Californiaman Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 What was the first guitar you ever purchased and where did you buy it? My first was a Fender Squire P Bass I bought from Guitar Center for just about $300.00. My second was a 5-string Alembic Spoiler bass again from Guitar Center. This one I financed. My first guitar was a Gibson ES-175 and yes, again, from Guitar Center. This one I paid straight cash homey. I'm not usually a GC fan, but thinking back, that ol' Santa Ana store took pretty good care of Californiaman back in the eighties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzoboy Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 My first guitar was a noname hand-me-down from my uncle that I got for my 10th birthday one month after I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.The guitar used to have cowboys and horses painted on it but my uncle sanded it all off before he passed it on to me.The guitar had strings like the mooring cables on a cruise ship and a neck like a fence post sawed in half lengthwise and you could have passed a cigarette package between the strings and the fretboard-the action was so high.Learning on such a horrible guitar as that had its advantages though,by the time I progressed to a good guitar,my fingers were that strong and so used to chording on a terrible neck that my playing just took off when I started playing an electric,I left all my friends who started when I did,in my dust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Besides getting my first guitar as a gift, and then later buying, selling and trading guitars and gear amongst friends, the first guitar I actually purchased from a store was a MIM Strat from Master Musicians in 1992 or 1993. Held onto it until about a year ago when I let it go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NHTom Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 my first was a Kay beginner guitar.......small strat-ish shaped thing with a single pickup......that and a Peavy backstage amp......... Bought new at Pavlov Music in New Philidelphia, Ohio Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveFord Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I had a Yamaha classical guitar and then some sort of weird Fender-ish no name-o brand guitar which was kind of a pile but it did have a lot of switches on it! That was followed by an Ibanez Les Paul copy from a local music store in New Jersey back around 1972. That was replaced by a really nice Gibson SG Standard probably around 1974 or so and it's been Gibsons ever since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I had a Tanglewood LP Black Beauty copy... Shortly after I got I was so annoyed that it wasn't a Gibson that I part exchanged it for a Kay double cut neckthrough.. That was a lovely guitar to play but had god awful pickups in it.. but at the time it didn't even occur to me to change them.. It was after that when I got my first Gibson.. A wine red studio with gold hardware in about 1992 ish... and I was able to get that as I was hit by a car when delivering pizzas.. I got some money for that which is what enabled me to get my first Gibby :) Both the LPs (the copy and the real one) were bought in Denmark St. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 It depends what you're asking... The place I purchased my first several guitars was the same place... The only area music store in Downtown Northampton Massachusetts USA. A place called Downtown Sounds... My first guitar was a Yamaha acoustic that my Mother got for me when I was 15 or 16. My first Electric was a used Memphis (brand MIJ) Les Paul copy in tobacco burst that my Mother traded the Yamaha acoustic for at my behest, (really nice axe) that was traded toward a new Fender Bullet as I was becoming a Fender guy back in the day, that Bullet in vintage sunburst color was the first guitar I paid toward out of my own pocket even if I didn't purchase it myself... The first guitar I actually purchased myself after breaking the adulthood barrier was my 1989 Torino Red Fender American Standard Strat w/rosewood fingerboard that became my mainstay axe that I ordered new from the factory thru the same music store I had been patronizing for all guitar gear up to that time... The maple necks were the most popular at the time and I had to be different... Funny thing is I was misled by an error by the sales staff, and what I wanted was the Candy Apple Red and I mistakenly had them order the Torino Red version thinking it was the name of the Candy Apple Red color/finish... I was too impatient to wait for the Candy Apple to ship from the factory so I took the Torino Red one because I just couldn't wait... Circa 1989/1990 That guitar is long gone... I had it for approx 10 years before I sold it for cash during a run of hard times... Now I'm a Gibson guy thru and thru and couldn't care less for a Fender... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 First guitar I bought was my Gibson SG Standard. I got it at guitar center, because my brothers friend worked there and he could get me a discount. I was 15 when I got it so that's a pretty nice guitar to have at that age.. I managed to save up about $700 over the course of a year or two, and then my brother pitched in some dough to help me get the SG that I liked. That guitar is my favorite guitar, and since my brother passed away in an accident last year it kinda reminds me of his generosity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quapman Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Well,, my parents bought my first 2 guitars. The first one I bought myself was a Yamaha acoustic which I still have. My jamming buddy laughed because I was supposed to go buy a truck. A beat up old 57 chev long box. Instead, I came back with the guitar. He knew I was hooked at that point. lol. It was my brothers truck so I ended up buying it a couple months later anyway. I bought the guitar new at our local independent music store. Which still operates today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigtim Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 The first guitar I bought with my own money was a 1981 lp custom white. I paid 475 for it from my uncle. I sold it 20 years later. I still miss it. Oh well. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Here's a link to a pic of my first guitar (and at that price, I wish I still owned it LOL). I started to learn in '61 and Dad said if I was going to play guitar, I'd have to play a Gibson. At the time, this thing cost $85, and I remember we took something like 6 payments before it was really "mine". Of course it became the down payment for my first electric. http://reverb.com/item/46717-gibson-lg-0-1963-natural?utm_medium=GPLA&utm_source=SEM&gclid=CLnh0Za5_7wCFc9AMgodHG0A1g Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNylon Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 My first guitar was a used Gibson Pelham Blue, SG Jr. I bought it at MAE Music in Fort Lauderdale, in early 1968. I forget how much I paid for it, but it was a great 6 stringer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karloff Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 my 1972 Strat. bought it in 1974. $200 and an old trombone. Bought it at Alexanders music store on Old Ocean City Rd, in Salisbury, Md. Still have it. She doesn't see too many bars these days. Semi retired... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Californiaman Posted March 7, 2014 Author Share Posted March 7, 2014 I just wanted to take a moment and say thanks for sharing your stories with us. A lot of you guys had very sentimental stories to share. I wish mine were as sentimental as yours, but hey... maybe the fact that I've already bought one of my boys a guitar and know the other wants to play bass is a start. I know my daughter wants a guitar too. Not pink either. She hates pink. I'm sure a turquoise or purple one will suit her just fine. Again I do mean this sincerely when I say I appreciate you sharing your memories with not just me but the entire Gibson Lounge. Thanks again. Keep 'em coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingarmadillo Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I think the first one was a Christmas present - a sunburst Harmony acoustic. Had it for a long time until it disintegrated from living in NM in a house with a swamp cooler.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vangoghsear Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I bought my first guitar, a used Westbury Standard with a HSC, at a yard sale for $175 back in about 1985 or so. I spent lots of time searching guitar books (not much internet in the 80's) trying to figure out what I had, it wasn't a strat copy, wasn't quite an LP copy, but somewhat similar to an SG with an offset double cutaway. After the internet came along I found out it was MIJ at the Matsumoku factory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitar God Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Got my first guitar back on Christmas of 2000 when I was 8 years old. It was a red Ibanez Gio AX. It was a starter pack. Came with an Ibanez 10 watt Toneblaster amp, Ibanez picks, cable, little Ibanez case/bag for tools, picks, and accessories, an Ibanez tuner, an Ibanez Smash Box Distortion pedal, a couple of chord books, and an Andy Timmons instructional VHS tape. Though it was an el cheapo, I wish I would've kept it just for sentimental reasons because it was my very first guitar. The only things I still have from it is a couple of chord books and the Andy Timmons instructional VHS tape. Wish I would've still kept the amp, pedal, and tuner, too. Again, just for sentimental reasons. Sorry for the bad quality picture. I had to take a picture of me with my first guitar on my phone so I can upload it here, but here's a picture of me on Christmas morning of 2000 when I was 8 years old with my very first guitar: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 First Guitar, or first guitar I actually purchased, myself? If it's the latter, there were 3. We took out a substantial loan (Spring, 1969), from the bank to buy a bunch of gear, (which my dear, generous, and trusting/understanding Mother co-signed), and I bought 1 Gibson LP Custom, 1 Gibson SG-Standard, and 1 Rickenbacker 360-12 String! We also bought 5 Vox Super Beatle amps (I had one, already) for a total of 6... (2-each for 2 guitarists, and 1 bass player). They all had the closed backed "Bass" cabinets. And, an Altec Lansing "Voice of the Theater" PA system. We used (mostly) 3 amps, but in some situations, we used all 6. We had a really good band, at that time, and needless to say, had some great "gear!" Unfortunately, too soon, "drugs" entered the picture, and the band broke up, among "tensions" as a result. So, I was stuck, with all that gear, and the bass player (a great friend) was the only other person, that continued to pay his amps off. Needless to say, it was One of "Life's" truly painful lessons, for all concerned. Especially, financially, at that time. And, obviously, I never would have ventured into that, had I known how it was going to turn out. But..."C'est La Vie," Live and learn! It's never happened again, I can tell you that! LOL Oh, and...all that gear was purchased from the old "Hays Music," in downtown Hays, Kansas. CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capmaster Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 After the split-up of my first band where I had been vocalist and percussionist, I bought a no-name Les Paul copy with bolt-on neck from our former lead guitarist. He had switched to an Ibanez Musician MC-300 first edition with four pots long before. The stock pickups of my cheap buy were rather microphonic, and so I swapped them with a DiMarzio PAF for neck and a DiMarzio Dual Sound for bridge position. My personal circuitry was very sophisticated as the controls may show. It provided bridge pickup serial, antiserial, parallel, antiparallel and single coil operation but sadly just one of the coils was accessable for the latter. :P ;) Then there was single pickup use, both parallel, both antiparallel, both serial and both antiserial. The twelve-position capacitor switch allowed for choosing one open and eleven cap options. Finally there were a master volume, master treble and master bass control. I never again had such tonal options in one beast up to now... And here she is pictured by a friend along with me just days after having bought my first amp, a Roland Cube 60. The pics below show the latter somewhat later with a Celestion speaker since I had blown the stock one featuring an aluminum dome within days. There also are some "Bosses" on the Cube 60 front photo. I still use the Hall controlled wah and volume pedals more than 33 years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 .....The stock pickups of my cheap buy were rather microphonic, and so I swapped them with a DiMarzio PAF for neck and a DiMarzio Dual Sound for bridge position. My personal circuitry was very sophisticated as the controls may show. It provided bridge pickup serial, antiserial, parallel, antiparallel and single coil operation but sadly just one of the coils was accessable for the latter. :P ;) Then there was single pickup use, both parallel, both antiparallel, both serial and both antiserial. The twelve-position capacitor switch allowed for choosing one open and eleven cap options. Finally there were a master volume, master treble and master bass control. I never again had such tonal options in one beast up to now... That's a great looking LP Copy, Cap! And I'm very impressed with your command of the electronics! It took me ages to wire-up my pair of Dual Sounds into my own first guitar, which was... It's been mentioned here before but here we go again anyway... Just before Xmas '75 I went to Glasgow to see what was the best I could afford - knowing it wasn't going to be much! In Biggars Music, Sauchiehall St. (opened in 1867 and still there!), I tried out the two which took my fancy; a Columbus Flying-V copy and the Grant LP G-T pictured above. In the demo room I was struggling mightily just to hold the V (they didn't give me a strap!) and in any case I liked the LP (Koss played an LP!) so it came home with me. It cost £62.50 ($104.80) which was the equivalent of two weeks of my summer-job's wages at the time! The p'ups, just like Cap's ones mentioned above, were awful so the next year I bought a pair of DiMarzio Dual Sounds. At £65 they cost me more than the guitar had done! I still have it. It still plays well (nice neck!) and, thanks to the DiM's, sounds good too. Amp-wise I had an incredibly bad "3 Watt" (nowhere near it!) 'Zenta' practice amp. It was terrible! In an effort to 'improve' things I trawled through the electrical stuff of our town's municipal dump and pulled four or five speakers out of old TV sets and radiograms. A hastily assembled frame made from old wooden fruit boxes served as an extension cabinet to which I nailed(!) the assortment of speakers which were duly all wired up in parallel. It was still terrible but it was LOUD!.......at least that's what I thought.......lol! When a speaker would blow (and they did) I'd just go to the dump and drag another one home. Happy Days. P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Hello All! My first guitar ever was a Musima Lead Star - a Strat copy from East-Germany. It had a H-S-S pickup configuration with coil-split mini-toggle. Ferrari Red. It was a pretty good quality instrument. I bought it along with a Regent 15 solid-state amp new. The guitar - unfortunately - ended up as a Frankenstein - not that many woodworking tools were ever invented that I haven't tried on it...I was young. It was followed by a no-name 12-string acoustic, a Höfner hollow-body bass, and a 70s (Ibanez?) SG copy with Bigsby. My first serious guitar was a '92 ebony, Gibson Les Paul Studio - with gold hardware and ebony fingerboard. It was bought new in Munich, Germany. I miss that one so much. Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 ...I bought it along with a Regent 15 solid-state amp new... Picture, please Bence!........I love your Regents! P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Hello Pippy! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures about the very first instruments I owned. I have only one picture of the black Studio - but even that one is a bad quality one. My very first Regent amp, was very different from the ones I own now. My current ones are pre-70 valve amps. In 1970 the maker of those amps (Vermona) switched to solid-state technology. The 90s Regent I used to have was quite a bad-looking and sounding transistor amp. (I can't even find pictures of that model on the web - I try to look further, maybe something pops-up). Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
btoth76 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 Hello Pippy! It was one of these: http://www.google.se/imgres?biw=1255&bih=814&tbm=isch&tbnid=gTCKGhLSM_8rBM%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Felektrotanya.com%2Fregent_vermona_vm-30_vv-30_vm-60_sch.pdf%2Fdownload.html&docid=7zPJAnldAKxewM&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Felektrotanya.com%2FPREVIEWS%2F63463243%2F23432455%2Fregent%2Fregent_vermona_vm-30_vv-30_vm-60_sch.pdf_1.png&w=744&h=1053&ei=7ZwZU93GDcLW4AShn4CwDg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=1469&page=1&start=0&ndsp=24&ved=0CFYQrQMwAQ This range has a one smaller (15?) amp too. Cheers... Bence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pippy Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 It was one of these: http://www.google.se...ved=0CFYQrQMwAQ That doesn't look too bad at all, Bence! Mine was exactly like this one... P. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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