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What was your first Gibson????


onewilyfool

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I came on thezGibson forum to ask about a Gibson L-20 that was on our local Craig's list. I was really a die hard Martin guy at the time, and knew NOTHING about Gibson's. I got some great advice, some great insight on the guitar, one guy had the whole history of the instrument, and with that, and the actual audition of the instrument…..I got the L-20…just a great guitar….and was the start of a great love affair with Gibsons…here's the pics!

 

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1930s L-00. Don't think I ever knew the exact year as finding out such stuff was virtually impossible back then. Gathered all the cash I had in the world (a little over $100) and went up to a small music store to see what I could find. I was goofing around with this and that and then off in the corner I saw a glint of a burst. I did not know squat about Gibsons. Hell, I did not know a good guitar from a can of tuna. But I liked the way the guitar looked, it was playable, and it was cheap so I brought it home. It did have one crack in the top so I figured the best way to fix it was to drill two small holes at either end to keep the crack from spreading and then slathered some Ducco cement in there. Seemed to work because I played that guitar for years. This was also my first "electric" as a year or so after I got it I slapped a Dearmond 210 pickup across the soundhole.

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This is the one that started it for me:

 

1964 Firebird III

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I already had a Stratocaster, and a year later bought a Les Paul. I never really got along with the Firebird, especially after getting the LP. Sold it at the Dallas guitar show sometime in the late 80's.

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In 1963 my D-28 went back to Martin for a refinish. The store kindly furnished me with a brand new B-25 as a replacement. At first I didn't like it much, what with the 'burst and the adj. bridge. Plus it felt kinda tiny and sounded Nothing like my D-28.

Six months later my D-28 came back and I had to return the B-25, but I didn't want to. During that six months I had grown to really like the Gibson. The D-28 felt "too big" and also I'd come to appreciate the Gibson sound.

Within a year I traded the D-28 for a blonde SJ-200. And so began my long time love of Gibsons.

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Well, my smart aleck answer to this question would be a walnut colored EB-2 hollow body bass with no headstock that I bought for $10 in the fall of '76. I don't think that's the answer you're looking for though. Ditto for the early 60s SG Jr body with the homemade neck (!) I bought for $15 in the summer of '84.

 

Pretty sure my first Gibson was a 1955 ES-295. A friend called me in the summer of '84 and said, "Hey, the pawn shop has one of those Guy Lombardo guitars you like, all apart and cheap." I went to look at it and recognized it as a 295. The finish had been 100% stripped off it. I gave the guy $100 for it. One pickup was dead but a friend had one from an ES-125TCD so I just used my cream cover. It also didn't have the big ol' trapeze tailpiece; it had a normal trapeze tailpiece and a generic tune-o-matic like a 175. I thought they were finished gold TOP with darker sides and back so that's how I finished it... I didn't know they were supposed to be all gold.

 

Lost it in a Les Paul horse trade the next year, then got it back, then swapped it for a 335. No idea where it went after '86.

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I was given this J-50 in 1969, still have it. It was my only guitar for 30 years... I replaced the rosewood adjustable saddle, the nut, the tuners and have had a partial refret in those years. It has the skinny nut, long scale, and pearl inlaid logo of that transition period, and it has a Baggs anthem pickup - sounds better amplified.

 

 

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Most have seen it.... 1969 or 1970 Jubilee.

I got it in 1971 or 1972, was not new...didn't even have a case.

Headstock got broken off on an Amtrack Train to Oregon about 25 years ago.

Been pretty much beat to death.... still love it, and play it very often.

 

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My first Gibson was a '61 ES-125T, a wonderful guitar that I foolishly let go of c.1988. My first Gibson acoustic was a '60 LG-2 I bought for $125 in 1986. I kinda miss both of them - the 125 went in a trade for a '61 Jazzmaster, the LG-2 I essentially gave to the other half of my old acoustic duo in an attempt to encourage his songwriting.

 

No pix, sadly.

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Bought a new '70 J50 while in college, sold it for enough red irridescent Hawaiin bud to buy a Martin, or so I thought. Somehow it all turned into a Goya S-18 that I got at Manny's for a hundred bucks. Moral of the story...if you prefer immediate over long-term gratification, don't invest in something you can consume while waiting to turn into profit. I've done dumber things. The Goya was real nice.

 

 

Zomby...that story got to me. Especially the drill/Ducco cement part. I know you'd like a do-over on letting that one go.

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