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Joined:
April 2002
Posts: 196
Location: Shelton, Washington, USA | with his comments about us old farts starting out on wood..... and I remembered my very first guitar. It was a no-name thing my dad bought for me at a pawn shop in Wallace, Idaho. The first guitar I bought for myself was a Yamaki 12 string back around 1971....
Remember your first guitar? |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | those old yamakis were great guitars. got wiped out by yamaha in a law suit i think. i have a 12 string too i bought with a broben peghead for $38 to make a 12 string slide out of. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | My first guitar:
1976 Custom Balladeer.
Has served me FAITHFULLY as my "primary" axe for 26 years!
Hasn't missed a gig yet. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | my first guitar was an unplayable POS my parents bought me. It was made in holland and it is a wonder I ever learned to play at all. the guitar is still somewhere in mom's basement... |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | My first guitar was an Ovation (God, don't that really suprise you?!?) It was old #6. after that was a Josh White that self destructed and then a long string of others. I went the other way, starting on Brazilian Fiberglass and finding that wood stuff years later and thinking "Wow this stuff makes interesting sounds!" Took 35 years to work my way up to metal. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7211
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | My first guitar was a Seville classical (nylon string) bought with S&H Greenstamps (I'm not making this up) in the mid 60's. My second was a Tiesco that was sunburst, with 4-pickups, damper, lots of switches in the early 70's. My 3rd guitar was my Ovation Medallion in 1975. 1976 was when I unloaded the Tiesco and bought my Viper. I didn't start collecting until many years later. I still have the Seville, the Medallion and the Viper. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 613
Location: Zion, Illinois | Don't remember what brand my first guitar was. It was a cheap import. High action hurt my fingers. I made it look neater by adding an Eagle decal to the top. Decided if I was going to learn guitar that I need something better.
Guitar #2 was a used Gibson J-50. The only thing I remember about this guitar was someone asked to play it and when he was playing it the hotbox from his cigarette fell on the side of the guitar and burnt a hole in it.
Saved my money and decide to get a really good guitar. Bought a Gibson Custom Dove. Had it one day, found out that the two piece back was never joined; huge gap in the back. Guitar store sent it back and said it would take months to get it back, but they had a J-200 they would be willing to replace it with for some additional $$$$. Took it.
During this period I noticed that on certain records I liked, the guitars had a very unique sound to them, unlike any guitar I've ever heard. I noticed it mostly on records by Bread and Cat Stevens. Found out that they were using these funny, round, plastic backed guitars. I found a store in Kenosha Wisconsin that sold these and traded my J-50 plus some $$$$ for a Balladeer.
A little while after that, I bought a 12 string, a Glen Campbell Deluxe model.
The Balladeer had to go during hard times. I still own the J-200 and the Glen Campbell 12-string. Some guitars since then have come and gone (one that REALLY stood out was a Gretch Country Gentleman I picked up from a store going out of business for $300. It went the same time as the Balladeer. The lose of both hurt). Recently, due to a probable mid-life crisis, I've been buying more guitars. All Ovations because A) They sound great IMHO. B) I've been finding bargins on E-bay. I feel that I have two to go, a decent Classical guitar and one of those beautiful early Adamas guitars.
Bradley |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | my first guitar was a st george. sounded like wet cardboard which was probably was a good thing the way i played back then. actually better for shredding cabbage than playing music. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15654
Location: SoCal | Wow, first guitars.
My first guitar was an old Sears f-hole (my wife says I can't use language like that around the house) guitar that my uncle gave me. I was about 8 years old. My second guitar, when I really wanted to play, was a no name classical that my folks bought me for $40. When I was either a sophmore or junior in high school, I saw my first Ovation in the window of Parker Music in Houston and there was no looking back.
I got an Artist in 1972 (I was a senior in high school), traded that for a Legend in 1979 (something I regret), picked up my Elite in 1993 (used --- the salesman at the Guitar Center tried to sell me a cedar topped Elite, but I know a 2 knobber when I see it) and four other Ovations in the years since (Adamas 12, Viper electric, Classical, Country Artist).
Oh, and I also have a 1914 Martin 0018 (nylon string) that's been in my family since new. The same uncle who gave me the f-hole passed it along to me when it was obvious that I was going to keep playing. That uncle played only 7 chords but got more music out of his guitar than I ever will.
[ May 03, 2002: Message edited by: moodypi ] |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 25
Location: Jacksonville, Florida | When I was 16, my Dad (God Bless Him) bought me a "Kay" acoustic and a Mel Bay instruction book. The action was so high that I plucked the guitar for a week before it occurred to me to push the strings all the way down to the fingerboard. The book might as well been in Greek (musical notation, no tabs).
I eventually decided to "fancy-up" that guitar with a can of black spray paint. I realized that I had more natural talent as a painter than a musician. But back in 1966, the "Custom Shop" concept was a little ahead of it's time. I wonder if Mom ever threw that guitar out?
The next guitar I purchased was in Sigonella, Sicily in 1970. I bought an EKO 12-string "Ranger II" at the Navy Exchange for $28.00, (still have the guitar and the receipt). I lugged this one home as carry-on (while in uniform) when I came home for Christmas leave. Upon visiting my future wife I felt compelled to say "look what I've bought you". This was a decisive moment in time, because I then went on to buy her handguns, shotguns, fishing poles and another guitar over the next 30 years.
Unfortunately she has made it perfectly clear that she doesn't want anymore guitars.
(But I know of a new guitar would be just perfect for Her)! |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Diamonds, pearls, gold, guns, guitars.... a woman can never have enough of these!!! |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | Since my wife Sue plays bass, often I will bring a bass home for resale and she will say "do we have to sell this one?" Well now there are about 7 basses laying around and she really uses only one. (Including a 5 string ovation acoustic bass) but I really can't complain she never complains about the ones that are in the regular collection. |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Al, sounds like a keeper. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10581
Location: NJ | the 5 string bass or the wife????? Only kidding, Only kidding...
sometime in about 1984 I was playing in a group and the bass player went to slot machine mechanics school and took a job on some "love boat" in the carribean. We looked desperately for a bass player. The sax player said he knew a "chick" who played bass. Well she came to a rehearsal with a madaira ebo copy and an acoustitic 260 guitar amp complete with 2/15's with altec's and a horn.
Although nervous she played fine. Not Jaco by any stretch of the imagination but hit the right notes on the tonic and kept time well. So we were desperate and she was in. A few months go by and she calls me up and asks if I wanted to out for a few beers...well the rest is history. I have a permanent bass player. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 28
Location: Chicago | I started with a crappy Kay that had been hanging on the wall at my family's apartment for years. I then moved up to a Harmony classical when I was about 13. Got my first Ovation, a used and battered Matrix, in the early 80s. Moved up to a Yamaha 12 string a few years later. Finally got decent guitars this year: An Adamas Millennium and a Rickenbacker 360/12. Now I'm happy!
[ May 03, 2002: Message edited by: phaseshift ] |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Back in late 60's & early 70's Woolworths in the UK sold cheap musical instuments. My first acoustic was a Woolies "Audition" brand steel-string, which led to an Italian Eko Ranger (great in a bar fight, but not much good as a guitar) then to a Folklore. I then went through a phase where I didn't own an Ovation, and commisioned a few guitars from a UK luthier. I still have them & play them but I'm well & truly back in the fold these days.
Paul |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 126
Location: UK | My first love was a Fender F55 12 string, got it about 19 years ago, learnt to play on it, and IT HURT! killed my fingers.
Still got it though. 2nd was an epiphone LP copy but that lasted 6 months until i did a Jimi on it and smashed it to bits (long story , but basically a womans fault :rolleyes: )
Got a Tokai strat about 8 years ago, (still got it),didnt play for last 7 years until 6 months ago got back into it, got me Gibson SG and a LP,(love those) then got my dream at last, an Ovation Milennium and now an Elite Ltd Russian, and now the worlds just opened up with a rainbow of sound :D |
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Russ got me to woolgathering....
