John Lee Walker Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 I guess I'm just nosy, but I thought this would be an interesting thread. I always ask other guitarists, what was your very first guitar? Mine was a 1950 Stella H929 in 'vintage sunburst'. I bought it with a combination of paper route earnings and a birthday check from my Grandmother. If I remember right I think it was $35, including the deluxe cardboard case. It came with a multi-colored braided rope strap and 3 giant triangular picks. I was in Hog Heaven. Wish I had it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 nice story. mine was a black 1980's fender dreadnaught that i wrote all my first songs on. the action was high and it hurt to play. but it had a nice, full, bassy tone. it belonged to my ex and she sold it a yard sale after we split. she wouldnt let me take it and loved making that call to tell me it sold. after i left, i bought a tacoma and wrote some of the nastiest breakup songs ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajsc Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Mine was a Stella too. not sure what year, or model. It had a wonderful red, & black burst, & hurt my fingers badly. Made me consider the piano!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchabalk Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 We have an old alvarez at my parent's house they bought for my brother about 20+ years ago. It was when you could still find a low-end guitar made out of solid wood. Still sounds great, i play it whenever i'm home for the holidays. When i started playing about 10 years ago i bought a solid top epiphone acoustic, AJ-18(VS) i believe. It cost more than i wanted to spend at the time ($400). I found one with a giant chunk taken out of the corner by a reckless employee at the old San Francisco Guitar Center. I got it for less than $200. It's really opened up and sounds quite good. The chunk of missing corner hasn't gotten any worse either. I think i did ok with it. Played that every day until earlier this year. (great thread!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksdaddy Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Early 60s Kay, I now know it as a model 3500 but didn't know it then. Hand me down from my brother when he got his Holiday electric and then the blue Mustang. That was in 1966 or 67. It was impossible to play. My father attempted to make a nut for it and would string it with medium gauge Black Diamonds. I consider it child abuse. I kept it until high school when I foolishly stripped all the finish with the intention of refinishing it. It sat down cellar and basically fell apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajsc Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Man, this is memory lane for sure!! Black Diamond strings. I lived in a small town in Colorado. The only place to buy strings was at the jewelry store. They sold Black Diamonds, one at a time. I would have 5 old strings, & 1 new one. Didn't replace 1 unless 1 broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 a 70s Yamaha FG-110. my dad's old guitar. he doesn't really play, but it's always been around the house. i still have it. on paper, it might not be the best... but i think it sounds great. REALLY GREAT! has a nice fat neck that i love too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Someone gave me an ARIA classical guitar (probably worth $50) in my second year of University. (I know I"m dating myself here....lol.....1970, this guy taught me three chords, C, G, F, and I learned or figured out the rest myself....lol My fingers STILL hurt with those nylon strings, and I didn't do a full Barre chord until three years later....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWilson Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 I bought a classical guitar in 1963, I believe. I traded my trumpet for it. I think it was in th e$30 catagory. The logo on the headstock says "Melody" and it's real cheap. I loaned it to a friend of mine our freshman year of college and he fell and broke off one of the tuning pegs. (Machines) That was 1966 and it's in the same condition. I wanted to join a group and become "Peter, Paul, Mary and Terry." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sumner77 Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 A Harmony Patrician and a Sakazo Nakade classical, both of which i still have. The Patrician was a freebie. The Nakade cost about $100 and I once showed it to Chris Parkening who told me it had a sweet voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitarooster52 Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 My very first acoustic was a 1978 Yamaha FG340...had it for 20 years and hardly played it. Almost no fret wear but the neck/body joint is collapsed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Man' date=' this is memory lane for sure!! Black Diamond strings. I lived in a small town in Colorado. The only place to buy strings was at the jewelry store.They sold Black Diamonds, one at a time. I would have 5 old strings, & 1 new one. Didn't replace 1 unless 1 broke.[/quote'] great small town string story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rambler Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Pac-rim Hummingbird copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Pac-rim Hummingbird copy. oh, man!!! i thought your story was gonna read like a fable of biblical proportions! lol! i was even staying up late in anticipation! more lol! (can you make something up?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonderful remark Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 samick classical guitar.. I don't know the name of it. But I really enjoyed it because it didn't hurt my fingers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
news36 Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 My dad played classical guitar for a while, he loved Segovia, he played alone in his den, the rich smell of pipe tobacco is forever linked to Spanish guitar for me, in about 1964 I was listening to a lot of Folk and blues, I forget the details of the deal but I had a little money, my dad put in the rest and I got a Gibson LG 1, I think it was just over $100.00, I used to get about a dollar a week allowance, that stopped when I got that guitar, it would be another 40 years before I would play another Gibson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magnucifer Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Levin from 1957 that I inherited from my dads aunt... Still have it, but it needs serious attention from a repariman. Maybe someday. :) Right now it hangs on the living room wall. -Magnus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 1978 Yamaha FG312 12 string. Bought by my dad from the US when on an exercise with the United States Navy, when he was in the Royal Navy. Sold it about 4 years ago when I was really getting back into 12 string. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 A spanish style acoustic bought by my parents for me in 1962 when we lived in southern Spain - which I subsequently learned was a Francisco Dominguez workshop product, made by his head luthier and thus ony two steps away from the last of the Lorca dynasty. A picture of one of its siblings (which looks pretty much identical):- Sadly the late sixties and early seventies saw it overshadowed by more 'trendy' electric guitars - though regularily played for pleasure and practice. It suffered severe damage by being crushed in a house move in the late eighties, patched but never the same it hung on for another twenty years. It was ceremoniously burned and the guitar-elf that lived in it was freed to find another home a couple of years back. It always had gut strings on the treble, silk wound with silvered copper wire on the bass and sounded incredible. I can only remember buying the last set, a few years back, which I think must have been Aquila (though I thought they were Aprila.....) and they were not cheap. The shop demo'd some nylon strings by the same company, but I was not convinced. Out of interest - in the old days I used to get strings for her from Thibouville-Lamy on Clerkenwell Road, opposite Bart's (where I worked.....), anybody know if they are still there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballcorner Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 I had a 1960s Suzuki classical to learn on then my first real guitar was that Christmas when I bought myself an Epiphone D-12, brand new at a pawn shop for $125. It was 1980, so I assume the guitar was from the same year. By the time I finished more than 3 years of constant travel as a busker in the mid 80s, that guitar had new frets, a Martin Bridge, a set of Grovers, refinished headstock with MOP inlay and the action was still about a half inch off the 12th fret. The belly was rolled and the bridge was starting to lift again when I found a final resting place for it. I think I would cringe if I had to play that guitar today. I don't imagine the intonation was great after I replaced the bridge myself, but I did earn my living with it so it couldn't have been too bad. My next guitar was a Yamaki Deluxe with a cedar top and hog back and sides. That was actually a good guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearbasher Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 A beat up Framus 12er that was strung with 6 strings. Given to me by my older brother, who got it from my brother-n-law. It had bolt-on everything, and was more suitable for archery than music. I had a few more clunkers after that one. The first acoustic I ever purchased was a1980 Guild D-55. Paid $400 flat for it in 1988. Still the best acoustic I ever owned. To bad I traded it away. It's the one guitar I truly miss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkcity Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 My first acoustic was bought for me by my Dad in the late 60's--it was a Giannini classical. It was a revelation after trying to play my first guitar a Hagstrom "The Swede" electric. My best friend's cousin was Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers Band and Dickie played the thing and broke a string trying to tune it to an open tuning. This was when Ramblin' Man was at the top of the charts. I still have the guitar today; although it is rarely played. I too remember buying strings at the jewelry store--they sold guitar strings as well as sax and clarinet reeds. It required an hours trip to Macon to go to a real music store. Ah the memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 My first acoustic was bought for me by my Dad in the late 60's--it was a Giannini classical. It was a revelation after trying to play my first guitar a Hagstrom "The Swede" electric. My best friend's cousin was Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers Band and Dickie played the thing and broke a string trying to tune it to an open tuning. This was when Ramblin' Man was at the top of the charts. I still have the guitar today; although it is rarely played. I too remember buying strings at the jewelry store--they sold guitar strings as well as sax and clarinet reeds. It required an hours trip to Macon to go to a real music store. Ah the memories. great story and brush with greatness as well. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 This was mine http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2700387 My folks bought it for my Christmas , hid it in the back of a wardrobe! Saw one a few months ago at a boot fair. The guy sold it for £20, not to me unforutnatley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HellboundGreaser Posted November 10, 2008 Share Posted November 10, 2008 Mid to late 80s Goya (CF Martin owned) D-28 Copy. It was a nice guitar however I wanted a real Martin so I traded the Goya for a Martin DM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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