sadly I no longer have the guitar - I modded it beyond repair in the late 80s and 90s - but I have managed to find an identical replacement. I miss the strap too, and I've never seen another...

I still have most of the hair, and still wear 501s, but not quite such large specs .

strtdv

My first decent guitar was a 2001 MIM standard strat in blue agave with maple fretboard, much like this one:

https://rvb-img.reverb.com/image/upload/s--SJsrqjWf--/a_0,c_crop,h_0.539,w_0.718,x_0.143,y_0.461/f_auto,t_supersize/v1708269899/zo5zt6b2unjafbgfps4o.jpg

Mine now has a bareknuckle Irish Tours loaded pickguard which has aged a nice cream colour in the intervening 20 years, and the tuners have been replaced with vintage style ones

thomasross20

I like the look of those Teles. I started (electric, anyway) on a Pacific HH iirc. Moved to Ibanez HH then PRS HH which was ROCK SOLID for band performance. 

I now actually prefer 22 fret HSS guitars and my Suhr Pro S4 just has so much damn character, it's a joy to play and listen to. It never did cut through in band mix as well as the PRS but I don't see myself doing that gig again so the PRS will go, after 6 years sitting in the closet. There's something amazing about 22 frets and the sound you get from HSS - joyous. That single coil bite and quacky in-between tones - just lovely.

Funny how tastes change over time!

Philly_Q

My first guitar was the usual late '70s, early '80s nameless Les Paul copy.  Then after a year or so I got one of these.

I've still got mine, but it was the victim of all sorts of modifications and wiring experiments.