# Your First Electric Guitar



## Stonesy (Oct 7, 2008)

My first one was a black Vantage LP from Reggie's in Hamilton. Circa 1980.
It was $249 +tax, without case and pack of strings to sweeten the deal.
A few weeks later I visited the TO music stores for the first time. and found the
same guitar at Steve's for $149. Lesson #1.
That poor guitar suffered greatly at my hands.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

My first Electric guitar was in 1980. It was a black Fender Lead II. In 1981 I bought my first Fender Telecaster and the love affair that still burns brightly today, began.


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## Scotty (Jan 30, 2013)

American Standard Strat, brand new in 1987. Les Paul's were not affordable then...wish I knew about Greco's, Tokais and such back then. Asked if my local shop could bring in a PRS for me to check out. He said "what do you want one of those for...they have necks like baseball bats". Of course, they now carry them


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

2003 Ibanez 370DXSP, met the guy in a parking lot because on the way to meet him at his place my car stalled on the hwy. Called a tow truck for a boost, car gave out again about 30 minutes later. found out the bolt that holds the negative cable to the battery broke, so there was no battery connection. Found the broken bolt, was lucky to have a spare. But by then it was getting really late so he met me halfway. Got a really good deal on it though. Upgraded the pups, made it worse. I punched in the wrong wood when I used a pickup selector option at Dimarzio. I should strip it and sell the new humbuckers. They've been used a total of 20 minutes tops. LOL...

Funny thiing is , the only reason i keep it is I love the rare chameleon gray paint job as it changes color depending on lighting type. it can look green purple black or gray.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

4-pickup Kent Videocaster. Six slide switches, two thumb wheels, two knobs, whammy, plastic bridge and a slab mahogany body.


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## djmarcelca (Aug 2, 2012)

First Electric Guitar:1984 Ibanez Artist. Has coil split with push pull pots. 
Around 1994 Replaced the Bridge Humbucker with a Pre-Fender Jackson Ceramic high gain pickup (for the day) also coil split-able.

Still have it.
Also have 4 more Ibanez Artist models.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

About 1967, it was hanging in a local Marshall Wells hardware store. $29.99, no name, made in Japan, single pickup, solid body electric in sunburst. Neck was a club, action was way high, but after I learned to play on that beast......I could play anything.
I quit playing it by the time I was about 15, left it in the closet of my bedroom when I left home. It was gone when I came back to get it about a hundred years later. No idea what happened to it.


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## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

Mann Les Paul copy. My dad bought it for me used in 1978. Still have it but it's been sitting in it's case with no electronics in it for about the last 20 years.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Kent, two single coil pickups, and real nice action compared to the acoustic I'd been playing. I forget what I paid for it but $20 comes to mind, it had belonged to a good friend's brother. I still have some parts off it, 40+ years later. It was the victim of my first refinishing attempts.

Peace, Mooh.


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## limelight65 (Jun 2, 2014)

1977. Brown El Degas SG from Music Box in Regina


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

A black Raven Les Paul, given to me by a neighbour in1977.


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## Guest (Aug 28, 2015)

Early 70's, xmas gift. An Eaton's Marlin SG.

google pic


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## Business (Jul 30, 2013)

Circa 1997 Ibanez RX20 in metal flake green

Wish I still had that POS, color was cool and I would have modded it

Found a picture, although it appears to be from the same year as the guitar...


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## fredyfreeloader (Dec 11, 2010)

First electric was a 1962 Gibson Barney Kessel Deluxe, Red sunburst, most people hated the look of a double cutaway back then, played real nice, sounded just like a Jazz guitar from the 60's should.


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Early '80s Vantage Avenger.









The one in the center, AV-315.


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

In 1989 I paid $300 for a 1973 Fender Mustang (TSB with that glorious mother of toilet seat pickguard) & the seller threw in an amp. The Mustang had a skinny broomstick neck, I hated that guitar & was quite happy to sell it & the amp a couple of years later for $600 in order to fund a 1980 LP Custom.

Turns out the amp was a tweed Deluxe...... I also wish I still had that Les Paul.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

This is mine--a Granada Les Paul copy (MIJ -Matsumoku)--I still have it...
This is what it looked like when I got it:









This is what it looked like most of the time I've owned it:









And what it looks like now:










(I upgraded a few things-some out of necessity, some out of preference. I did a thread on the changes--here.)


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

My first electric was an Ibanez AG75. I think I paid $268.00 for it around 2004.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

66 tele traded a $300 J45 for


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

The first electric guitar I owned was. Mansfield copy of a Les Paul. It was a bolt on neck and I suppose there are worse guitar out there.

The second was a Les Paul Deluxe.


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## LanceT (Mar 7, 2014)

60's Fender Music Master that I had purchased together with a Vibrolux Reverb from a girl I was hanging out with in Edmonton, early 80's. I did not know what I had, in the case of the amp anyways, and eventually got rid of both.


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## 18Rocks (Jan 3, 2014)

MY first guitar was an Epi Les Paul Custom, that I was looking at on kijiji and my wife surprised me with it for Christmas. It was a great Christmas and I haven't looked back since.


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## ed2000 (Feb 16, 2007)

In late 65 my parents could see I was very enthusiastic learning on my Silvertone archtop acoustic with the 1/2" action that they bought a Canora, 2 pickup, solid body with 3/8" action and a Thorcraft all tube amp. I moved the pickups further apart to alter the tone and this is when the guitar modifying bug was hatched. I kept the amp for a while but then persuaded my Dad to buy a bigger amp because this one had *too much distortion*. I went to a 100 watt(!) modified PA head and a homemade 2 x12 cab amplifying my new Tele in 66.


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## petestorz (Aug 24, 2015)

Heavy as a rock black and white Hondo Strat which I only had for a year before trading for an equally crappy Bright yellow Vester that had a Floyd and in those days if you didn't have a floyd you sucked


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

My first electric guitar was an El Degas copy of a Gibson Marauder. I should have hung onto that one.


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## johnnyshaka (Nov 2, 2014)

I bought this Pacifica 112X last November.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

1966. My parents bought me an Aria 335-styled, bolt-on neck with 3 single coils in a red-black burst. I still have it but haven't touched it in years. 

2 years later I bought a used Hagstrom III that was my main electric for the next 20 years.


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

My first one was a mid-70s Tele that I purchased used in the mid-80s. Ended up trading it in on a new JCM900 combo...not one of my better decisions. Bought it at Strings and Things in Chatham for $250.00


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

1979 Frankenstrat bought in 84 at Richmonds Trading Post for $400. 18 at the time, think I may have been duped but played the hell outta that thing for years. Anybody know what a new strat went for in 1984?


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

fretzel said:


> 1979 Frankenstrat bought in 84 at Richmonds Trading Post for $400. 18 at the time, think I may have been duped but played the hell outta that thing for years. Anybody know what a new strat went for in 1984?


I bought a 79 strat off a guy for $450 in 86 or 87 so not far off. Mine was the most toneless piece of crap that I ever owned and weighed a ton, but was able to sell it off at a big profit in the early 90's


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## Rollin Hand (Jul 12, 2012)

One of these, bought for $50 off a friend:










Yep, it was bad. But I got the homemade case made of plywood that used a drawer pull as a handle. My hands still hurt from that.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

allthumbs56 said:


> 1966. My parents bought me an Aria 335-styled, bolt-on neck with 3 single coils in a red-black burst. I still have it but haven't touched it in years.
> 
> 2 years later I bought a used Hagstrom III that was my main electric for the next 20 years.
> 
> View attachment 15344


Great photo Chris. Wish i had kept mine. It was a probably 1965-66 Regent that my dad got me. Now that i am 62 years old, this means a lot to me.
I am sure back then that the money could have been used for something else around our house.


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## Stratin2traynor (Sep 27, 2006)

My first guitar was a red Quest Atak 1. I never had a tuner. I didn't know you had to tune it - which is probably why I couldn't get it to sound right despite having some tabs to my favourite songs. I wasted a lot of time on that guitar...until someone tuned it for me...then the magical doors opened. Unfortunately it took 3 years for those doors to open.


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## Axe Dragon (Aug 21, 2013)

1991 (bought new that year) Gibson SG '62 reissue


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## Gearhead88 (Nov 7, 2013)

Black Fender HSS Strat , still have it.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

marcos said:


> Great photo Chris. Wish i had kept mine. It was a probably 1965-66 Regent that my dad got me. Now that i am 62 years old, this means a lot to me.
> I am sure back then that the money could have been used for something else around our house.


Thanks Marcos.

Here's me at nine years old with my first acoustic ( Scala) and I still have it too. That's my (now 74 years old) aunt go-go dancing.


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## skilsaw (Nov 4, 2014)

Remembering your first electric guitar is like remembering your first kiss.
Based on the stories here, some of the kisses were not poetic and others were like kissing the sleeping princess.


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## big frank (Mar 5, 2006)

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was taking lessons at Ryson's United Studios of Music in Niagara Falls with
a crummy little acoustic. My grandmother agree to pay for my first electric and amp. The Ryson salesman, Sy, brought his station wagon loaded with guitar cases to our house and brought 4 or 5 in. They were gorgeous. Several Gibson's, National's and the one I ended up with; a 135 dollar Supro Ranchero archtop with a big single coil pickup and a pickguard that looked like the fins on a 58 Chrysler. I thought it was beautiful. The neck was actually slim enough that my fingers didn't bleed. Also a matching little 1 volume control Grey and White Supro amp. It would have been about 1959.


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## b-nads (Apr 9, 2010)

American Deluxe Tele in Olympic Pearl with tortoise binding and guard. Bought it used at Italmelodie in Montreal for a grand plus tax. Swapped a set of Budz pups into it. Wish I'd never gotten rid of it - it was a beauty.


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

My first guitar was purchased for me by my parents when I was 12 or 13. It was a Raven "cheese cutter" model of some sort. Totally unplayable, at least for a newbie at the time. We paid $50 for the guitar and a cheap amp. I kept the Raven until High School, where I took out all the hardware and painted it for an Art class. Had some pink and yellow paint, took the paint brush full of paint and threaded it on the entire body with splooshes.

Kinda wish I kept it now.


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## Stonesy (Oct 7, 2008)

big frank said:


> I remember it like it was yesterday. I was taking lessons at Ryson's United Studios of Music in Niagara Falls with
> a crummy little acoustic. My grandmother agree to pay for my first electric and amp. The Ryson salesman, Sy, brought his station wagon loaded with guitar cases to our house and brought 4 or 5 in. They were gorgeous. Several Gibson's, National's and the one I ended up with; a 135 dollar Supro Ranchero archtop with a big single coil pickup and a pickguard that looked like the fins on a 58 Chrysler. I thought it was beautiful. The neck was actually slim enough that my fingers didn't bleed. Also a matching little 1 volume control Grey and White Supro amp. It would have been about 1959.


This is gold!


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## bluebayou (May 25, 2015)

A 2007 Gibson Les Paul Standard in honeyburst. It's going to be buried with me .


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

yamaha pacifica
the thing could go through a war zone and stay in tune


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## aC2rs (Jul 9, 2007)

An MIJ Epiphone ET-275 Crestwood style guitar that I Bought new June 1976.
I still have it.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

Bought it off my neighbour for $90 when I was 14, good times.


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

Oh boy, this is gonna be interesting. 
Google pic.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Great thread!

I still have my first. A '67 Harmony something or other that I bought when I enrolled in the Conservatory of Music in late '67. It was a very short lived enrollment, extremely boring. wish I'd stuck with it though. Pulling it out of the case brings back a lot of memories, I think I'll take some time to clean it up and see if it still works  It's a short scale guitar, obviously. I stupidly sold the little Gibson Skylark amp that came with it. I didn't pick up a guitar again for 25 years 















































edit: Just found this on Google.


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Just plugged it in to see what was going on. I'll need to work on the wiring a bit, neck pickup is present but very quiet. Surprise was that the bridge pup sounds absolutely amazing. Neck is a bit of a baseball bat with a pretty flat radius but actually quite comfortable. it will be fun trying to get this back in working order. Just found this on ebay, who'da thunk it, LOL.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/1967-DeArmon...rs-USA-1966-/291538791798?hash=item43e110ed76

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Harmony-H-15...den-Pickups-/231677324757?hash=item35f10b6dd5


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## Jimi D (Oct 27, 2008)

My first electric was purchased at Sam's ABC Music on the Market in Ottawa in late 1976 where I paid the princely sum of $325 for it. The salesman there tried to convince me to add some money and get a used Les Paul, but I was set on this thing; I'd seen Glen Campbell play one and I wanted it and nothing else. We'd only moved to Ottawa that summer from Regina - I'd grown up out west and had no clue what the world was like away from the Rockies or the Prairies... Two years later I'd be rocking Kiss and Ted Nugent songs on the thing in high school rock bands... 










The amp I got with it was a Peavey Pacer


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

amagras said:


> Oh boy, this is gonna be interesting.
> Google pic.


ok, what did all the switches do?


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

puckhead said:


> ok, what did all the switches do?


I'm laughing my ass off right now. Looks "difficult to manage".


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## dcole (Oct 8, 2008)

Here is my first electric: Epiphone LP100


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

puckhead said:


> ok, what did all the switches do?


No idea, I removed everything and still sounded the same. Made a dancing light with so many switches.


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

My first was a Silvertone Phantom










i thought if I could learn to play "wipeout" I would be crowned the coolest kid in school


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

1) Amagras' guitar looks rockin'. Judging by the pickups and the vibrato system, it appears to be something from the same folks who gave us Teisco, Norma, Kawai, Kingston, and some Silvertone. My first only had 6 switches. Oh, the humiliation!

I'm just wondering about the DIN output jack. Was it wired for stereo?









2) The blue Silvertone was their attempt to copy a Vox Phantom. My late friend Peter had one of those. It ended up being sold to a forum buddy who lives out in St. Lazare, Quebec.


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## Adcandour (Apr 21, 2013)

Weird. I just got a Silvertone gweetar today in a trade. 

My first guitar is an absolute embarrassment. My father put real acoustic strings on a plastic guitar. If I wasn't 11 years old, I would have ****** tonk man'd him in the head with it.

He made up for it with this beast:


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## amagras (Apr 22, 2015)

mhammer said:


> 1) Amagras' guitar looks rockin'. Judging by the pickups and the vibrato system, it appears to be something from the same folks who gave us Teisco, Norma, Kawai, Kingston, and some Silvertone. My first only had 6 switches. Oh, the humiliation!
> 
> I'm just wondering about the DIN output jack. Was it wired for stereo?


Mine was an Ural, made in the USSR. The finish was so bright that it could be used as a mirror. 
The soviets had a prolific production of those plugs (for a reason unknown to me) and basically every non professional audio equipment they exported to Cuba had between one and 4000 of those


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Jimi D said:


> My first electric was purchased at Sam's ABC Music on the Market in Ottawa in late 1976 where I paid the princely sum of $325 for it. The salesman there tried to convince me to add some money and get a used Les Paul, but I was set on this thing; I'd seen Glen Campbell play one and I wanted it and nothing else. We'd only moved to Ottawa that summer from Regina - I'd grown up out west and had no clue what the world was like away from the Rockies or the Prairies... Two years later I'd be rocking Kiss and Ted Nugent songs on the thing in high school rock bands...


That Ovation Breadwinner was a very hip, and undeservedly overlooked guitar. It was one of the first production instruments to come with a built-in pre-amp. It was very much the inspiration for Klein Guitars: http://www.edroman.com/guitars/klein.htm And apparently Ace Frehley played one for a while.

I got my first guitar from Sam's ABC as well, but it was a $25 Stella. Sam's son Phil was in cubscouts with me.


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## TA462 (Oct 30, 2012)

My first electric was a red Squier Affinity Stratocaster that I still have.


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## CMQ01 (Sep 10, 2015)

In '95 after my parents realized how much I loved playing guitar (i'd been a depressed lump for the 2 years prior) they went all out and bought me a Jackson Professional. Beautiful deep purple, Floyd Rose, all the trimmings...I totally was not into metal or speed playing at all and did not for a single second appreciate the guitar. Then about 8 years later I lent it to a guy for a weekend and he disappeared off the face of the planet. I'd love to have it now as I would so much more appreciate it. And one of my life vows is to find that guy. I've been looking for 13 years now and still no sign of him...


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## jayjacque (Sep 2, 2012)

A very cheap Tempo brand somewhere about 1965, but they did let me take it into and play in reform school. (my first band hehe)


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

A Kent "Las Vegas" strat parody. Played it through my dad's Heathkit mono hifi amp. Overdrive like crazy. The neck had no truss rod and the action was so bad it pushed me into playing slide.


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## John Reilly (Apr 7, 2018)

After playing acoustic for a year my older brother and sister split on a Strat like ,red sunburst Guyatone for Christmas 1967 , and I only ever saw one other .


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## iamthehub (Sep 21, 2016)

In 1990... A used Kramer Striker 600st. 

This thing looked cool... But was made of plywood...

My dad paid $220 for it. 

I remember I could have got an El Degas strat for same price (plus taxes).... So I opted for the Kramer. 

Should've got the Degas. 


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

iamthehub said:


> Should've got the Degas


El degas strat | Guitars | Mississauga / Peel Region | Kijiji


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## Scottone (Feb 10, 2006)

an early 70s tele that I ended up trading a few years later for a Marshall JCM900.....that one still hurts.


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## electricb (Jul 24, 2013)

iamthehub said:


> In 1990... A used Kramer Striker 600st.
> 
> This thing looked cool... But was made of plywood...
> 
> ...


If it makes you feel better, my first guitar (1992) was an El Degas strat and it was atrocious. Plywood also, and terrible fretwork. About a decade later I managed to get an Epiphone Les Paul and thought I had gone to heaven. I ended up giving away the El Degas to someone else who was starting to learn guitar after I had learned about doing my own fret levels and other repair work.


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## troyhead (May 23, 2014)

My first electric guitar was a Godin LG. In the end, I wasn't a fan. The the double double-humbucker pickups were not that good, and the neck seemed to go out of tune if you breathed on it too hard.


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## sillyak (Oct 22, 2016)

89 Vantage super strat type thing. One of the first Korean Vantages. My dad bought it for me in 2004. I was 15 and really wanted a guitar and I went to the local store and waited there for him to get off work. It played well but the electronics and bridge weren't very good. Had it until two years ago when the bridge disintegrated, and because the post spacing was unique I threw it out. Maybe I should have kept it and passively looked for a bridge long term.


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## fernieite (Oct 30, 2006)

My first electric was a 1968 Telecaster that I bought with funds that I had saved from my part-time job. Blond with maple neck. I bought it in 1978 from a classified ad in the Toronto Star.

I think I took the TTC to the guy's place to pick it up, since I wasn't old enough to drive. I didn't have an amp, so i plugged it in to our crappy console stereo that was in the basement. That sucked!

Sometime later I was able to buy my first amp - a 1956 narrow panel tweed deluxe! I bought it from a guy named Vic, who sold vintage stuff out of his apartment off Eglinton Ave. W.
I bought a few things from him in the 70s and early 80s.


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## Markus 1 (Feb 1, 2019)

I started on Yamaha 410 E acousticin the mid- eighties.
First electric was a MIJ Ibanez destroyer like this:
https://www.guitarinteractivemagazi...r&mode=crop&width=1200&rnd=131027819490000000

WAAAAAY too much guitar for me back then- traded it for a MIJ CAR strat

I so wish I kept it!!
MArkus


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Markus 1 said:


> MIJ CAR strat
> 
> I so wish I kept it!!


There's a '91 body for sale here.
FS: - MIJ loaded body CS pups $550 OBO


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## Dorian2 (Jun 9, 2015)

Better known as "The Cheesecutter". MIJ for Canadian market Raven. I ended up pulling everything out of it in grade 10 and splattering paint on it for a High School Art class project. I think it hung in our garage for a couple of years after.

Photo courtesy of a Reverb ad I pulled it off of. Those switched were the dumbest thing ever IMO at the time. Didn't stay in tune at all neither. Maybe that's why I haven't really liked SG's now that I think about it, but I tried one a few months ago in L&M and liked it quite a bit.


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## Markus 1 (Feb 1, 2019)

laristotle said:


> There's a '91 body for sale here.
> FS: - MIJ loaded body CS pups $550 OBO



Thanks Laristotle
I actually meant I wish I kept the Destroyer


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

In my early twenties my grandfather died and my parents said he left me a few hundred bucks. After a few stores and careful deliberation I went down to Mother's Music on Granville in Vancouver and bought an Ibanez EX1500. At one point I had three electrics but this is the only one I would never sell. It's a cheap guitar but it plays great and I think it sounds great as well.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Nice


djmarcelca said:


> First Electric Guitar:1984 Ibanez Artist. Has coil split with push pull pots.
> Around 1994 Replaced the Bridge Humbucker with a Pre-Fender Jackson Ceramic high gain pickup (for the day) also coil split-able.
> 
> Still have it.
> Also have 4 more Ibanez Artist models.


Nice. I used to own a 1977 2618.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

johnnyshaka said:


> I bought this Pacifica 112X last November.


That is pretty sweet looking.


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## troyhead (May 23, 2014)

fernieite said:


> Sometime later I was able to buy my first amp - a 1956 narrow panel tweed deluxe!


Nice first amp!

My first amp I bought to go with my crappy Godin was a mid-70's Fender Bassman 70 with a 2x15 cab. (I was playing more bass at the time, but my brother informed me that a Bassman was cool for guitar in the Normal channel.) I still have that amp and use it almost every day. It is awesome, but through a different cab as the 2x15 is a little too bass-centric.


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## johnnyshaka (Nov 2, 2014)

Guncho said:


> That is pretty sweet looking.


Thanks...it served its purpose but she's been moved out for someone else to enjoy as she wasn't getting played. She was a good one, though.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Some ten years ago, I leaned toward good ole blues and got an Epi Sheraton on which I got pickup upgraded to be quite versatile. Finally sold her because fingerboard was not large enough to allow fingerstyle playing with my clumsy hands !

Never got any other pure electric guitar.


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## mechanic (Apr 1, 2010)

Dorian2 said:


> Better known as "The Cheesecutter". MIJ for Canadian market Raven. I ended up pulling everything out of it in grade 10 and splattering paint on it for a High School Art class project. I think it hung in our garage for a couple of years after.
> 
> Photo courtesy of a Reverb ad I pulled it off of. Those switched were the dumbest thing ever IMO at the time. Didn't stay in tune at all neither. Maybe that's why I haven't really liked SG's now that I think about it, but I tried one a few months ago in L&M and liked it quite a bit.


I had the same guitar. Bought from a " used to be friend" for $50.
It wasn't great but it wasn't terrible.

Sent from my SM-J320W8 using Tapatalk


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## Brian Johnston (Feb 24, 2019)

I was about 14... I had a Lero bass a year before that, but then got a Les Paul copy from Sears (likely their own made-in-China brand). That was around 1979


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

Late 60's Aria 335 copy (1203T in Redburst) with 3 single coils. Still have it and even did some recording with it a dozen or so years ago.









Of course I wanted a Strat ...............................


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Lower end single bridge pup Charvel I had borrowed from my then GF's older sister. Didn't like it but it was all I could get for a while. 

First one I actually bought myself was a 1981 Gibson Sonex. I paid way too much for it at a Church St pawn shop because 17 y o me thought it was an LP. I could probably get my money back today, mebe even a little more, but I don't care to find out.


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## 1SweetRide (Oct 25, 2016)

Stonesy said:


> My first one was a black Vantage LP from Reggie's in Hamilton. Circa 1980.
> It was $249 +tax, without case and pack of strings to sweeten the deal.
> A few weeks later I visited the TO music stores for the first time. and found the
> same guitar at Steve's for $149. Lesson #1.
> That poor guitar suffered greatly at my hands.


Squire bullet in 2016. Bought it from a pawn shop when I was killing time waiting for a doctor's appointment. Wish I'd started in 1980 like you guys.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

My first was a black Strat (almost, but not quite) knock off called "Solid II", from John Bellone music store, when I was 14.. SS config with switches for the pickups. It was a Christmas present and came with a Traynor 10w amp. Not much bigger than a bread box really.


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

I already posted way back, but as those pictures were on Photobucket--which isn't working for me anymore here are the pictures
My First electric guitar was a Les Paul copy --MIJ (Matsumoku made) and branded Granada.
What it looked like when I got it:








What it looked like for a very long time:








What it looked like after I modded it:








I do plan on switching the bridge & tailpiece to black ones to go with the look.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

The first electric I bought for myself with my own money was a candy apple red El Degas Strat copy with brass knobs and gold hardware. Had a hardshell case as well. I believe it was $220 new back in the early 80s. First job at 18 and one of the first purchases was the El Degas.


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## RustyCanuck (Jan 20, 2012)

Bought this Roadstar hardtail in a pawnshop on Queen St. in Toronto in the early eighties sometime. Still have it but don't play it much.


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## High/Deaf (Aug 19, 2009)

My first electric at 13, a Univox Strat copy. I was into pickups - big pickups (humbuckers) and lots of 'em. LOL.










Played this through a rented Verlage amp with controls on the upper back edge, a la tweed amps. Hate that design and haven't own an amp with that design since.

Eventually bought a Peavey 212 combo with a transistor preamp, channel switching and a 120 watt 4 X 6L6 power section. Because I thought I really needed that much power (and weight) for jams and basement practice. I learned a lot from that early equipment - mostly about what I _didn't_ really need but just thought I did.


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## Sketchy Jeff (Jan 12, 2019)

i had an early '80s Japanese made strat copy and a Ross combo amp in the late '80s
i was embarrassed by both of them because they weren't what was cool at the time and sold them 
to replace the Ross amp I bought one of the very first Hughes and Kettner amps when they first came to Winnipeg from the Mother's Music store at Polo Park on a huge introductory promo
i didn't like the Hughes and Kettner either and it was beastly heavy to haul around so I sold it too 

looking back hindsight 20/20 all of that stuff was really great gear that I stumbled onto for amazing deals and I would be happy to own any of it now. What i didn't like was my own inability to play it at the time so I blamed the gear and ditched it rather than dig in and learn it. 

j


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## THRobinson (Jun 29, 2014)

I rented an old Profile Strat style guitar, an off-red colour (pink... basically). Rented from Gordon Taylor's Music in Guelph back around 1990. Not sure if that place exists still or not.

First owned guitar was a few months later, got a Raven SG copy at a garage sale for $50.

Totally regret using it as a trade-in at Musicplex... also got royally ripped off looking back at the deal. Hung on their wall as decoration for a long time. I found one for sale in Toronto online, been for sale (concession) for over a year now, and I wish I were closer, because it looks like it might be my original guitar, but I can't see enough detail in the headstock to see if has the same markings. Bit overpriced... but if I knew 100% for sure it was mine, I'd buy it.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

THRobinson said:


> but if I knew 100% for sure it was mine, I'd buy it.


Contact them and ask for a few detailed pics?


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## Grainslayer (Sep 26, 2016)

Sunburst Mann les Paul copy.


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## THRobinson (Jun 29, 2014)

laristotle said:


> Contact them and ask for a few detailed pics?


Did once around Oct 2018, and again a few months back... ya, been for sale that long... but all I get is come on in and have a look, despite saying I live 3h away. :S


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

THRobinson said:


> Did once around Oct 2018, and again a few months back... ya, been for sale that long... but all I get is come on in and have a look, despite saying I live 3h away. :S


Idiots.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Grainslayer said:


> Sunburst Mann les Paul copy.


I used to have one of them.


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