# My First Acoustic



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

My first acoustic was actually not only my first acoustic but my first guitar. I knew next to nothing about guitars and set myself with a budget under $200.00 for a used guitar or a new one if I could get something decent under $200.00. I didn't know at the time that was nigh impossible. I went to this pawnship and they had quite a few acoustics hanging from the ceiling. New ones were painted blue and red as I remember and they had a few used ones. I asked one of the clerks for some help and he asked me how much I wanted to spend and asked to look at some of the new ones. After a few more questions he suggested I look at something used as I would get a better guitar for my budget. I was fortunate as the clerk was an amateur musician from NFLD. He pulled down an S & P Cedar 6 which was in excellent condition. It only had one very minor mard on the front which looked like a pick scrape. Since I didn't play, I asked him to play something. He compared the S & P to one of the cheap new guitars and it was easy to see the S & P was superior by far. I believe the new guitars were selling for around $170.00 and the used S & P was $125.00. We are going back about 15 years I would guess. The point of my post is that it is always best to get the help of a knowledgeable person when buying an instrument you know nothing or little about.


----------



## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)

My first guitar was a classical with a two inch nut width bought for $20.00 at Woolco in Scarborough sometime around 1966. The Woolco store was pretty high cotton back then. I carried that guitar about in a green garbage bag for years. In or about 1987 I threw it on a fire - it burned real good.


----------



## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Good advice for a first purchase. But I have to add that you won't know anything at all about the guitar until you've played and heard it yourself for sometime as well. My buddy and his son brought me along when they went for their first guitars. They'd already played guitar as I'd borrowed them my S&P for a few months so they had a good basis for a lower cost but good sounding guitar. Told them to play it for a while, asked them what they thought, then got them to stand where I was listening as I played so they got the projected side of the sound. Big difference in what you hear playing it and what it sounds like a meter or so away. Rounds it all out for the prospective purchase.

My first guitar was a Raven that became a grade 10 Art project after a year of slicing my fingers apart on it. That was 35 years ago. Getting recommendations from other people's experienced recommendation is still a go. It's impossible to play everything.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Dorian2 said:


> Good advice for a first purchase. But I have to add that you won't know anything at all about the guitar until you've played and heard it yourself for sometime as well. My buddy and his son brought me along when they went for their first guitars. They'd already played guitar as I'd borrowed them my S&P for a few months so they had a good basis for a lower cost but good sounding guitar. Told them to play it for a while, asked them what they thought, then got them to stand where I was listening as I played so they got the projected side of the sound. Big difference in what you hear playing it and what it sounds like a meter or so away. Rounds it all out for the prospective purchase.
> 
> My first guitar was a Raven that became a grade 10 Art project after a year of slicing my fingers apart on it. That was 35 years ago. Getting recommendations from other people's experienced recommendation is still a go. It's impossible to play everything.


Yes, that is certainly all true. I did find out later that there are wider necks and although I kept getting the pat answer that I just needed to wait and as my chording got better, it would eventually clean up. It did get cleaner but not clean. I then started really looking at my hands and fingers and the hands and fingers of those telling me that it was just natural to have notes bussing in the beginning. They all had regular hands and fingers. I just needed a wider neck with wider string spacing. Once I did that, voila, I could now play clean notes so the S & P that I was quote fond of had to go. Rickenbacker makes a 12 string with a 1 5/8" nut. How anyone plays that clean, I just don't comprehend, but some do.


----------



## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

My first guitar purchase, I had no idea about guitars and based my decision on looks and the colour of the guitar.

Don't recommend that approach.


----------



## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

My first acoustic was bought in a Calgary pawn shop back in '79, right after I spent 6 weeks forest fire fighting up near Revelstoke and had a wad a cash in my pocket. The shop had about a dozen guitars in the back which just came in damaged, the owner said I could pick out anyone one of them for $400. I went through them all and picked out one that was almost perfect, it was a Gibson Mark 72.


----------



## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

I got my first acoustic as Christmas gift at fifteen...
Action was ceiling high... I went to the local store where the cleck, clearly a musician, tried it and then told me
it was useless to try to fix it as it was false (the word intonation was not quite in use these days).
I tried to play it a bit, and she ultimately died in the closet as the bridge pulled the laminate top apart.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Guncho said:


> My first guitar purchase, I had no idea about guitars and based my decision on looks and the colour of the guitar.
> 
> Don't recommend that approach.


Yes, that was me too. Without the help I received, I would likely have come home with a piece of junk.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

jimsz said:


> My first acoustic was bought in a Calgary pawn shop back in '79, right after I spent 6 weeks forest fire fighting up near Revelstoke and had a wad a cash in my pocket. The shop had about a dozen guitars in the back which just came in damaged, the owner said I could pick out anyone one of them for $400. I went through them all and picked out one that was almost perfect, it was a Gibson Mark 72.


Man, oh man, what a find! You did exceptionally well.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

mawmow said:


> I got my first acoustic as Christmas gift at fifteen...
> Action was ceiling high... I went to the local store where the cleck, clearly a musician, tried it and then told me
> it was useless to try to fix it as it was false (the word intonation was not quite in use these times).
> I tried to play it a bit, and she ultimatelay died in the closet as the bridge pulled the laminate top apart.


For some, that would have dampened their desire to play forever. Good it didn't have that effect on you.


----------



## fernieite (Oct 30, 2006)

My first guitar was an acoustic too. I bought a brand new black Yamaha from a local music shop on Yonge St (Quite a few blocks North of Eglinton, on the East side) in 1978. I was 15 at the time.
I realized soon after that the sound in my head was actually the electric guitar, not the acoustic! 

So, I sold it to a buddy of mine, (he still has it) and bought a used maple board blonde 1968 Tele from some guy with an ad in the Toronto Star classified section. 

Edit: I did come to appreciate the acoustic guitar years later, however.  I've had a 1970 D-28, a 60's Harmony H1260 Sovereign, a Montana built Gibson Hummingbird, and a Gibson Sheryl Crowe southern jumbo. (all sold) I now have just one acoustic - a 1958 Harmony H1203 Sovereign.


----------



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

In the spring of 1972 I wanted a drum kit. I thought the gear, the drummers, and the music was very cool, and no one in my family played drums. It may have been me just wanting to hit things, I don’t know, and I didn’t actually get a kit until 2019. My father must have seen me coming a mile off and said drums were too big, too loud, and too expensive (in spite of the fact that any drums would be kept in my room which was in the isolated former servants quarters of the big old house we lived in, and I would be buying them myself with money I earned on my job), and then he said those prophetic words, “You know your sister has a guitar she doesn’t play.”

A Suzuki three quarter or seven eighths size flattop with a ski hill neck and knuckle busting action that sounded, well...charming, but not charmed, was what I got. My sister had made a wonderful naugahyde gigbag for it. The guitar and bag disappeared long ago and I wish I still had them as they had belonged to my older sister who I outlived long ago. For a year I banged away on that thing, not knowing the pain and discomfort wasn’t normal. My first song was Greensleeves, by ear in G minor (I had considerable piano and vocal experience), followed by House Of The Rising Sun, various riffs and so on. As far as I know, there are no photos of it, or of either me or my sister with it. Anyway, I spent a lot of the summer of my 14th year sitting cross legged on the floor of a tent working out songs, that is when I wasn’t hound dogging around the local girls, and getting into mischief with my buddies, some of whom also played guitar.

The awful action on that first acoustic might be why I gravitated towards slide so early, that, Leo Kottke and Duane Allman.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Mooh said:


> In the spring of 1972 I wanted a drum kit. I thought the gear, the drummers, and the music was very cool, and no one in my family played drums. It may have been me just wanting to hit things, I don’t know, and I didn’t actually get a kit until 2019. My father must have seen me coming a mile off and said drums were too big, too loud, and too expensive (in spite of the fact that any drums would be kept in my room which was in the isolated former servants quarters of the big old house we lived in, and I would be buying them myself with money I earned on my job), and then he said those prophetic words, “You know your sister has a guitar she doesn’t play.”
> 
> A Suzuki three quarter or seven eighths size flattop with a ski hill neck and knuckle busting action that sounded, well...charming, but not charmed, was what I got. My sister had made a wonderful naugahyde gigbag for it. The guitar and bag disappeared long ago and I wish I still had them as they had belonged to my older sister who I outlived long ago. For a year I banged away on that thing, not knowing the pain and discomfort wasn’t normal. My first song was Greensleeves, by ear in G minor (I had considerable piano and vocal experience), followed by House Of The Rising Sun, various riffs and so on. As far as I know, there are no photos of it, or of either me or my sister with it. Anyway, I spent a lot of the summer of my 14th year sitting cross legged on the floor of a tent working out songs, that is when I wasn’t hound dogging around the local girls, and getting into mischief with my buddies, some of whom also played guitar.
> 
> The awful action on that first acoustic might be why I gravitated towards slide so early, that, Leo Kottke and Duane Allman.


Great story. I am sure I read some nostalgia there between the lines. That made the post even more interesting as I can sympathise with some of that.


----------



## 12 stringer (Jan 5, 2019)

My first one was a nondescript classical I bought for probably just a few bucks in early 70s. It was bad but I didn’t really know that then. It lasted a while and I cannot even remember what I did with it. Got an Ovation in 79 or so and it was better but still a lousy guitar. I still have it and it is still lousy.


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

My first guitar was a Gianini classical acoustic handed down to me by ny oldest brother.


----------



## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Stella.
I was 11 and bugged my parents constantly for a guitar.
One day while walking with my mom to go shopping, she says 'if you cut your hair, I'll buy you a guitar'.
Whoop, whoop, straight to the barber we go.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

sulphur said:


> My first guitar was a Gianini classical acoustic handed down to me by ny oldest brother.


And that's what got you started? How old were you at the time?


----------



## jimsz (Apr 17, 2009)

Steadfastly said:


> Man, oh man, what a find! You did exceptionally well.


It was a nice guitar and I'm an idiot for selling it. You don't see many of those these days.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

jimsz said:


> It was a nice guitar and I'm an idiot for selling it. You don't see many of those these days.


So you have 20/20 hindsight like the rest of us.


----------



## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

My first was a borrowed Yamaki Martin clone (00 sized). Nice little guitar, but had a high action so playability wasn't good. My first decent playing one was a Ventura Dove copy. Unfortunately it got left in my parents damp basement a fell apart.


----------



## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

Mine was a no name classical with crab pegs and the most beautiful wood grain back my mom bought me in 77. The Yamaha was like $80 and this was $50. Played ok , the intonation was not great.

Got drunk on lemon gin in 83 around a fire from hell on a Dewey night and slept with that guitar. When I woke up in the hot sun the next morning the neck was twisted so bad it was not playable.


----------



## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

Technically my first guitar was a cheap department store acoustic I got with money I had to spend on summer vacation.
It was real cheap in dollars & in quality.
I once read of a description of a guitar very similar as a "Waste of good plywood"
I don't even remember the brand.
I have one picture of it, but you can't read the headstock.
And while I am in the picture I am not holding the guitar.
I might have to dig it up.

My first real guitar was a Classical guitar I got for Christmas and I still have it & still play it.
It's had a headstock repair, but it was done well.

After I had that guitar I got an offer to buy my first one-the offer was the same price I bought it for--I sold it.
I never missed it & never bonded with it.
The classical on the other hand I would miss.


----------



## sillyak (Oct 22, 2016)

I had been playing electric for a year and bought an acoustic summer 2005 when I was 16. It was cheap, can't remember the brand. It didn't play great but was playable. Didn't play it too much, just messed around on it occasionally. I was into metal and played in a band that had no use for acoustics!

Took it to college, first month or so in the dorm I was taking apart a bed. Kicked a stubborn piece which came apart, flew across the room and snapped the neck in two around the 10th fret.

Didn't buy another acoustic until 2018. A S&P Showcase.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

sillyak said:


> I had been playing electric for a year and bought an acoustic summer 2005 when I was 16. It was cheap, can't remember the brand. It didn't play great but was playable. Didn't play it too much, just messed around on it occasionally. I was into metal and played in a band that had no use for acoustics!
> 
> Took it to college, first month or so in the dorm I was taking apart a bed. Kicked a stubborn piece which came apart, flew across the room and snapped the neck in two around the 10th fret.
> 
> Didn't buy another acoustic until 2018. A S&P Showcase.


An S & P showcase is a very excellent guitar. IMHO they are on par with 2-3K Martins and Taylors. You got a nice one.


----------



## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Steadfastly said:


> IMHO they are on par with 2-3K Martins and Taylors. You got a nice one.


wow, that’s high praise. Sounds like you really know your stufff


----------



## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

YouTube does a lot to level the playing field. Just make everything sound mediocre and then there's no need to waste all that money. LOL


----------



## Old beginner (Jan 22, 2020)

Steadfastly said:


> My first acoustic was actually not only my first acoustic but my first guitar. I knew next to nothing about guitars and set myself with a budget under $200.00 for a used guitar or a new one if I could get something decent under $200.00. I didn't know at the time that was nigh impossible. I went to this pawnship and they had quite a few acoustics hanging from the ceiling. New ones were painted blue and red as I remember and they had a few used ones. I asked one of the clerks for some help and he asked me how much I wanted to spend and asked to look at some of the new ones. After a few more questions he suggested I look at something used as I would get a better guitar for my budget. I was fortunate as the clerk was an amateur musician from NFLD. He pulled down an S & P Cedar 6 which was in excellent condition. It only had one very minor mard on the front which looked like a pick scrape. Since I didn't play, I asked him to play something. He compared the S & P to one of the cheap new guitars and it was easy to see the S & P was superior by far. I believe the new guitars were selling for around $170.00 and the used S & P was $125.00. We are going back about 15 years I would guess. The point of my post is that it is always best to get the help of a knowledgeable person when buying an instrument you know nothing or little about.



My first guitar, which was an acoustic, I bought the afternoon of my first lesson from a music store in downtown Hamilton around 1980. It was called Waddingtons. I don't believe they are still around.

It was a Yamaha, and with case cost me $300.00. I still have it and my daughter is trying to learn with it.

I have since moved onto a Larrivee LV-05.


----------



## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

My first acoustic was this:










I've had it going on 50 years now. Still my main guitar.

Bought it -- special order -- from Weiner's Pawnshop in the Byward market. About $350 plus case.


----------

