# First guitar, did you buy it or was it given to you?



## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

Hello,

In light of adcandour's post about his Ibanez, it got me thinking, did you save money to buy your first guitar, did your parents buy it for you or did a relative or friend give you your first guitar? Let me know.

Personally, I worked for a little over a year to save money to buy my first guitar when I was 12. It is something I have always prided myself in. My parents didn't have extra money for things like that so I had to do it myself.

Thanks,

David Cole


----------



## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Dad took me over to Hudsons Music in Toronto, and bought me the 2nd cheapest guitar they had...An early '80's Ibanez Studio something or other. I think I was in Gr. 6. Still have it, never play it.
Didn't buy me an amp though. Just a cable and I plugged into the RCA aux input of an old Lloyds home stereo we had . Sounded awful. eventually (couple yrs later) he helped me buy an amp I had for nearly 20 yrs, a Traynor TS140 SS, that I never really knew how to dial in until just before I sold it, lol.
The Ibby didn't look metal enough, and of course good looking gear just sounds better  So when I was 16 I bought an '84 Gibson explorer. still have it too, lol...in all its road worn glory.


----------



## SensoryOverload (Apr 19, 2015)

Dad had a 2005 fender strat he gave me as he prefers the acoustic. Still the only guitar Ive ever really owned, other than a $10 acoustic I bought lol. Dont get how people have like 5-10 guitars


----------



## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

SensoryOverload said:


> Dad had a 2005 fender strat he gave me as he prefers the acoustic. Still the only guitar Ive ever really owned, other than a $10 acoustic I bought lol. *Dont get how people have like 5-10 guitars*


I figure the more I have, the closer i'll be to actually picking one up and playing it 

TBH, for most of my life I had 3 electrics and 1 acoustic. Then once I hit 30 and had more discretionary income, I started collecting more. If I didn't, my wife would have just earmarked the money for more home renos that we didn't truly need. 

IMO if youre out playing/jamming, etc. you need at least 2 guitars in case of strings breaking, different tuning etc.


----------



## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

My parents bought it for me, after months of begging. It was a whole $29.99 at local Marshal/Wells hardware store. At the time I was taking guitar lessons and renting a guitar from the music school. No way I could have bought my own, I was only 10 year old. 

Parents bought my older brother a Raven.......much better guitar than the one I got.


----------



## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

My first guitar was given to me by a neighbour after her son moved out and left it behind. A crappy Raven Les Paul, but without it, I never would have started playing. Several months after signing up for lessons, my teacher suggested to my parents that I would benefit from a better guitar, so they bought me a used '78 Strat for about $700, I think. I know now that it must have stretched their budget considerably. Still have the Strat, even though it was from the worst period in Fender's history.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

This goes back over 50 years, so details are sketchy, but I believe my first was a cheap sunburst Stella parlour-size guitar my dad got for me, with the furry string ends. I sold that to buy a record player (we didn't have one in the house; how on earth was I going to listen to the Beatles without one?!), and my second guitar was one I think I picked out for myself for $25. T'was a blonde Regent of similar size and (cheap) quality, also with a trapeze-type tailpiece and a floating bridge one could slide around.

I began experimenting with effects on that guitar. I found I could get a sitar sound by removing the saddle from the bridge. I also found I could get a banjo sound by sliding the (intact) bridge under the tailpiece (losing intonation in the process). Finally, I found I could get a great fuzz tone by attaching a nickel to the lower bout just below the tailpiece (the fattest part of the guitar) with tape, such that it was resting loosely on the top of the guitar when I held it just right, and vibrated in sympathy with the notes. Of course, when I finally went electric in late '66 or so, that kind of sealed the deal. I moved up to a 4-pickup Kent Videocaster.


----------



## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

All of my early guitars at age 11-15 where bought by my dad. First acoustic i cant remember the name and the first electric was a Regent. They where all bought on the market in Ottawa where they had 3 musical instrument stores on the same street. The first real guitar i bought was a 66 Tele used. Still kicking myself for trading it on a 70's new Jazzmaster!!!


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

This is my first guitar (not actually mine..but a pic from google images).

I bought it in about 1966 or so. I hated it because it didn't look like what I thought a guitar should look like.











I then bought a Harmony Sovereign...now I had a real guitar !!!...









and it was smashed at a party. 

IIRC, I replaced it with a Gibson B50 and took it to England in 1970

Cheers

Dave


----------



## djmarcelca (Aug 2, 2012)

First guitar was my moms 1965 Harmony arch top. I think she bought it at Sears.
first Electric was my 1984 Ibanez Artist I bought second hand in 1986/7 

Still have both. 
Still play the Ibanez and have 2 more. 

it was the wrong style Ibanez to buy during the 80's, but I was very glad I bought it

The archtop developed a crack and I never bothered to repair it. 
Just hangs on the wall.


----------



## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

__________


----------



## GWN! (Nov 2, 2014)

First guitar I owned was a 1967 Guild D40 acoustic bought new with case. Paid with money earned in my summer job and a bit of help from my parents.


----------



## johnnyshaka (Nov 2, 2014)

I wanted to buy my little brother a guitar for Christmas one year so I did.

Christmas morning came and I put the wrapped guitar (in a box) under the tree.

We opened gifts one by one and it finally came time for me to give my brother his gift but my GF at the time intercepted it and gave it to me instead. Huh?

Turns out she unwrapped the gift I wrapped for my brother and put in a guitar she got for me (Yamaha acoustic) and then re-wrapped it. Awesome.

Then she brought out the guitar I bought for my brother, with a nice bow on it, and gave it to me to give to him and he was nearly as confused as I was.

I believe he still has that guitar but I don't think he ever learned how to play it. Oh well.

The guitar I got from that GF is long gone, I bought a Norman a few years later (and still have that one) and don't know what happened to the Yamaha.


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

marcos said:


> All of my early guitars at age 11-15 where bought by my dad. First acoustic i cant remember the name and the first electric was a Regent. They where all bought on the market in Ottawa where they had 3 musical instrument stores on the same street. The first real guitar i bought was a 66 Tele used. Still kicking myself for trading it on a 70's new Jazzmaster!!!


That's where I got my Regent, at Sam's ABC Music. Long before Steve's ever expanded out of downtown Montreal, and L&M ever expanded from Bloor St. Bert Bronsther, the owner is long gone. I saw in the paper the other day his wife passed away. I was in Cub Scouts with their son, Philip.


----------



## ed2000 (Feb 16, 2007)

In 1964, Silvertone acoustic archtop with the standard 1/2 inch string gap at the 12th fret strung with Black Diamond strings. Was a present from my parents just to shut me up. I still have it but it has no finish and is in several pieces. I did buy a matching Silvertone a few years ago that needs minor work (glue neck onto body). When my parents realized that I was serious about guitar in 1965 I was given a Canora electric and a Thorcraft amp which were bought at a music store at Shoppers World, Victoria Park and Danforth.
My first real guitar which my parents helped out with was a new '66 Tele($200 plus $60 for the case)


----------



## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

First guitar was a Kay acoustic, from Sears I think,got it for xmas when I was 13-14.
It was horrible,mile high action and all that.
None the less it got played.


----------



## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

My first as a 1961 Gibson J45 played that till my fingers bled or so I imagined, next up a 1962 Gibson Barney Kessel custom, that was followed by a Bill Lewis custom built classical, then another Gibson an early 1970's Les Paul and on and on always seemed to be Gibson for me. My parents never bought any of my guitars and unfortunately non of my relatives played anything but Saturday night poker so no freebies there. My father did own and play a Hagstrom Viking II through a Traynor something or other with 2x12 speakers, big, heavy loud bugger.


----------



## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

My oldest brother was moving out west.

He had an acoustic nylon string Gianini that he wasn't using.
He asked if I wanted it, well of course!

Guitar wasn't even on my radar at the time, I blame him for my hoard of gear.


----------



## Ti-Ron (Mar 21, 2007)

My parents were all against music: playing, listening...
For them, that was a waste of time.

I had to focus on 3 things: School, hockey and all the work around the house.

When I was 12, after a year or so of saving, I bought my first acoustic guitar, a Samic at the local music store.
A friend of mine bough it for fun a couple of year ago.
Still play it from time to time.


----------



## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

My father rented a charvette by charvel for me. Wanted to know if I was seriously interested. I wasn't.


----------



## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

In '63 or '64 the folks got me a Martin for my birthday. That lasted until girls and motorcycles came along and the guitar went. Over the years other guitars showed up on occasion but were never permanent. A few years back the wife bought me a guitar and so that it wouldn't get lonely I got another....then another....until there are now around 30 I think....including a Raven, a Canora, a Silvertone and even a First Act Discovery kids electric (with a built in amp) and a First Act amp to go with it.


----------



## 4Aaron GE (Jul 12, 2009)

My first was a child size acoustic that a family friend bought for me. Due to years of abuse, and generally crappy craftsmanship, the nut is gone (and has been replaced by a floyd rose one??!), and the frets are pretty much approximations of what they're supposed to be. Still have the thing sitting in my parent's place. My first "real" guitar is an ESP M-III I got in high school. Fantastic guitar, but it's got that proprietary "Synclair" bridge, so parts are pretty much impossible to find. Solid guitar, though.


----------



## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

Its cool reading everyone's origin story. It looks like so far that 2/3's of use were given our first guitars. That seems appropriate as most people start out as kids and kids don't tend to have money.


----------



## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Borrowed one from a cousin for the first few months - and old Framus with .5" action. Unplayable beyond the 3rd fret. That was alright, all I could do was slide up and down the string like a wolf whistle and play SMoW on the low E.

When I started lessons, my parents got me a Giannini classical, as per the teacher's advise. A year later, I paid about 1/3 of the price (my parents the rest) for a Unicord strat copy with 3 humbuckers (apparently, I believed the more p/u mass you have, the better). Rented a Verlage amp - god only knows how much power, but it was big and had a 15" speaker. Finally, a year after that ('74, maybe '75) bought with my own money a Peavey 120w hybrid amp with series/parallel switching. 120watts, ya know, for rocking out madison square bedroom. Never did see the power tube distortion on that beast. I didn't have a clue.

Then, a couple years after that, my first good guitar - a new '77 black LPC that I traded my Unicord for. Missed that Unicord (they gave me nearly nothing for it) but I didn't know you could have, or even want, more than one electric guitar. No regrets by the Gibson and I did learn Einstein's 3rd theory of relativity - "if you have x guitars, the ideal number of guitars for you is X+1". Took me many more years to understand tube amps and tube amp distortion and how unnecessary 120W was.


----------



## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

dcole said:


> Its cool reading everyone's origin story. It looks like so far that 2/3's of use were given our first guitars. That seems appropriate as most people start out as kids and kids don't tend to have money.


yup, dads especially. Should probably keep this in mind on Fathers Day


----------



## Lord-Humongous (Jun 5, 2014)

I played the drums in high school (late 80's to early 90's). It must have been annoying for my Dad because one day he took me to a music store and bought me a guitar. He passed away not long after that, I will always keep that guitar because it is special to me - even though it's a cheap Korean made acoustic.


----------



## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

i bought my first guitar. instruments were forbidden in the house i grew up in. when i moved out i eventually got a proper job, and saving for a guitar was the very first thing i did. it was $300 back in 1982. considering i took home about $70/week, that was big bucks for me. i skipped alot of lunches, didn't buy any weed for a long time, and lived as cheaply as i knew how. my BIL told me if i saved up that amount he would help me choose a good instrument. we went to a place that is now called accent music. i looked at an sg, a les paul, a tele, and a westbury. i only knew 5 chords then, but i played them best as i could. the westbury was the one i picked. it was an awesome guitar and i wish i could get another one. they're hard to come by. mine had dimarzio super distortions that were coil tapped and also phaze switching and a varitone knob that was disconnected. 22 frets but a nice heel that didn't get in the way. i soooo abused that guitar and it put up with everything and still kicked ass. oh, and it was in a televison commercial. they filmed it in the store where i traded it for the worst POS guitar i've ever had the misfortune to own. live and learn. the hard way. hahahaha
this is why i wouldn't discourage a new player from buying something nice for a starter guitar. the initial investment foretells how serious they are.
not mine but the same shape and colors. w/o all the switches mine had


----------



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Given, sort of. I wanted to play drums but my Dad disapproved and suggested I try my sister's guitar. I really believe my father had no faith in my desire. Anyway, I tried it, a cheap Suzuki folk size steel string acoustic with nasty action and nastier intonation. That lasted a year or so, around 1973. I wish I still had that guitar, it's whereabouts is unknown, as my sister is now gone and it would be nice to have something of hers like that. 

My second guitar was a Kent electric that I bought from a friend's brother, $20 rings a bell but i can't be sure from this distance, it could have been anything. I had already bought an Harmony amp at a church rummage sale for a quarter. I had my own money as I delivered morning newspapers 6 days a week, though my parents would have prevented me from buying something moronic.

My parents never bought me anything guitar related except a very nice strap that I still have, 40 years later. My wife on the other hand has bought me plenty of guitar stuff.

Peace, Mooh.


----------



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Christmas 1964. Given. Zenon from Sears. Biggest P.O.S. in the Universe.


----------



## fraser (Feb 24, 2007)

i started on a really cheesy acoustic my little brother had but never played.
then i found a winston 335 style electric at a garage sale for $5 or something.
at some point i found a violin shaped cheapy at a flea market.
i started collecting stuff nobody wanted, had a pile of parts and junk id tinker with.
i bashed around on that stuff for a year or two, then my folks bought me a brand new el degas 335 style guitar for xmas.
the next year they got me an amp- one of those 100 watt yamahas with the twin twelves.
at that point i took all the crappy guitars and amps and stuff id collected, and a few bucks i saved,
(the inevitable paper route and lawn cutting and all)
and sold and traded my way into my first strat.

my folks werent musicians, and i was real young-
but they got me my first real guitar and amp once they realized id get something out of it.
they never really understood it all, but they were supportive.


----------



## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

My first guitar was a Mann Les Paul copy. My dad bought it for me used in 1978 along with a 1966 Epiphone Pacemaker amp. I still have both though the guitar is void of any electronics right now. My second guitar I bought myself in 1981. It's a Vantage acoustic and it's still my main acoustic to this day. Had Folkway do a set up about three years ago and they breathed new life into it.


----------



## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Diablo said:


> yup, dads especially. Should probably keep this in mind on Fathers Day


Fathers day is what mom's are for and for when the kid (s) are grown up. And even tho the grand daughters know my wallet quite well I appreciate Grand Fathers Day.


----------



## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

Academy electric guitar starter pack! I still have this! I will never get rid of it! Too many good memories!


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Electraglide said:


> ..... I appreciate *Grand Fathers Day*.


Are you Polish?

Cheers

Dave


----------



## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

It was an Academy Electric guitar starter pack!

I had visions of being able to rip off AC/DC riffs and play like EVH! I was so excited!

My oldest son's best friend bought this for me at Christmas. Little did he realize that he was going to contribute to an obsession that I have absolutely NO control over. As soon as I opened it, I had to plug it in and just start mucking about. I thought it sounded just glorious but actually it sounded like the biggest POS after I realized what a decent electric guitar should sound like. The amp, OMG snapped, crackled and popped but I didn't have a care in the world. I was having so much fun. I started to take lessons! It was my guitar teacher that suggested I get a "real" guitar. He lent me his Ibanez for the weekend. It was really amazing but hooked up to the little crappy Academy amp?! I saw his little busking amp that he had for my lessons and I knew I had to have one of those too! I think it cost me $175 from L & M! It was a Vox DA5. Now that I had a fairly decent little amp to play on I needed a "real" guitar. The next lesson I went to, my teacher lent me his Parker Nite fly! I actually asked if I could borrow it for the weekend. It was love at first sight. There so ugly, there beautiful. I just fell madly in love with it and knew I had to have one. I searched high and low for one. I finally found one on Kijiji for $2300. I didn't care how much it cost! I emailed the person and he emailed me back. The next day I went and got it. I couldn't of been happier. 

About a year later I decided I needed another guitar. 

I needed an Angus guitar in my life. I found a really nice SG standard, Cherry red exactly like Anguses and hubby got that for me for Christmas. It sits there collecting dust! I hate it but that's another story. I just want one more guitar and is it! I need to get a tube amp too but I need to win the lottery. Not a hope in hell of that happening!


----------



## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

I've noticed a few here that were nearly drummers. Me too. If I hadn't been sick the day in grade 5 you got to pick a school band instrument, I probably would have been. By not being there, I didn't get to pick drum and got assigned trumpet instead (something that didn't preclude me from taking up guitar like the drums may have).

Although I wish I could drum much better than I do, I'm glad I'm not a drummer. Feel like I dodged a bullet there. Anyone else?


----------



## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

greco said:


> Are you Polish?
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Dave


Nope, just a Grand Father.


----------



## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

High/Deaf said:


> Although I wish I could drum much better than I do, I'm glad I'm not a drummer. Feel like I dodged a bullet there. Anyone else?


I have a drum kit in the basement. I love playing them! I am definitely not a drummer though. Have you ever tried to play Van Halen's Hot for teacher? I have and it sounds like some nightmare that I have just walked into but it's so much damned fun! I end up sweating buckets just trying to keep up!
t


----------



## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

My parents gave me my first real guitar for Christmas- A Taro (MIJ) classical guitar.
Before that I had spent my own money on a real cheap acoustic, which was basically a waste of good plywood--I never bonded with it and later sold it (As I played the one I got for Christmas...) My Dad said someone at work was looking for a cheap guitar for their kid & offered the same amount I had paid for it--last I saw it my Dad had it in a cardboard box under his arm.

So in a way I could have voted for both choices--but voted for the one I consider my first real guitar.


----------



## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

High/Deaf said:


> I've noticed a few here that were nearly drummers. Me too. If I hadn't been sick the day in grade 5 you got to pick a school band instrument, I probably would have been. By not being there, I didn't get to pick drum and got assigned trumpet instead (something that didn't preclude me from taking up guitar like the drums may have).
> 
> Although I wish I could drum much better than I do, I'm glad I'm not a drummer. Feel like I dodged a bullet there. Anyone else?


I wanted to play drums, but the music teachers would only let kids with prior piano experience play the drums. I got relegated to the tuba as I was the fat kid.


----------



## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

Not that I hate drummers. In fact, I kinda feel for them. Until recently, they couldn't practice unless noise was permitted and tolerated. And the amount of crap they have to take with them when they play out. And only one can play at a time at a jam, all the rest have to sit and wait their turn. 

But I too enjoy pounding on them. It just don't sound good. My rhythmic abilities seem to stop at the shoulders/arms/hands/fingers. Can't dance worth shite either.................


----------



## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

High/Deaf said:


> But I too enjoy pounding on them. It just don't sound good. My rhythmic abilities seem to stop at the shoulders/arms/hands/fingers. Can't dance worth shite either.................


Same with me. I can hold a rhythm for 4 bars then I am done. I don't get it. I'll have to invent the 4 bar blues with ONLY 4 bars. Like vine videos but for music.


----------



## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

dcole said:


> Same with me. I can hold a rhythm for 4 bars then I am done. I don't get it. I'll have to invent the 4 bar blues with ONLY 4 bars. Like vine videos but for music.


That's some pretty funny shit! My husband is looking at me and wondering why I am laughing!


----------



## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

dcole said:


> Same with me. I can hold a rhythm for 4 bars then I am done. I don't get it. I'll have to invent the 4 bar blues with ONLY 4 bars. Like vine videos but for music.


You guys are still talking about buying it or getting it for free, right?


----------



## Intrepid (Oct 9, 2008)

My first real guitar was given to me by my Brother in 1959. He switched over from Acoustic to Steel Guitar and I got his old Kay It was a great acoustic and I still have it. The first real guitar I ever purchased myself was a used 1957 Martin 00-18. Bought it in the 60's when used guitars were just considered old guitars and not worth much. I think I paid around $50.00 for it. Yes, I still have it.


----------



## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

Lola said:


> That's some pretty funny shit! My husband is looking at me and wondering why I am laughing!


I am glad I could make you laugh through the power of the internet!

- - - Updated - - -



Electraglide said:


> You guys are still talking about buying it or getting it for free, right?


Yes teacher!


----------



## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

I was 13, back in '65, I wanted to learn to play. My Dad bought a very cheap Supro for me. IIRC it was about $20. With the promise that if I learned to play, he'd get me something better. Which, about 6 months later, was a Harmony Meteor. That guitar, along with borrowing my older brother's Bandmaster, got me into my first band as a rhythm guitar player. Good times.

My Dad had a theory, that I think was a good one. If my brother and I were in bands, practicing our asses off, playing local dances and stuff, we had less time to be out getting into trouble somewhere.


----------



## Lola (Nov 16, 2014)

dwagar said:


> My Dad had a theory, that I think was a good one. If my brother and I were in bands, practicing our asses off, playing local dances and stuff, we had less time to be out getting into trouble somewhere.


Was your Dad like Ward Cleaver? You know Leave it to Beaver Dad!

[video=youtube;ULK_PNaS6d0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULK_PNaS6d0[/video]

- - - Updated - - -

I wish real life were this simplistic and beautiful!


----------



## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

Lola said:


> Was your Dad like Ward Cleaver? You know Leave it to Beaver Dad!


LOL, no. Makes me wonder what someone would be like today if they had parents like that raising them.


----------



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Here it is,... now. 










Worst guitar ever made. Flat radius, plywood body. Bleeding fingers and calluses. But I learned my three cord progressions on it. I had no hard feelings what-so-ever. My friend accidentally broke the headstock off after it got jammed behind his door.


----------



## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

My Dad bought me my first guitar which was a little plastic Sears toy guitar. My first real guitar was a used S & P Cedar 6. I bought that one.


----------



## jimmy c g (Jan 1, 2008)

old thread for old guitars, my first was from my neighbour 1964 harmony stella, cheap then, inexpensive (usually ) now


----------



## garrettdavis275 (May 30, 2014)

Parents got me a Peavey stage pack when they were in Prince George. Black Raptor and a Rage 158.


----------



## Maxer (Apr 20, 2007)

I bought mine. My parents weren't really musically inclined and out of 5 kids I was the only one who thought I might want to learn an instrumental. So when I was 18 or so I bought a really bad bass from a friend who was upgrading. It was like a no-name P-bass copy. It sucked. I sucked. Maybe a year or two after that I got decided to try my hand at electric guitar. I got wise and went shopping at a pawn shop with another friend who really knew his stuff. He saw a decade-old Guild solid body and said it was in his opinion the best electric guitar in the store. So I went for it. It was a lot of coin at the time but I'm glad I listened to him. Still have the guitar.


----------



## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

I asked my Dad if I could get a drum kit and he must have seen me coming a mile off as he replied, "No, too big, too loud, too expensive. You know, your sister has a guitar she's not using." A cheap 3/4 Suzuki "student grade" flattop with lousy action, a flat fingerboard, and only approximate intonation. That fucking thing made me suffer, suffer I tell you, but what did I know about squat at 14 years old. My older sister had made a very cool naugahyde fitted bag for it...no big deal for her, she could make anything out of anything. As much as I hated that guitar, I carelessly, and somewhat out of character, lost or discarded it along the way, much to my regret now. My sister is gone (fucking cancer) and I dearly wish I still had her guitar and that cool bag she made. However, thank God for OCD or I would have quit playing.

If that guitar ever resurfaces I'll weep with joy.

Peace, Mooh.


----------



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I started learning on my Dad's Hofner (arch top, F holes) and then on a Silvertone electric he had.

The first guitar I owned, I earned by working the entire summer at my Dad's service station.

It was a black copy of a Les Paul Custom made by Mansfield.

I don't think anyone ever gave me a guitar until my wife a couple of years ago and then again for my birthday this past December.


----------



## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

My parents bought me my first guitar after I started taking lessons with a rental. I was around 10 years old.

It was a 2001 Yamaha RGX 121s. I still have it, and it's been a great quality guitar. It doesn't get played very often any more though. My ES335 is my go to humbucker guitar these days


----------



## Alex (Feb 11, 2006)

My musician uncle bought my brother and I a steel string Yamaha acoustic. A few years later, my parents bought me a nylon string Yamaha to start classical guitar lessons. I bought my first electric a couple years later - a Phoenix Black Beauty Les Paul copy.


----------



## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

I bought my own, a 1961 Gibson J45 new from the local music store, no case, just the cardboard shipping box, it cost a whopping $205.00 tax included.


----------



## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Given. Xmas 1964. A 5w Symphonic amp and a Zenon guitar MIJ - The worst piece of crap ever - flat radius, nothing made from solid wood. Fingers hurt all the time, but I learned to bang out my three cord progressions.


----------



## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

First guitar I had access to was a crappy Framus acoustic I borrowed from my cousin for a few months. Unplayable, but I didn't notice because I couldn't play. Just single string farting around. And to this day, I think I'm a little leary of Framus guitars, although I'm sure they are stellar. They must be, my hero Devin Townsend reps them now.

My first teacher suggested a classical guitar - good suggestion. My parents bought me a Giannini that I still have (somewhere, back on the prairies). My first electric, a Unicord Strat copy, I bought myself. And a year later I traded that on my '77 LPC. Everything since has been my own sweat equity. I'm finally at the point where I have more money than brains - surprising it took this long considering how few brains I actually have - and am enjoying all the things I couldn't back in my formative years.


----------



## brohymn2 (Dec 21, 2015)

First guitar my parents bought me for xmas. It was a stage stratocaster. I later bought myself a hamer slammer when I got back from basic training. Unfortunately the military life didn't leave much in the way for practise time and I sold that guitar a few years ago. I recently got discharged medically from the military and with my family was finding it hard to get together enough time to do my other hobbie which was bow hunting so I sold my bow and bought a James hetfield signature truckster and have been trying to play at least an hour everynight since that purchase.


----------



## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

My dad bought me my first guitar. I think I was 15 at the time. We started by looking at used stuff at local stores. tried a bunch out at the old Trev Bennett Music store in Kitchener but didn't find anything I liked. Went on to East End Music but most of the guitars were new and a bit more than dad wanted to spend. I remember feeling a bit disappointed but then I spotted a Mann Les Paul in the classifieds of the paper. We saw them at East End but they were around $250 new and this one was $170 with a hardshell case. I convinced dad to go look at it and it turned out it was only a year old and in mint condition. The owner decided to take up bass instead. I was ecstatic! I had no amp at first so I would plug it into the "record" jack for the 8 track one our Lloyds stereo, put in a tape and hit "pause". The 8 track made funny sounds when it was on pause but at least the sound came through the speakers! It wasn't long until a high school buddy was selling his 1966 Epiphone Pacemaker amp. That was my set up for the first two or three years I played. I still have both the guitar and the amp but the guitar has been sitting in it's case with no electronics in it for the last 20 years or so. One of these days I'll put it back in action.


----------



## flyswatter (Apr 6, 2016)

My parents bought me an El Degas acoustic guitar for Christmas when I was 12. The action was so bad I barely touched it for three years, but I eventually caught the bug and used it to get started before buying my first electric from money earned haying in the summer. That was an Interia copy of a Les Paul, bought at a flea market. It too had horrible action, but it got me into my first band and from there I was off and running.


----------



## BEACHBUM (Sep 21, 2010)

When I was in the Navy during Viet Nam I was stationed in Puerto Rico. Some of us Sailors started a band and got relieved from our military duties to perform in the Navy Clubs around the island. All of the gear was owned collectively by the band and after two years of playing with them I got transferred. The band got together and gave me the Fender Coronado II I had played with them for those two years as a going away present. It's one of my fondest memories.

Fort Allen Naval Station, Ponce Puerto Rico 1969


----------



## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

Robert1950 said:


> Christmas 1964. Given. Zenon from Sears. Biggest P.O.S. in the Universe.


Wow. Me too. Xmas 1964, Sears. 

I found one at yard-sale about ten years ago, and put the Zenon pickups on an Epiphone LPJr. 

"Gold Foil"!! Lol. Sounds really clear and lively, maybe because they are not waxed the way PU's are now. Microphonic of course.


----------



## Rozz (Aug 1, 2018)

My first guitar was a Pyramid ES 335 copy bought for me by my parents from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Calgary where I started taking lessons @ about 12.


----------



## Gavz (Feb 27, 2016)

First guitar was given to me by my sister, Segovia steel string acoustic, when she moved to Europe. A few months later I bought a bass guitar to play in a friend's band, Ibanez EDB400. 

Still have both guitars.

Sent from my SM-G386W using Tapatalk


----------

