Your 'baby', your first guitar
- Thread starter nathan a
- Start date
G
guitlouie
Guest
Oh, you had to bring this up! I kick myself a lot when I think of this guitar. When I finally realized that the "student" guitar that my folks had gotten me first was never going to stay in tune, I begged my old man for a new one. He took me shopping at a used gear shop, and I saw what I thought was the coolest looking guiitar. It looked like a Les Paul in a cream sort of finish, with severe finish checking. I didn't know it was called finish checking then, I just thought it looked cool. I didn't know that a bolt on all maple neck was not the norm for Les Pauls either, but again, I thought it was cool. It had this crazy looking bridge, which, you guessed it, I thought looked cool. I really learned to play on this beast. The first time I ever plugged into a seriously powerful amp was with tthis guitar. First show, yup, it was the one. So anyway, years later, I had moved on to my first strat, but still had this thing in my closet, and still had a great love for it. Well, long story short, it got left in that closet, and the building got demolished. Sniff, sniff. Turns out, now that I know more about guitars, that it was a pre-lawsuit Ibanez Les Paul copy, which I see going on E-bay for a bit more than the 150$ I paid for it back then. Sniff, Sniff. I'm going to go cry now...
I first got a Tiesco "Del Ray" two pickup Japanese beauty - folks - this guitar was setup by a shop in Brooklyn, dunno who, but played like a Les Paul Custom - I mean a DREAM to play on. I sold it for what I had into it, $35.......
Next, a real guitar - 72 Telecaster. Blonde, maple neck. Cost me $183.00, and another $40 or so for the case.
Kept that till abuot 77 or so. Sadly, it sold.
After that, a used 73 Telecaster Deluxe - that had been hand painted red over factory black, over factory sunburst. It was worn and looked like hell. So I stripped it. The alder was pretty, so I used Kiwi Brown shoepolish on it, and played it for a number of years.
After that, a used Guild "SG", played well, real rippin' pickups. I still have it. Its in semi retirement.... quite well worn when I got it, and worn even more now.
Then.. in about 1982, I got a 78 Strat, all stock, a bit worn, but not too bad. I still have it. Natural HARD ash, now with Tejas Especiales Pickups.
Some time after that, in the mid 90s I got a 52ri Tele, built a few Warmoth Teles... one all hard dense maple with 57Classics in it. Real ripper... sounds like a LP, plays like a Fender! One a nice mahogany/maple thinline with goncalo neck, and one a mahogany/walnut thinline with maple neck (that brother Vic has now).
Some time after that... I managed to get an SG, then another SG, then a pair of ES-333's, then a LP Std (faded), the LP BFG, three L6's, two I still have (though Vic got the nicer one), and lately been playing the swamp ash thinline with goncalo neck.
In between I built the Toiletcaster... now belongs to Tim (being played by Paige below)
Thats it for electrics.
Next, a real guitar - 72 Telecaster. Blonde, maple neck. Cost me $183.00, and another $40 or so for the case.
Kept that till abuot 77 or so. Sadly, it sold.
After that, a used 73 Telecaster Deluxe - that had been hand painted red over factory black, over factory sunburst. It was worn and looked like hell. So I stripped it. The alder was pretty, so I used Kiwi Brown shoepolish on it, and played it for a number of years.
After that, a used Guild "SG", played well, real rippin' pickups. I still have it. Its in semi retirement.... quite well worn when I got it, and worn even more now.
Then.. in about 1982, I got a 78 Strat, all stock, a bit worn, but not too bad. I still have it. Natural HARD ash, now with Tejas Especiales Pickups.
Some time after that, in the mid 90s I got a 52ri Tele, built a few Warmoth Teles... one all hard dense maple with 57Classics in it. Real ripper... sounds like a LP, plays like a Fender! One a nice mahogany/maple thinline with goncalo neck, and one a mahogany/walnut thinline with maple neck (that brother Vic has now).
Some time after that... I managed to get an SG, then another SG, then a pair of ES-333's, then a LP Std (faded), the LP BFG, three L6's, two I still have (though Vic got the nicer one), and lately been playing the swamp ash thinline with goncalo neck.
In between I built the Toiletcaster... now belongs to Tim (being played by Paige below)
Thats it for electrics.
Kostas
Hero Member
- Messages
- 1,383
My first guitar was a Yamaha classical guitar, I bought it in 1990 and two years later I sold it to fund my first electric. In 1993 I bought the Gibson SG Special '92. I still have the SG, it's stock except a S.D. Super V bridge pickup and 500k push-pull pots for parallel & out of phase sounds. Although I won't sell it, I'm spoiled with the unfinished necks and the two things I like most in the Warmoth necks: fat shape and SS6105 frets. I found out recently that the finish is nitro, I didn't know Gibson was putting nitro in the cheaper models.
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Funky Phil
Senior Member
- Messages
- 324
Hondo "Les Paul" copy...
Bolt on neck, ply body, one (DiMarzio) pickup (with coil tap).
The victim of my first attempt at a fret dress...didn't do too well, but the shop I traded it in at didn't notice!
My first quality guitar was a JV Squier...one of the first ones with the large Fender and small Squier logos.
Unfortunately, the guitar customisation bug had really got hold of me by then!
This was the early 80's, and I just HAD to have a single humbucker (Super Distortion), Strat body, trem, single control. no pickguard guitar!
I will leave the rest up to your imagination!
Having made a pretty terrible job on tha body, I decided to get a new one...Mahogany, routed for one humbucker.
I got this from Rockinger in Germany...also their locking trem system.
The result was great and I wish I still had it...I wonder where it is now?
Bolt on neck, ply body, one (DiMarzio) pickup (with coil tap).
The victim of my first attempt at a fret dress...didn't do too well, but the shop I traded it in at didn't notice!
My first quality guitar was a JV Squier...one of the first ones with the large Fender and small Squier logos.
Unfortunately, the guitar customisation bug had really got hold of me by then!
This was the early 80's, and I just HAD to have a single humbucker (Super Distortion), Strat body, trem, single control. no pickguard guitar!
I will leave the rest up to your imagination!
Having made a pretty terrible job on tha body, I decided to get a new one...Mahogany, routed for one humbucker.
I got this from Rockinger in Germany...also their locking trem system.
The result was great and I wish I still had it...I wonder where it is now?
My first proper guitar was an Eko Ranger 6, an acoustic with bolt on neck made in Italy. I bought this in 1968 and still have it. My first electric was a Westone Thunder 1A - active electrics with two coil tapped humbuckers. I sold that to buy my first Fender Strat.
MDVermette
Junior Member
- Messages
- 32
My first was a Harmony Acoustic Archtop. The neck joint eventually went, and my Dad repaired it by drilling out a strap pin and putting a molly bolt through that and the heel to hold the mess together. When I went to college, my Mom sewed me a blue denim gig bag for it. Eventually, the neck went bad again, and I couldn't intonate it worth a damn. I think my brother has it now.
I then spent what was then most of my savings on what was then a 1 year old 1978 Ovation Balladeer, with the piezo option. I still have that guitar, although it's pretty beat at this point after suffering through 3 decades of my attempts to sound like Alex DeGrassi and at least one assassination attempt by baggage handlers at various airports. :-\
I then spent what was then most of my savings on what was then a 1 year old 1978 Ovation Balladeer, with the piezo option. I still have that guitar, although it's pretty beat at this point after suffering through 3 decades of my attempts to sound like Alex DeGrassi and at least one assassination attempt by baggage handlers at various airports. :-\
