First guitars

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:09 pm

izodiak wrote:I bought a stratocaster, I actually still regret that buy.
But oh, its my first electric so I cant just sell it.

When I was starting, you had to buy a piece of crap for your first electric.
Someone else's pic of an Eko Cobra I

It cost me Â£10 from a junk shop in Plymouth.
I still have it but the neck is cracked and there are some frets missing. Plus I dug a rout to change it to a bridge pickup, left it in the roof to get damp and now it's got cracks all over the finish. Will poast pics one day.

Boab · Post by **Boab** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:31 pm

This was my very first guitar (lefty too): A Fender San Miguel.

Made late 80's/early 90's in Korea, it cost Â£100 off eBay. Think I just bought it cause everything else affordable I found was a Stagg and they didn't have a tortoise scratchplate. That's the main thing I wanted. I still have it, and love it.

My first electric was a Vista Jagmaster like this (turned lefty):

Still my main electric.

Viljami · Post by **Viljami** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:43 pm

First bass (since I played that first) was a:

Yamaha RBX 170

Ugly, poor pup's but could take beating. Long, long gone.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 1:50 pm

no pictures but when I was a kid there was an old classical guitar around the house and my first electric was a marlin HSS strat with a gorilla amp

johnnyseven · Post by **johnnyseven** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:18 pm

My first was a white Columbus Crest strat copy. I spray painted it metallic purple though and it looked great, especially when the paint started falling off to reveal the white underneath.

benecol · Post by **benecol** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:41 pm

Great idea for a thread; my first was a red Marlin Sidewinder strat copy. I think strats are dreadful as first guitars, since while they look like the ubiquitous electric guitar, their sound (at least through a Gorilla amp) is far from what n00bs expect an electric guitar to sound like. Plus setting up a strat trem is a bit of a skill in itself, one far beyong this pre-internet n00b. Anyhow, I used to crank the pickups up as close as I could to the strings. The world of toanz was a mystery to me until I got my first distortion pedal...

Post by **Mike** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 2:49 pm

benecol wrote:I think strats are dreadful as first guitars, since while they look like the ubiquitous electric guitar, their sound (at least through a Gorilla amp) is far from what n00bs expect an electric guitar to sound like.

Massive Plus 1

Most of the time I think I would have been much happier if my second guitar, the Hondo Les Paul copy now known as the Les Mike, had been my first. I struggled in vain to make my MIJ Squier Stratocaster (neÃ© Fiesta Red, later Ford Riviera Blue) sound good, but it just sounded weak sauce and planky with any dirt.

Ah the heady days when I finally got an amp and a dirt box (Marshall Lead 12 & Boss HM-2 fact fans) - I can remember as a 13 year old literally squealing with delight.

... I never stopped in some ways.

pumpkin · Post by **pumpkin** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:02 pm

benecol wrote:Great idea for a thread; my first was a red Marlin Sidewinder strat copy. I think strats are dreadful as first guitars, since while they look like the ubiquitous electric guitar, their sound (at least through a Gorilla amp) is far from what n00bs expect an electric guitar to sound like. Plus setting up a strat trem is a bit of a skill in itself, one far beyong this pre-internet n00b. Anyhow, I used to crank the pickups up as close as I could to the strings. The world of toanz was a mystery to me until I got my first distortion pedal...

They got one of these at a pawnshop around the corner for â‚¬50... was thinking about buying it... what is the body made of?

izodiak · Post by **izodiak** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:03 pm

Thanks for the strat reference.. that was my first electric guitar..bought it in Austria, hah, on my 16th birthday
This would be my very first guitar :

Played it for a long long time, really loved the fat neck and spacing between strings.
A family friend gave it to me on Christmas, I wasnt into it for a few years,but then me and a classmate formed a real rock'n'roll band ( : 'D ) and I started to strum some chordies etc..
It was a brave idea to play above the 12th fret, but very nice memories with me and the guitar in our
beach house, and thats the place I think the neck snaped, one evening I picked it up, and it was in this angle, I dont know
the glue wore of or what, I would be happy to fix it, it hasnt seen playing for 4 or 5 years I think..h.

plaidbeer · Post by **plaidbeer** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:11 pm

I tried playing guitar very briefly when I was around 12-13 (back in the mid-80s). I gave up after a few months because I didn't understand that I needed effects to get the sounds I wanted and I was too impatient to learn how to play.

It was a black Arbor explorer-type guitar and I had a little Crate amp.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:21 pm

My first guitar was a Japanese Cimar Les Paul Custom copy. Fookin brilliant little guitar.

DanHeron · Post by **DanHeron** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:21 pm

My first electric was a Tangelwood strat copy. It was horrible.

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:25 pm

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:31 pm

On June 9th, 1996 (on my brother's 15th birthday for some reason) my parents bought me a Squier Bullet Series Stratocaster, made in China. These were the then-equivalent of the Affinity, or the current Bullet Strat. The neck profile was TERRIBLE for a beginner, with very hard fingerboard edges too. I sold it for $160 to a guy called Allen Chu at school and then bought an Epi G-400 so I could be as cool as Dave Grohl.

Even though I now have two very nice Strats, I really wish I still had this one.

rps-10 · Post by **rps-10** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:33 pm

pumpkin wrote:
benecol wrote:

They got one of these at a pawnshop around the corner for â‚¬50... was thinking about buying it... what is the body made of?

Plywood. The one pictured by Benecol is an early one, no locking trem and not HSS config. The Marlin factory was down the road from me, then Hohner/JHS took over. The brand has recently made a comeback of sorts.

I had a Marlin "Nasty" in white as my first proper electric, my mum gave me a Â£100 for passing my GCSE's (first ever year they were run) and the guitar was Â£99.
The first crap one was that aweful Kay SG plank that Lorez has the remains of. Before that it was an unplayble classic with brass frets that I put steel strings on

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:44 pm

Avon Rose morris Les Paul Bought from a guy at school for Â£10

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:51 pm

dezb1 wrote:Avon Rose morris Les Paul Bought from a guy at school for Â£10

Still got it?

Mo Law-ka · Post by **Mo Law-ka** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:56 pm

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:57 pm

Westone Spectrum, same as this one but it had one SD humbucker and a Strat trem.

I was 20, walked into the guitar shop and said "i want to sound like the JAMC". I knew nothing about guitars but i remember the guy saying the guitar had a seymour duncan so it would be good for feedback with the nameless 5w practice amp.
About six months later i bought a gold Tokai Strat (like the one i bought from benecol), but that soon got traded in for a Gordon Smith Explorer. I have no idea what happened to the Westone, it got stripped down and left in my parents shed so they probably threw it away

Lucamo · Post by **Lucamo** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 4:24 pm

Viljami wrote:First bass (since I played that first) was a:

Yamaha RBX 170

Ugly, poor pup's but could take beating. Long, long gone.

Same, first bass, long gone now. You could credit it as the start of my guitar collection. My first real guitar was a Classic Vibe Duo-sonic.
Fuck I have come a long way in two years.