Conference napalm::guitar

    My first guitar was loaned to me by a friend. It was a really old
    Martin, beat up like crazy. That was in 1966, and it must have been
    at least 20 years old then. There were cracks in the top, sides
    and back, and it had been sanded down and varnished (horrible).
    The bridge had lifted, so somebody had run the strings through to
    the bottom of the guitar to keep the top from coming apart. The
    fingerboard was so worn it had grooves under the strings almost
    1/8" deep. It spite of all that, it sounded great! Unfortunately
    they took it back after a couple of years.
    
    Then I got some kind of strange arch-top "Spanish" guitar, with
    F-holes. It had an adjustable bridge, but the neck was set at an
    angle that prevented the strings from being lowered more than
    about 3/8" from the fingerboard. I used to stand on the radiator
    at the end of the hall of my college dorm and play along with Beach
    Boys records on Saturday nights. I suffered along in this fashion
    until I finally went electric. I bought a semi-hollow body Japanese
    job for $15 in a pawn shop. It was finished in simulated walnut
    formica. I used it to play "Hey Joe" through a Heathkit amp that
    I built myself. I had to stop when the people upstairs started pounding
    on the floor with a broomstick. This led to an illustrious professional
    career dodging bottles and chairs thrown (not necessarily at me)
    during fights in some of Baltimore's finer drinking establishments.
    
    So much for hard times.
    
    Ram
    
    Baltimore's finer drinking e

                             -< Your first guitar >-

My first guitar was a 3/4 size Stella Harmony acoustic that I got when I was
13. for about $30. I quickly upgraded through several middle quality
instruments, both acoustic and electric. My first real good instrument was an
electric, a 1974 Fender Stratocaster. 

I currently play a Gibson Les Paul Custom through a Fender Dual Showman amp and
a Guild 6 string acoustic.

    Well, I've sorta had 3 first guitars because I had two "false starts"
    in guitar before I became serious about it.
    
    When I was around 13 or so, I used an old beat up acoustic (I think
    the brand name was harmony) that had incredibly bad action such
    that you could only place in the first position.
    
    I later got a Danelectro and a Kingston amp (with tremolo, although
    they called it vibrato).  It was a pretty decent guitar but I didn't
    do much with it.  Unfortunately, my mother sold it for next to nothing.
    This is unfortunate, because as soon as Jimmy Page appeared on the
    cover of Guitar Player magazine with a Dan', they instantly became
    rare and valuable (they were good guitars).
    
    Then I went to University of Miami and just happened to see Steve
    Morse play on my way to class and was intrigued by how much more
    interesting this guitar music was than anything I had heard on the
    radio.  I remember being incredibly impressed that he could play
    above the 3rd fret; you see, I had no idea at the time that the
    action was different on guitars and so I though he was just so good
    that he could overcome that obstacle.
    
    I ended up almost permanently borrowing a friends silvertone that
    had a hideous spray paint job but had good action ("OH!!!! So that's
    how he can do that!!") and played scales night and day way up on
    the neck.
    
    I then decided that I needed my own guitar, and so I bought a 1969
    Cherry Gibson SG and THAT guitar is the real one I learned with.
    Unfortunately, the peghead broke off completely about 2 years ago
    but I had already ordered my current guitar, which is a Carvin DC-200
    Koa.
    
    I've never had the urge to "collect" guitars, preferring instead
    to stick to one instrument and develop some intimate familiarity
    with it, but I'm now looking for something to serve as a backup
    instrument.
    
    	db
    
    

    I started out with a Harmony six-barbed-wire cheapo my freshman year
    in college. Maybe $30 worth. I played that enough to get a
    semi-permanent greenish black stain inside my callouses (rust -
    didn't change strings much). 
    
    The summer after my junior year I bought my second Harmony - a
    12-string. Higher quality than the 6-string (just), and good enough
    to get me really hooked on 12-string guitars. (Especially when I
    discovered that it held its tune better if you changed strings when
    they got black.) 12-strings have been my main instrument ever since. 

    The summer after my senior year, I sold the 6-string and bought a
    Yamaha 6-string, which promptly (within a month or two) suffered a
    cracked neck in a small coffeehouse (The Crack of Dawn) in Baltimore
    - Greg "Omar" Kihn knocked it over. With the $25 his manager gave me
    (he wasn't doing well yet; success was about six years away), the
    Yamaha, and (sob) additional cash, I traded for a Martin 000-18 the
    guy that ran the coffeehouse had just picked up in a hock shop.
    Still have it today (it's for sale; see reason below).
    
    A couple of years later, I traded the Harmony 12-string for a
    Martin D12-20, and that was that until about five years ago when
    I sold the D12-20 to my brother and ordered a custom-made Martin
    12-string, which is my main guitar today.
    
    Earlier this month, I picked up a custom Martin OM-28 (Brazilian
    rosewood) - Eric Schoenberg told me he was getting two of them
    in (to his store, the Music Emporium in Cambridge), and I couldn't
    resist.
    
    Oh, somewhere in there I bought an electical appliance (Ovation
    Preacher 6-string), but never have played it much. 

    So, someone else owned a Harmony!  Worst guitar I ever owned but
    it did strengthen my fingers and callouses!
    
    I learned on my sister's accoustic.  Not sure of the brand but I
    remember she bought it from Penney's.  It was a little large for
    me at the time (I was in my early teens and it had a large body
    and long neck) but I figured out how to play it.
    
    When my parents realized I was truly interested and not likely to
    drop it after a couple of months, they bought me a Harmony for
    Christmas.  Trying to learn bar chords on that guitar was like trying
    to bend steel rods!  I ended up trading that guitar and a music
    book for a tool box.  I needed the toolbox since my car was always
    breaking down and I had to have my tools in order so I could repair
    it quickly.
    
    When I got into junior high, I started playing with a couple of
    freinds and bought an electric guitar.  I believe it is a Univation
    (shaped like an egg which is ironic since I bought it the day before
    Easter).  I still have that guitar but it's been pulled apart and
    put back together so many times that it doesn't play too well anymore.
    
    After I started saving up some money in high school, I bought a
    Madeira 12 string.  I had always liked the sound of a 12 string
    guitar and since I normally play accoustic, I figured it was worth
    the money.  Also, my hands were breaking from the Harmony and I
    needed a guitar with decent action to keep my hands useful for other
    things.
    
    I later started playing in a band and picked up a used bass.  I
    think it is also a Univation.  One of these days I'll buy a decent
    bridge and have it tuned.
    
    If I ever get back into some serious playing I will probaby end
    up buying a good 6 string accoustic.  Although the 12 string has
    great sound, it doesn't lend itself to all types of music.
    
    tom_p

    
    Well, for me it was a Yamaha FG acoustic sometime during sophmore
    year of high school. This was after many years of trumpet in grade
    school and high school. In fact, during that time I was taking trumpet
    lessons from the brass man in The Ides of March(a Chicago area band,
    they did have one nationwide hit, "Vehicle" a Blood, Sweat and Tears
    sort of tune. "I'm a friendly stranger in a black sedan, why don't
    you hop inside my car...") He used to get me into their local shows
    and after awhile, I began to take more interest in the guitar than
    the horns.
    
    Shortly thereafter, I was hooked and into it big time. A '72 Les
    Paul Custom was next, then a '68 Fender Princeton Reverb Amp, followed
    by a '75 Strat and finally, a Marshall half-stack. All of which
    I still have today.
    
    rick
    
    

	I bought my first guitar 10 years ago when I finished college.
    I decided I might as well get a decent one, since a cheap one
    might discourage my playing. I ended up getting a Suzuki F-10, which
    is the guitar I still use. 
    
    And you thought Yamaha was the only bike company that made guitars! 
    --
    						Seth

    My first guitar was a Sears Wish Book Special: A les paul copy
    with a built-in amp complete with speaker behind the bridge.  At
    that point I hadn't the foggiest notion what action was or what
    its use was, and therefore the strings were about a literal inch
    off the fretboard.  I think the first tune I learned was Rollin'
    on a river by CCR (the first three notes of it at least). I have
    since purchased an Ibanez RS-135. I Looove it! I just need to pop
    a Floyd and a Seymore Duncan in the bridge position.  I think I
    doused the sears one in gas and did a Hendrix impression.  I burned
    my leg, as I remember.  Oh well.
    
    		regards

    The first guitar I *learned* on was the "Bud-Man", a really
    battered nylon-string that was the "mascot" of the folk music
    club at Northeastern (it got its name from the Budweiser Bud-Man
    sticker on it).
    
    Not too long after I started learning, I bought an Atlas, a cheapo
    Martin clone (meaning it looks like one at first glance). I think
    I paid something like $80 for it. It was a fairly good guitar, and
    I still have it, though it resides at a friend's in Minneapolis.
    About 12 years ago, I picked up a used Yamaha 12-string. About 8
    years ago, I bought a Guild D-35, which I'm *very* happy with.
    
    --- jerry

    Hmm...first was a $19.99 single pickup electric that had an action
    that can only be described as deep. Then a $30 two pickup, then
    a Fender Mustang, then a gibson sg-pro, Traded for an SG-custom,
    bought a Strat (still my favorite), then  les paul custom, traded
    the les paul for another strat (all maple natural finish) traded
    therr natural strat for a tele custom thinline (f-hole two humbucking
    pickups) sold the sg, bought a fender lead one to hang a kahler
    whammy on, bought a Washburn A-20 cuz I liked it, bought a ES-335
    cuz the price was right, sold it for a profit ($150) two months
    later.
  
    Acoustics
      
    Had two different model sigma's, then bought a yasuma custom (I
    know nobody ever heard of these but they are great guitars, got mine
    from John Dopera who invented the dobro with his brother when they
    worked for national steel)

    Finally I bought a Takimine ES-360 with the built in pickups and
    pre-amp, great sounding guitar.
                                   
    I currently own:
    
    1973 Strat
    1973 Tele custom thinline
    ? Lead one
    Washburn A-20
    Yasuma custom dreadnought styyle
    Takimine es-360
    
    dave

    	My junior year in high school, I started taking lessons from
    a guy who wanted me to play polkas.  I rented a cheap acoustic
    steel-string from the music shop until I could save up to buy my own
    first guitar, which was an acoustic steel-string f-hole job.  (I don't
    remember the name at all.)  It actually had decent sound and action, but
    I was (and remain) a folkie.
    
        A couple of years later I bought a Vega (yeah, the banjo folks)
    "Limeliters Model" classical guitar which I own to this day, 23 years
    later. The bridge has come off a couple of times.  The first time I
    took it to the Vega factory when they were still located just behind
    Northeastern University.  The second time I did it myself with epoxy,
    and that worked.  Didn't seem to affect the sound that much.  I
    think I've seen one other instance of this model in all these years.
    
    			David

    
    re .9   I owned an Atlas too!!  I've never known anyone else who
    had one nor have I ever seen another one around.  Mine was my
    first electric and was shaped similar to a Fender Mustang.  I beat
    on that guitar (tore it apart and put it back together again dozens
    of times) for about a year.
         Then when I was about 14, I got a Univox Les Paul for Christmas.
    Being broke most of the time as a teenager, it was a long time
    before I could afford a new guitar.  In the meantime, I installed
    Gibson super dirt pickups and gibson hardware on the Univox.  
         When I finally joined the working world, one of my first major
    purchases was my present axe, a Dean baby Z.  In the not to distant
    future, I plan on installing a Kahler system on it (the stock tremelo
    leave something to be desired) and add a pickup in the neck position
    (it only has one pickup on it, in the bridge position)
    
    By the way, this conference is great!  It should have been started
    along time ago!!
    
    Ralph

My first guitar was (also) an old acoustic f-hole no-name with a 1" action.
I guess I was about 9 when I got it as a present - it *looked* great, white 
with a black pick guard - just like Bert Weedon used back then (late 50s).
At the time I had zero idea about things like 'action', 'intonation', etc,
so I thought that the almost-fretted-damped-kind-of-clunk sound that I managed
was normal. As for bar chords....

My next one was a gem! A Hofner Galaxy with a paisley-style body. For those 
who have never seen one, this was a strat-looking electric with 3 humbuck-type 
pickups. This one *really* looked right! (My hero at the time was Hank B 
Marvin of the Shadows, and his original red strat was my dream axe). By this 
time I was about 15, knew maybe 10 chords, and could play the lead to 'Walk 
don't run'. I think I ended up selling this one for about $30-ish. On 
reflection, maybe I should have kept it - it *was* kinda original.

A lull of several axe-less years followed until something happened to convince 
me I should (a) start to play again - this time more seriously, and (b) find a 
cheap strat. The 'something' was a record called "Sultans of Swing".

I finally found a 'good' Strat copy which, following some tweaking and pickup 
changes, sounded close. A 5-position switch replaced the original 3-pos so I 
could emulate Knopfler's out-of-phase sound. I musta spend countless hours 
listening/playing-along-with 'Sultans' trying to copy the licks - and as a 
by-product fell in love with the Dm chord (!)

About 6 years ago I moved here to Merrimack from the UK along with several 
other 'ex-pats'. We discovered that some of us could kinda play some stuff and 
thus formed a 'band'. (This meant that I had to buy an amp - the old stereo 
didn't quite cut it). The band was purely for fun - we practiced together once 
each week and did occational parties for friends. Far from professional, but 
much fun. I even convinced them to play "Sultans".

I am convinced that playing music with other people is a wonderful way to 
learn and pick-up technique. I learnt a lot from a certain Steve Morse fan.
During this phase I bought/fixed-up/played/sold a bunch of different axes, 
including a nice ES-335 lookalike, but *finally* got my desire - a 1968 Strat.

I still have this one and wouldn't sell it for anything...except maybe for a 
Schecter Strat. It is currently natural body, black pick guard, and gold 
hardware. Modifications include (a) Gotoh 14:1 gold machines, (b) gold 
knife-edge trem bridge, and (c) 3 toggle switches replacing the 5-pos so I can 
get a Tele sound (bridge/neck pickups on).

With the demise of the 'band' about 15 months ago I haven't played as much as 
I would like, so if anyone in the MK/ZK area feels like a jam or whatever...

Current hardware:-

	'68 Strat
	Fender Pro-reverb amp
	Peavey ? 20W practice amp
	Roland/Boss pedal board (chorus,compress,sustain,overdrive,etc)
	7 into 2 mixing board with on-board 2 x 120W amps
	mics/stands
	Fostex X-15 multi-track recorder

I remember both my older brother and I wanted a guitar when we were younger.
I actually was in a jr high rock group that did songs by the Beatles, Stones,
Animals, etc., and was the lead singer but felt a need to play guitar.

One night after dinner I was doing the dishes and wondered why all my brothers
and sisters were gathered around the table snickering with my mom and dad.
They all moved away from the table and there to my suprise was a Silvertone
acoustic guitar, $25.00, that my folks had bought for me.  It was a factory
second that had been reworked and actually played fairly nicely!  My friend
Harold, who played `lead' guitar had already showed me some chords and the
first song I played on that guitar was "All My Lovin".  My cousin played
jazz guitar and started teaching me the basics and I soon realized the Sears
special wasn't going to make it.  I started getting into Dylan, Donovan,
Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, and Simon & Garfunkel, specifically
their finger picking styles so with Harold and a girl named Toni formed our 
own trio.  Wanting a matching set of guitars (remember those times) Harold
borrowed his cousins Goya G-30 guitar and I purchased my first, a Goya G-10
classical.  Now this was a guitar! Even though it has a much wider neck, 
the sound was good and I was able to execute those three finger rolls with
ease.  

I used the Goya into my second year in college when after joining forces 
with Ken (this notes originator) bought a Gibson B-25 steel string.
(He went home the next weekend saying he was going to buy a car and came
back with his Martin D-18).  The Gibson was a very nice guitar but I just
felt that I needed a jumbo or dreadnaught, anything to balance out the 
sound of Kens Martin!

My Stevens came next (see my note on custom guitars) and that is the 6
string I've been using ever since.  I picked up steel guitar/dobro for 
awhile as well as banjo but didn't feel as comfortable with those as guitar.
I traded my National Repro Dobro for a Fender Steel guitar, traded that 
for a Gibson ES-125 3/4T guitar (nice little electric), traded that for a
banjo which got trade in for a Guild 12 string, which I still have. 

I've kept the Goya, circa 1965, and still play it frequently as it's still
a nice sounding, playing, guitar even though it's been cracked by the air-
lines, weather checked, belt buckle abused, and flat pick scratched...it's
still the 1st guitar that I bought!  Anyone know if Goya is still around?
I know they went from Sweden (where mine was made) to Japan where they were
bought by Martin along with Vega Banjo.  I believe both were sold by Martin
and haven't heard of Goya since.

_stew-

    I was around 14-15 and was playing a rented keyboard with a 60's
    cellar band, (we weren't good enough for a garage yet :-), when
    I picked up a little wooden guitar, with no varnish and no name!
    
    I strummed the strings open and was shocked that it wasn't a "nice
    chord" from which I could figure out other chords.  I've always
    played by ear.  So I re-tuned the strings until it made a chord
    when strummed open, and spent the entire afternoon figuring out
    Barry McGuire's  "Eve of Destruction".  When one of the guys from the 
    band came around, I triumphantly showed him what I had learned and he 
    watched in horror at my finger positions!  He took the guitar, tuned
    it correctly and handed it back to me.  I was crushed.
    
    Anyway, I learned how to make chords from what seemed like a 
    chaotic, arbitrary tuning arrangement, and saved up $60 or so
    for an Alex 12 string, (because I liked to play the Birds back then).
    
    Along the way I acquired a $15 electric guitar and amp but didn't
    like the weight of it and I was intimidated by the loudness so I got 
    rid of it.   I then got a huge thing with F-holes and black, dead 
    strings from a neighbor and while it always sounded dead and weak, I 
    learned my first maintenance lesson, re-stringing, and built up
    some fabulous calouses.   I had a friend's hollow-body, round backed 
    Ovation for a couple of years, and while everyone who saw it raved
    about it, I found the action, (by then I learned what "action" meant!
    I too thought all guitars were as hard to play as my cheap ones, just
    some people were fabulously talented!!), real hard and the sound
    thin.  I fell in love with a friend's Yamaha acoustic because of
    it's deep and melodious sound, and have had my own Yamaha for about
    6 years.                 
    
    My cheap 12 string sits in my parents basement with terminal warpage,
    but fortunately I live also with a Martin 12 string that has a beautiful
    sound I can only describe as rain or crystal, and my 6 string Yamaha
    that I always keep freshly strung, tuned and in shape. 
    
    Sandy
    

	My first guitar brings back memories it was a semi-hollowbody
dble pickup Kent which I worked all summer scraping and painting a house
for $125 to buy from a pawn-shop. It definately had a feedback problem
because of loose pickups. Before that I used a friend's Gibson LGO 
acoustic which he was taking lessons on.
	A year later I traded it in for a Rickenbacker semi-hollow 6
string which I kept for 3 years. The neck was starting to loosen so I borrow-
ed a friends SG custom I eventually sold the Rick for $100 and bought a Les 
Paul Custom and found a Les Paul Jr. for bottlenecking.
	 I kept it for 3 years and swapped it for a ES355 and bought 
an ES175. My wife gave me a Fender Telecaster for a birthday present the first
year we were married.
	 When I stopped playing professionally 7 years ago I sold the 355 and 
the Tellie and all the assorted equipment that went with them.
	The ES175 is 12 years old at this point and gets played regularly
and will never get sold. I also have a Alverez/Yairi acoustic and Epiphone
classical. I am currently looking for another semi-hollow or solidbody to
keep the wear and tear on the Gibson to a minimum and play some R and R.
		
						

    	I remember my first guitar because my buddy (who played in a
    local bar band) was alwayus pestering me to look at this one particular
    Strat copy at the local music shoppe.  It was a "Pan" Strat copy
    which sounded amazingly close to the original.  I played that for
    about a year and a half.  Sold that in favor of a better guitar
    (the action on the Strat was very bad the closer you came to the 
    pickups).  I bought a Bentley Series 10 "Stealth" model.  This was 
    a very nice guitar.  Great practice axe, wouldn't have done wonders 
    on stage, but it was great to play nonetheless.  At the same time,
    I (cough, cough) **invested** in a (what I thought to be an original)
    Stratocaster.  Well, everyone learns a lesson now and then, but
    it had turned out to be a newer model.  You know, the ones made
    in Japan?  Needless to say, I was robbed!  Anyway, those guitars
    went the way of all good guitars when the cash flow is at a minimum.
    
          Now, for my current axe...I recently tossed all instinct to
    the wind and bought a new "unknown" brand name guitar.  A Washburn.
    Has anyone out there in axeland heard of or like Washburn guitars?
    It's a great guitar with incredible action.  Came complete with
    the Kahler tremelo, blood red in color, and sounds good in just
    about any application.  I just had to have the matching smaller
    amplifier.  Together, they sound great.  NO complaints!  Any comments
    on that style guitar would be greatly appreciated!  I am purely
    an amatuer at playing, but I have managed to pick up and play a
    number of songs (not heard on your local airwaves).  Looking forward
    to some tips in this file!  By the way...great file.  Gonna have
    fun with this one!
    
    					Phil
    

    re>: -1
    
    Washburns are great guitars, I have an A-20 and it's a killer, when
    I need a hot humbucker sound (rich mids, great sustain and killer
    distortion) that's what I use. It plays well and always sounds good.
    I believe that Howard Lesse of Heart was endorsing them for  while,
    but as near as I can tell Howard will endorse anything (Imagine
    a professional with his budget saying "It actually makes my amps
    sound good" check out dean guitar's flyers for Howard's itiocy)
    
    dave

    
    Dave,
    
    	It's good to hear that I'm not the only one who likes Washburns.
    I was almost afraid to mention it.  But, I know what I like.  About
    those Professional Hit Makers...they'll endorse anyuthing!  :->
    
    					Phil
    
    
                                                               

    If only I was a pro hit maker....and not for the mob....
    I'd endorse all the stuff I liked.
    and I like everything!
    
    

    My first guitar was a $25.00 small-town-music-store special.  Being
    a teen-ager I didn't have a lotta bucks to spare, and it wasn't
    all that much money to blow just in case I didn't like it!  Anyway,
    this guitar, when it was "tuned" properly, would cause the neck
    to warp!  The strings on the highest frets near the bridge sat about
    1 inch off the neck!  I didn't do any bar cords -- I didn't have
    the strength to push those strings all the way into the neck!~ 
    After a while I looked at another guitar in a different music shop
    and was shocked to learn that you didn't have to cut your fingers
    to shreds in order to play the guitar.   After a couple of years
    I had enough dough to buy a "real" guitar and discovered that I
    really wasn't such a bad guitar player after all!
    

	My sister got a guitar for Christmas in 1974 and started taking
    lessons with a neighbor.  I was 13 years old and got to thinking, "hey,
    that looks like fun, I think I'd like to play, too," so I went to a
    guitar store with the neighbor, bought an Aria acoustic for $90, and
    started taking lessons.  About a year later I joined a neighborhood
    band and found out I needed a "good elecric" to play rhythm guitar
    with so I ended up buying a Telecaster custom.  If I had known what
    I was doing I'd have bought something different, because a touchy
    Tele is a difficult first guitar, especially as a rhythm guitarist.
    
    	I still have both the Aria and the Tele, but now I have built
    up enough reasons to go out and get a "good acoustic," which will
    probably end up being a Martin.
    
    	By the way, the teacher-neighbor was John Graham, a contributor
    to this notes file and a very fine guitarist and teacher.
    
        				Dave

	I don't know if you would count this as really my first guitar,
but the first one I ever had was an Emenee (yes as in "Golden trumpet")
plastic 6 string acoustic.  This was when I was about 6 or 8 years old.
It couldn't be tuned, but I wouldn't have known the difference at the
time anyway.  What it was good for though was that I did get to learn
some chord fingerings at this early age.  

	I must have had this one for about five years or so until I 
graduated jr. high school and my mother bought me my first actual real(?)
guitar.  This was a Sears & Roebuck Silvertone acoustic ($13 in 1965).
This also was almost untuneable, but at least it was something to actually
learn on.

	I kept this one until I could save up the money to buy a Madeira
acoustic (which I have now had for 15 years).  This was the first guitar
I had that anybody would play along with me with.  For $89 this was a
pretty good investment.

	Recently I finally bought a Guild D25, truly a great guitar.

	Also in my collection these days:

	Ibanez "Strat"
	Fender 8 string steel guitar
	Regal Resophonic Guitar ("Dobro") - My current favorite...

	Several amps, footswitches, pedals, etc.

-gary

    My first guitar my mother got with S&H green stamps.  It was a little
    acoustic with nasty high action.  I forget what name it was.  I
    can't even remember what happened to it !
    
    Next I had a $29 k-mart special strat copy which evetually got trashed,
    Pete Townsend-style. (I was a rotten kid)
    
    Then I had a green f-hole electric (no name also) which I sucessfully
    re-wired and sold for $75.  About that time I also built a heathkit
    amp.  I still have the amp.
    
    Then I got a "Strato-lin"  It's black, f-hole design, with 3 wimpy
    single coil pickups.  I still have it somewhere.

    Around then I got my first "serious" guitar, a Yamaha FG110.  Nice
    instrument.  It died a horrible death when my girlfriend threw it
    at me from across the room.  Then I threw her across the room.

    We replaced it with a Sterling (actually an Atlas (!!)) dreadnaught
    acoustic which sounded really great.  It had a spruce top and a
    three piece back.  It sounded great that is, until I left it in
    my car in front of PK01 for a 110 degree weekend.  It warped beyond
    repair.
    
    Then *I* got serious about guitar and bought a Gibson GGC-700. 
    It's shaped like a current Les Paul, only it's cut out from the
    front instead of the back.  It's bright blue lacquer, and has two
    "Zebra" humbuckers.  I really like it.  I've had it about 4 years
    and it still plays beautifully. 
    
    					-Jeff
    
    

    My first guitar was a $15 Stella from the local Western Auto store.
    My parents gave it to me for Christmas, 1956 (I was 9), but I didn't
    really learn my first chord 'til a couple of years later.  To my
    parents, it was just a toy - they weren't interested in paying for
    lessons.  Finally my mother signed me up for lessons with a man
    who came through town once a week.  Unfortunately, he was teaching
    Hawaiian steel guitar, which wasn't really what I had in mind, so
    I had to put this special Nick Manoloff steel nut on the Stella
    to jack it up like a Dobro and I lasted through about six lessons
    on Hawaiian Waltz, Old Rugged Cross, etc.  It all came to an end
    when the salesman showed up pushing the electric lap steel guitar
    and amp and the true nature of the enterprise became apparent.
    Within four minutes my Dad had escorted the poor guy out the door
    and terminated my studies.  So I was back on my own.  About that
    time, a man moved into the house next door who played drums in a
    honky tonk rockabilly band, and sometimes they practiced at his
    house.  I would sit on his front steps soaking it up, trying to
    peek into the living room to see what the guitar player was doing.
    The first tune I learned to play was called (appropriately enough)
    Honky Tonk.  When I was fourteen, I saved up $23 and my Mom gave
    me another $23 so I could buy a used Silvertone electric.  I mopped
    floors in a beauty shop to earn the 70 bucks to buy an amp.  The
    next year, I started playing in a band and my life was forever 
    changed.  The next twenty or so years were wildly eclectic, but
    now I'm playing with an acoustic hillbilly R&B whachacallit band 
    and our most-requested song starts out with the same Honky Tonk
    riff I learned 27 years ago.  I guess it took me 27 years to get
    it right.  
    
    Bob
    
    
    starts with the same Honky Tonk riff I learned  
    
    

My first guitar was a '62-'63 Fender Mustang got it used 17 years ago for 85 
bucks, it was in EXCELLENT shape, natural wood, red flake pickguard, 
amazing action.  Later was modified (shaved/bevelled corners if that's the 
right term??? like a strat with a 3 position switch instead of the 2 ugly 
plastic switches above each pickup).

Some time after that got a small Ampeg amp with one 12" speaker for $80 
with a treble boost built in to the treble dial that would pierce your 
eardrums.

Also got a Yamaha accoustic shortly after that which I used to take backpacking
in high school rain or shine (no case).  Amazingly still played nice as 
recently as I owned it.

Played bass in a few bands in high school, got a Hoffner (like Paul McCartney 
used to have in old beatle pictures) for $80 bucks once (hmmm, that number 
pops up an awful lot) played it through a Fender Bassman Amp.  Switched later 
to Rickenbacker with Sun Concert Bass amp, then switched to Fender Precision.

12 Years ago sold the Precision to We-buys, amp to a friend, 'cause I was 
following my girlfriend to Florida (big mistake)!

Had the mustang and yamaha until about 4 years ago when my house was ripped 
off.  So I bought my brother's Ovation acoustic, gover pegs, pretty nice but 
funny shape.  I think it was before they made a non skid body, used to have a 
no-skid pad on it but it fell off, so now it's slippery.

About one month ago I picked up a Yamaha xx150 electric, can't remember the 
exact numbers (cheap), 3 pickups, one tone, one volume control, 
excellent sound for the price.

nice to be electrified again. 
(never could handle those double controls, too much thinking)

alf

    My first guitar was a Tulio, 4 pick up, solid body.  It cost $75
    back about '62.  I had a small amp that I played it through.
    Somewhere in time, I got a cheap $30 accoustic that went south in
    about 6 months.  I got another $30, same story, and another.  When
    I got out of Army basic training in '70, I decided that I was throwing
    away good money and decided to get a good guitar.  I settled for
    an Epiphone, 6 string accoustic for about $150.  I played it heavily,
    took it camping, and was happy with it until I fell in love with
    the sound of a 12 string.  I bought a Hoefner 12 string for $400
    and that's what I play now.  The sound is so crisp that my Epiphone
    sounds like a drum now (it has thick nylon strings).   In '68, I
    bought a used Fender Bassman amp to go with the Tulio and got into 
    a band here in Colo. Springs.  The band defuncted (?) in '70.
    
    Current inventory:
    Tulio electric with Fender Bassman amp.  Not used much any more.
    Hoefner 12-string.  Used a lot.
    Epiphone 6-string drum.  Used to teach others.
    6 string banjo, new was $400, bought at an auction for $51.
    ????? electric, solid body, 2 pick up.  Inherited.
    2 old cheap 6 strings.  Would make good planters.
                                 
    Spence

    My first was a Bud.  Ooops... sorry, forgot we were talking about
    guitars not beer.  Well anyway, I like many others had a Sears
    Silvertone accoustic with strings like the Alska pipeline (far away).
    I think I learned about three or four riffs on it.  But when I picked
    up a real guitar, what a difference.  A lot of you out there are
    right, these guitars realy build up the calluses and strengthens
    the fingers. 

		  (Just saw this note.  It's amusing.)
    
    		I started when I was 8 so my first guitar was small,
    	and cheap, I think it was a Harmony classical style with the 
    	nylon/silk strings.  It was fine until I lent it to my sister
    	to learn on and her ex-husband decided it would be better for
    	him to smash my guitar than her, so that was the end of my
    	first guitar.  By that time though, I had graduated in to the
    	world of , "Let's go to Sears dad, and put a guitar and amp
    	on your card."  So I WAS temporarilt THE END with that guitar.  

    	   "wait a minute guys, and I'll show you a bar chord..."  
    
    		My first REAL Piece was a 1970 white Tele.  This was
    	when Fender Telecasters only cost $280.00 brand new.  I could
    	kill myself today for trading it up for my first Strat in 73.
        Should have kept it.  As I remember it, it was a great guitar
    	and for what I paid for it, you can barley buy a cheap imitation
    	for that price today !  But the stupidity of youth flies once
    	again.

    		The real joke was my first amp.  A realistic stero amp
    	pluged into to two beat to snot 10 inch speakers.  No there's
    	some sound you had to hear to believe.
    	

    Gee, I never before realized the important contribution that Sears
    and Roebuck made to American modern music.
    
    	db

    MY FIRST ELECTRIC GUITAR WAS A KENT 4 PICKUP FROM JAPAN. THIS WAS
    IN 1966 WHEN THE COOL THING WAS TO HAVE MORE PICKUPS THAN THE NEXT
    GUY. MAYBE THIS WAS SO LESS NOTES SOUNDED LIKE MORE, I DONT KNOW.
    THEN I HAD TO HAVE A BIG AMP SO I GOT A FRANCHISE WITH RICKENBACKER
    AND BOUGHT A TRANSONIC AMP WHICH WAS THEIR VERSION OF A SUPER BEATLE
    WITH 4-12'S AND A HORN. THE AMP WAS QUESTIONABLE SO I JUST BOUGHT
    THE BOTTOM. I ALSO ORDERED A 1966 HOLLOWBODY 12 STRING ELECTRIC
    A LA ROGER MCGUIN. THIS WAS THE HOT ITEM FOR A RHYTHM PLAYER IN
    THOSE DAYS.
        
    IN 1969 I BECAME INTERESTED IN GETTING A STRAT SO I ASKED A FEW
    OF THE BOYS AT THE LOCAL BAR IF THEY KNEW ANYBODODY WHO HAD ONE.
    ONE GUY KNEW OF ONE THAT WAS CHEAP BECAUSE IT HAD A "WARPED NECK."
    I MET THE SELLER AT THE GAS STATION WHERE HE WORKED. THE STRAT WAS
    BROWNBURST WITH A TWEED CASE AND THE ACTION WAS VERY HIGH BECAUSE
    THE TRUSS ROD WAS NOT TIGHTENED. HE WANTED 100. BUT AGREED TO $80.
    I IMMEDIATELY TOOK OFF THE NECK TO DISCOVER THAT THE GUITAR WAS MADE
    IN AUGUST 1956. AFTER TIGHTENING THE TRUSS ROD AND REPLACING THE
    FLAT WOUNDS WITH FENDER 150XL'S THE GUITAR BECAME THE ENVY OF THE
    LOCAL PLAYERS. IT HAD THROUGH BODY STRINGING W/O VIBRATO AND SO
    WAS VERY LIGHT, A THE GIBSON STYLE "V" NECK AND A MAPLE FINGERBOARD
    WHICH WAS SO SEVERLY WORN AS TO LOOK LIKE THE ONE ERIC CLAPTON HAD
    ON THE "LAYLA" ALBUMN COVER.
    
    I PLAYED THIS GUITAR IN BANDS TILL 1983 WHEN I SWITCHED TO BASS,
    AND THIS YEAR SOLD IT FOR $1000. TO HELP PAY FOR A SKI BOAT.
    ALTHOUGH IT WAS A SHAME TO LET GO AFTER ALL THOSE YEARS AND AFTER
    THE EXTRAVAGENT INITIAL EXPENSE, IM HAPPY TO HAVE SOLD IT TO A FRIEND
    WHO IS GETTING MORE USE OUT OF IT THAN I. 
    
                      

    re .17
    
    I have recently worked on an excellent Washburn. It was a "Monterey
    Artist" (SN#826854). The owner had tried to adjust the trussrod
    to straighten out the neck (while under string pressure), and caused
    the fretboard to let go at the nut, up to around the fourth fret. He
    as well tried to "fix" the pickup (under-the-bridge Martin Thinline)
    and deformed it badly.
    Anyway, to make a long (expensive for him) story short, once I finished
    the work, it was a joy to play. I have played some of the "lower
    line" Washburn's and was not that impressed. (I told this guy at
    first that I wasn't interested in doing this guitar for him (I've
    worked on a Gibson and a Guild of his), until he told me he'd paid
    several hundred dollars for it. So I said I'd take a look at it.
    I'm glad I did. Its the best Washburn I've seen yet. It's a "concert"
    style body (shallow, with small upper bouts) with an oval sound
    hole. Acoustically, I thought it was rather weak, but with the pick-up,
    it sounded great. (You could add the missing bottom end
    electronically).
    
    Keep Playin, dep.

    My first guitar was really a bass, A Guild Madeira copy of a Gibson
    EB3, which is what my idol Jack Bruce played.  I thought it was
    a pretty nice bass until I got a real good one, a Peavey T40.  I
    remember wondering why I always sounded out of tune until I took
    the Madeira into a shop to have the action lowered and the guy also
    intonated it!  I had no idea what intonation was, but hey the bass
    sounded like it was in tune...gee!
    
    My first guitar was a Yamaha FG-75 flat top which I paid $55 for
    brand new back in 1973 including a case.  I sold it in 1981 for
    $40 so I guess I did Ok by it.  Again, I thought it was a great
    guitar until someone let me play his Martin...ouch!!!
    
    My first amp was an old Univox bass amp, 20 watt transistor head
    and a single 15 cab.  The head weighed about 4 pounds and was oversized
    to make it look neat.  The PC board inside was about the size of
    a postcard and the speaker cable was permanently attached.  One
    volume, one tone knob, that's all.  I envy people who buy modern
    "student" amps which are light-years beyond this rig.  The good
    news was it cost me $75 second-hand and I sold it for $125.
    
    My first effects pedal was an Electro-Harmonix "Hog's Foot" which
    was a bass boost effect. It had enough gain to overdrive my Univox
    so I thought it was like a bass fuzz until I got a Fender Bassman
    and realized the fuzz was from the Univox's lack of preamp headroom.
    This thing also came in a plug-right-into-your-bass version called the
    "Mole".....the pedal cost me $8 and I not only still have it, I
    still use it!!!!!  The EH ads used to claim this pedal would "give you
    the swampy bottom of an old Jazz bass used with an Ampeg amp" if
    you can believe that.

	My 1st guitar was a japanese strat copy purchased at Woolworth's
for $25. It actually was made fairly well and played o.k. It had a maple neck
with a rosewood fingerboard, sunburst finished real wood body (not plywood like
most of the cheapo copies) and three metal encased single wound pickups. Never
did find out who it was made by... After setting it on fire one night a-la Jimi
Hendrix, I sold it to a friend for $50 (I barely scorched the pickguard, all
else wiped clean and still played great!) 
	I used that + more $$$ to buy my first "Real guitar", a sunburst Fender
Mustang, which I still own. One of the most UNDERRATED guitars in Fender
history. That guitar played as well as MANY strats I've seen (Many, but not
all!). I used it in many garage bands, and as my only guitar for my short lived
professional career (~10 gigs back in the late 70's) playing rock n roll during
the disco heyday. (God, how I hated Disco!) 

	I used the money I earned to buy what I (and every woman who has ever
known me!) affectionately call "My Mistress". She's a 1978 Re-issue of the
1958-1961 Les Paul Custom ("Black Beauty" or "The Fretless Wonder"). Looks like
the one pictured on "Frampton Comes Alive" (His is an original 1958 which was
destroyed in a plane crash during one of his tours.) Solid Mahogany (weighs a
ton!), black laquered finish, THREE pickups and all gold hardware. Mine is the
only one I've ever seen since I bought it. (There were half a dozen in the
store when I bought mine in 78!) 

	I have since bought, owned, played and sold many other guitars, but this
Les Paul is my favorite. I also have a soft spot in my heart for used (but not
abused) Mustangs. In fact I just saw a beautiful Daphne Blue one just the other
day...played like a honey...Hey, how much for that Mustang in the window...

				Tom T.

    My first guitar was given to me around 1960. I was 5 at the time.
    It was a student size folk guitar that my cousin in Canada gave
    me. The back was split, but I played around with it and learned
    to hack out a few Elvis tunes. The following christmas, my parents,
    seeing that It wasn't just a passing interest bought me a knew
    student model folk guitar. It had a red sunburst finish and a
    white painted on scratchgaurd. I approached the neighborhood music
    store and asked for lessons but they told me to wait until I was
    7 years old and could read better. A year later I began taking 
    lessons and my parents bought me an electric guitar and amp.
    The guitar was a Harmony archtop with F holes, and had an add
    on pickup that attached between the bridge and tailpiece and slid
    back and fourth on a steel arm. The amp was small and had 1 12"
    speaker. The following year my parents bought me a Gibson Firebird
    and Gibson amp. This was my main guitar until I was about 15, when
    I made the mistake of buying an Ampeg Dan Armstrong clear electric.
    and Ampeg B22x amp. The amp wasn't bad but didn't have the sound
    quality of twins, or marshalls. The guitar was a pure gimmick,
    and the bridge was constantly sliding around. I finally wised up
    and started playing Gibsons, Fenders, and Guild. Boy I sure wish
    I still had my old Firebird. That guitar was great, even though
    it was bigger that me when I first bought it. I abused the hell
    out it and it still sounded and played great.
    

My first guitar was a Harmony Rocket, which was an f-hole guitar similar in
looks to the Gibson ES335.  I paid $50 for it and promptly spent big bucks for
two Gibson Humbucker pickups.  The action was great and the guitar sounded
better than I ever expected it to.  Since then, I have owned a number of
guitars: 

	Westwood SG copy w/Gibson humbuckers  $200?

	Hagstrom Swede (the only guitar I now own) $425

	Fender Mustang (In pieces when I got it)  $40

	60-61 Gibson Les Paul Special  $90!  (I didn't even know what this
	was when I saw it, but for $90 I didn't care.  I sold it a year
	later at the Record Garage for big bucks.)

	Mid 60's Gibson L-4 (f-hole jazz guitar) Free

	Mid 70's Les Paul Gold Top  $500 w/Fender Twin amp

	Ibanez flying V   $360?

	Mid 60's Gibson SG  $175

	Early 60's Gibson Melody Make (double cutaway, 1 PU) $125  (I sold
	this for $125 to a friend of mine who was one of the best guitar
	players I ever heard.  He didn't have the bucks to pay what it was
	really worth, but I couldn't see him go without a guitar.  I would
	have given him the guitar if he had asked for it.)

Of all of the guitars I have owned, the Hagstrom Swede has always been my
favorite.  A friend of mine installed a preamp and a 7-position tone switch
for me.  This guitar can sing.  

I hated to sell the Gibson L-4 because there was a lot of history that went
with it.  Someone had left it in a closet at my high school somewhere around
1970.  In 1971 I was looking through the closet for some sheet music and found
the guitar.  The school said that I could have the guitar if I agreed to return
it to the original owner if (s)he ever came looking for it.  I kept that guitar
until last year when I sold it to a jazz player who fell in love with it when
he saw it.  Nice to know that it went to a good home. 

   My first guitar was a Gibson LGO.  I saw one in Daddy's in Manchester
    yesterday, and it nearly brought tears to my eyes.  First one I'd
    seen in about 20 years. 
    
    It originally  belonged to my older brother, who eventually went
    electric, so I sort of adopted the Gibson. I still remember the thrill
    of playing my first tune: 'Peter Gun', done on the low E string.  
    I only played in open tuning, and used my thumb in 'capo mode' for all 
    chords.  Then I found a book somewhere and discovered that I'd been 
    playing 'wrong' all along.  But soon I had a new thrill: playing my
    first "real" chord, good ol' open C.  I thought I was hot stuff!
    
    But as far as I was concerned, the guitar was just another toy.
    I remember cutting out shapes from aluminum foil and gluing them
    to the guitar with Elmer's Glue All.  Evenutally, the guitar met it's
    end when I left it out in the rain one day.  Boys will be boys.
    
    Funny; when I was a kid, the guitar seem HUGE.  In Daddy's yesterday,
    I realized just how small it was.  I had my son with me (1 year),
    and almost bought it for him.  Maybe next time...
    
    Rodney M.
    

    Hmmm.Lets see.I can remember my first guitar,but I cant remember
    the name.I was in grade school and started (two lessons actually)
    taking guitar lessons.I remember thinking "I'll never get my
    fingers to go that way".
    
    For some bizarre reason I started getting into the bass around age
    13 and convinced my parents to buy me a bass.It was a Univox
    short scale bass.It looked like a mosrite with two humbuckers.
    It was a cheap bass,but it sounded good.I kept it up until a
    few years ago.I bought a Fender bullet bass and I now want
    to find one in Bright Red.
    
    
    				Tom G.
    

    My first "real" guitar (not couting the ones I made) was a Kay
    double cutaway with a candy apple red finish. My Dad bought it for
    me from our next door nieghbor for about $20. I guess he thought
    I really was interested because I went to the trouble of makeing
    on from a cigar box, a 2*4 and some rubber bands. I was about 8
    years old at the time. I kept that guitar (and played the hell out
    of it) for 10 years when I traded it in for a "no-name" japaneese
    flat top, witch I still own. Since then I have owned or still own
    an ovation elec/aucstic, Guild "jumbo" 12 string Gibson SG custom
    (1961 vintage) and a made in Spain Clasical. All these are like
    my children since I have grown up with most of them.
    
    Mark
    

    the early daze, when the fingers screamed! I remember the first
    guitar I owned. It was metal, with a hawaiian silk screen design
    on the front. It had a diaphram built in, which amplified the sound
    (at that time, I didn't need to be reminded of how bad I was). Now,
    some 20 years later, that guitar is worth some heavy bucks according
    to the Mandolin Brothers, inc.(too bad I sold it).
    After that one, I practiced on my older brothers Gibson electric...
    and thought, boy I don't need to press down as hard, of course the
    calluses were hard as a rock by then. Then, I really got smart,
    which came with age, and I saved all my money and bought my own Gibson
    SG electric, which I still play to this day.
    

    First guitar was a un named steel strung acoustic with a cowboy
    scene painted on the body. the action was so bad you could walk
    under the strings and at 12th fret it was almost a semitone out.
    
    First electric guiter was a hofner semiacoustic which had all the
    qualities of the first (but no painting). I now play an Ovation
    Balladier Acoustic/electric with a cutaway body for those > 12th
    fret twiddly bits.

    My first axe was actually a fiddle that I got from my dad - I never
    learned how to bow it - I just plucked alot and realized that a
    real guitar would probably work out better.  I've since had 3 or
    4 really beat up folk guitars and now my favorite is a 12-string
    that I play with only 6 strings on it...
    
    Carl

    Sorry, I just got in here, so I'm playing catchup.  It's great
    fun reading how everyone got their start...
    
    I started in the 5th grade (1964) with a vaguely yellow $3 Stella
    acoustic, with, as someone noted already, action you usually see in
    major suspension bridges. Moved up to a Silvertone f-hole (I guess it
    was supposed to look like an L-5) for $17, then worked a full summer
    for my dad at 50 cents an hour ("that's good money for kids!" - yeah,
    right, pop...) to buy a Gibson J-45 cherry sunburst flattop like Chad
    and Jeremy.  I'll always have it.  Later, a Telecaster with an amp dad
    and I built from a schematic for a Twin Reverb - it worked great,
    except we didn't know how to make the reverb unit.  Now, it's a 1972
    Martin D-18 and a Guild classical. 
    
    Charlie

    My first axe was the legendary Kent Les Paul copy...
    
    I traded my trumpet for it...Boy was dad P-O'd at me !
    
    I also got a Marlboro amp...
    Remember those ?
    
    ;^)

    
    	I just got here myself...this is the first reply I am making
    of what I hope to be many more!
    
    	ok...first guitar...a 1976 Harmony acoustic, with sort of an
    orange/red and black finish.  About 3/4 scale.
    At the time I thought it sounded 
    great, because I used to play to the stereo with it just loud enough 
    so that I could barely hear myself (..my mistakes, that is).

    	First electric a year later, a Memphis Les Paul copy.  A great
    looking copy, and after I took a file to the frets it played ok.
    Lousy pickups.  I think it was 250 with the case.   That I put 
    through an ancient tweed finish Peavey 4-10 classic that I bought
    used, complete with the first vacuum tubes ever produced on 
    this planet.
    
    	Before college I got a D'agostino (yes another ) Les Paul copy.
    I think the wood was mahogonay but whatever it was, it was the 
    lightest thing I have ever played.  The finish was just a clear-coat
    over the wood...the entire guitar was a beautiful reddish-brown,
    I've never seen another like it, and it was supposed to be a 
    well-built copy. $350 with the case, and after I WORE through the
    plastic on the bridge pickup( my picking technique was to say the
    least, terrible)and ruined the coils, I put in a Dimarzio Dual-sound
    I wired that with a micro toggle-switch right next to the bridge
    volume so I could switch the coils from parallel to series while
    I was turning up for leads.   The parallel setting was a quick and
    dirty solution to some of the loss of high-end tone when turning
    down for rhythm.   I had that one for the next ten years, through
    gigs, jazz ensembles, late night party bashing, i even dropped it
    down the stairs by accident before I had heard of straplocks, but
    it still was my pride and joy...it became known as the "fretless
    wonder" and  "whammy neck". (ok, falling down the stairs did
    loosen it a little....)    It got stolen from my house last year,
    I don't have the foggiest idea who would actually WANT it.
    It was getting tougher and tougher to play..
    
    	During the Reign of the Whammy Neck i bought one of those 
    PRS guitars.   Now many of you may differ with this...but I 
    think I got taken.   the revolutionary locking tuning pegs were
    a nightmare, although you could quick-change strings, it just never
    stayed in tune....and I really thought the guitar had no personality...
    it sort of sounded like a les paul...and it sort of sounded like
    a strat...and it sort of sounded like a popcorn machine on a couple
    of the settings.....anyway I sold that...I don't believe in 
    guitar payments...the PRS that Carlos Santana plays does NOT have that
    annoying rotary-chameleon switch...why do you suppose that is, 
    hmmmmmmm?   
    
    	After the Whammy Neck was stolen I purchased my current 
    pride and joy, an '87 Kramer American.  Black on Black on Black.
    Poplar body, maple neck/ebony fretboard.    The setup and placement
    of the knob and pickups is exactly that of a strat only at the 
    bridge there is a Semour Duncan humbucker that has an unobtrusive
    little 3-click switch below the volume knob that changes that 
    config from series double to parallel double to single-single 
    (I am guessing at the last one....it just sounds incredibly thin.
    I rarely use it)  It has the Floyd Rose fine-tune locking system 
    which I Love.   I'll gladly take the extra time to change strings
    because the tuning never goes out once you've locked down and 
    stretched the strings real well...That is my only axe today, and
    I've used it for jazz, rock, metal in the past.  I've 
    removed the whammy bar for a while and started hitting some 
    of the blues jams in the city, like at Harper's Ferry, and 
    again I've got no complaints with the neck pickup for that
    Stevie-Ray type of bluesy rasp.   I play it through a Peavey 
    Special 130, my only amp.  It seems to be a quite dynamic
    combination.  I don't use (can't afford ) effects right now, I 
    usually like to play sort of clean.  The most I ever used was 
    something like a Boss CE 2 digital delay just so I could run 
    2 amps a little out of phase,( 2nd amp borrowed, of course) for
    gigs, and to maybe show my girlfriend how The Edge plays the 
    BAD riff. 
    
    	If I went out of bounds on this topic, sorry.  I am really 
    looking forward to reading the rest of this conference...
    
    Jim.
    
    
    	
    	
    
    
    	

      My first guitar (circa 1970) was a $27 Japanese red strat style
    with three pick ups. It was a real nightmare to play but $27 with
    the case, what the heck. I had no idea at the time how much I would
    spend in the coming years on upgrading equipment, then subsequently
    upgrading the upgrades!
      Now my first REAL guitar was a cherry red Gibson SG special with 
    the single coil "soap bar" pick ups. I think at the time Mick Taylor
    of the Rolling Stones used one and I scraped up $200 to make a move.
    I used that guitar four years and sold it for $250! The next guitars
    (in order) were:
    
    			1) Les Paul '55 reissue - tobacco sunburst
    			2) B.C. Rich Eagle - neck-thru maple w/walnut
    			     accents.
    			3) B.C. Rich Son of a Rich bolt on neck ( sold
          		     quickly to buy #4).
    			4) B.C. Rich Bich  - neck-thru w/ figured maple
    			     and cloud inlays (still own this one)
    			5) Gibson Les Paul Custom - candy apple red
    			     with EMG pick-ups. (still have this too)

    My first real guitar I don't even remember the brand of. It was 1969;
    got it for christmas ( Thanks, Mom and Dad ) . It was a brown stain,
    but I wanted a sunburst finish. Being a creative 12 year old, I took
    a butane tourch to the thing and some sand paper to get the middle
    lighter. I really liked it until Mom saw it, she got mad.
    

	My first guitar was an $18 garage sale special, no name though, and
	as previously described the action was like that of a suspension 
	bridge, surprisingly the tone was not bad.  I played that for about
	9 mos. when I figured I had learned enough to start becoming a star
	and go electric.  

	A friend of mine loaned me a white silvertone electric don't remember 
	the amp, while I saved enough to buy my own, only condition was to 
	play lead in his band, (such as it was :-).

	We never did any gigs but we had a lot of fun.  Eventually I saved
	enough to buy my own guitar and amp, Guitar was a red with white
	edges Epiphone semi-hollow body electric, don't remember the model
	but it had nice action and sound.  Even started taking lessons.

	The amp came shortly after, electric guitar is not very awesome 
	without one.  It was a Jordan 25W some of the cleanest sound around
	at the time. (I spent a lot of time trying to make it sound distorted),
	:-)  

	After I blew it up once by adding to many speakers, I traded it in 
	on a used Fender Twin Reverb, lot's of power in a little package!  
	Moved into a new band, we did some non paying gigs but had a lot 
	of fun and figured some day...we'd be famous...

	Some day didn't come, marriage did... sold the whole shoot and match
	for about $200.00  Didn't play for about 12 years, when I got 
	involved on the planning team for a retreat and mentioned that I 
	used to play guitar.  Push came to shove and I borrowed my brother
	in-laws "garage sale" guitar, (anyone heard of SEKOVA?) to "revive"
	the fingers, shortly thereafter a good friend loaned me his Korean
	bentley, a welcome change for the retreat, though I ended up with it
	til I could buy my own.  Wow has the price of things gone up!  

	I just picked up my very own ARIA for $175, the salesman made a goof 
	the manager told me it was worth a lot more but wouldn't tell me how
	much more.  Anyways now I'm in love and starting over, but this time
	I know I'm not going to be a star, but I AM HAVIN' FUN ;-)

					Sorry to ramble - Randy	

	P.S. My friend with the bentley bought a Washburn, nice guitar but 
	more money than I can handle at the moment.

    I have a number of starting points:
    
    First guitar: a black Harmony Stella inherited from my older brother;
    the sound was nothing to write home about, but the action was amazing-
    ly good.
    
    First bass: a Univox copy of the Hofner Beatle bass, sold by (of
    all people) Radio Shack!  It had a very slim, short neck, a three-
    color sunburst finish, a black pickguard (which I painted white
    to match Paul's, of course!), and small single coil pickups.  It
    played very nicely, especially with the old tapewound strings. I
    kinda wish I still had it....
    
    First electric:  a Crown pawnshop special: solid body, two pickups,
    veg-a-matic switches. For the $65 I paid for it (in 1969) I also
    got a tiny, three-tube hum-a-lot amp with a single 6" speaker.
    
    First good electric: a '66 Telecaster
    
    Those were the days, my friend....
    
    --Eric--

    
    	my first guitar was a nameless acoustic with miserable action.
    My first reaction was to play left-handed - my father took it away
    until i promised to play correctly. I actually taught myself how
    to read and pick each note before i learned any chords. One thing
    i must say, this monster built callouses that will last long into
    the grave. The only guitar i have ever played with worse action
    is Leo Kotke's (sp) 12-string. Then again Leo has monster fingers.
    Anyways, i got this guitar Xmas '64. It took many years of lobbying
    to obtain this - my folks were certain i'd play country-western
    which neither can stand to this day. I had been caught getting into
    a Sonny James tv show that was on sometime in the late 50's...
    
    	My next wonder was a 49.95 electric cut-away from Laffyette
    Electronics ( i know spelling is bad, experiencing temporary
    brain failure). This sucker was just miserable - but it did
    do a number of junior high dances and parties etc... This was
    purchased i think in May of 66, but it could have been '65.
    
    	I spent most of high school teaching myself piano while playinh
    tuba and string bass in school. I also borrowed other folks guitars
    whenever possible. I had this old rat-shack 3 head tape recorder
    where i used to tape match book covers over the erase head to 
    get overdubs. By then i was using the old electric as a bass.
    Much forgetable music then...
    
    	But in '70 i got real radical - decided to quit Berklee to
    become a folk-singer. Traded my lovely imported string bass for
    a Yamaha fg-108 in a pawn shop on Mass Ave. Actually, this was
    a very neat little guitar - so neat that Yamaha discontinued it
    after a couple of years and NEVER produced a good sounding
    acoustic again IMO. I got very impressive sound from this sucker
    - i could totally unnerve folks with their D-28's, plus it
    managed to aquire a very cool looking cigarette burn on it for
    looks. Unfortunately, this thing got ripped-off on Revere beach
    one night. I was able to locate another one at some shop that
    used to be next to the Orson Welles - can't remember the name
    now.
    
    	That guitar lasted all the way until 1982 when my wife and i
    both gave up smoking together. It was the only casualty... I finally
    got a very good guitar which i still have today in an Ovation 1982
    Collectors Edition. I love this sucker - i can be acoustic, or scream
    and have not had the urge to buy a solid body at all. My next purchase
    will be a decent bass - i have a very old, nameless, rather beat
    up job that serves it's purpose, but requires much effort.
    
    bs
                                                                  

Re .-1

>    I was able to locate another one at some shop that
>    used to be next to the Orson Welles - can't remember the name now.

    
	Blast from the past... Scorpio Music was the music shop next to
	Orson Welles. Cheap Thrills records used to be there too...

Larry

    
    bingo - scorpio, that was it. I liked 'em cause i used to get
    strings real cheap from them! Of course i have not been down
    that way since before the orson welles closed, but then again
    who needs cambridge anyways :-)

    
    A good friend of mine, Rick Connor, owned Scorpio music! Also, another
    good friend of mine, Marty Grant, managed the drum room of Scorpio.
    Music.  I'm surprised anybody remembers the place. Rick also had
    another store in Marblehead. I bought my first synthesizer, and
    ARP Odyssey, at Scorpio music. I also went to a jazz guitar clinic,
    featuring Howard Roberts, at the Marblehead store. Too bad I didn't
    play guitar at the time. I used to hang out there a lot, both in 
    Cambridge and Marblehead.                            
    
    Mike D
    
    Mike D'Iorio
    

        I traded my mini bike for my first guitar (& amp) when my
        parents moved from the country to the city.  I was around
        11 years old.  I don't remember what it was (maybe
        SilverTone?) but it was similar to a strat. It
        immediately lost its baby blue finish and got a silver to
        black sunburst paint job (ruined the neck).
        
        My first real guitar was a Tele' ThinLine (hollow body).
        Great guitar.  I have since become mostly a Gibson player
        (had a silver annv. Strat for a week, you know, by cheap,
        sell for profit).
        
        gt
        

    Started in 1964 at 12 years old with an acoustic I found in a trash
    can.  I strung it, bought a beginners book to learn chords, found
    out I had a potential "ear" by learning some of the 60's instrumental
    hits (pipeline, walk- don't run, etc) by listening to them. My first
    electric was a dime store rig that was priced at $35 new. I progressed
    to Gibsons after that starting with a Melody Maker (solid body electric
    with single coil pickups and 17 frets) which was a "3/4" size axe.
    I've gone thru several ES-335's and SG's, one Les Paul (gold top),
    and wish I'd kept them all. I currently have an old Gibson SG special,
    and an ARIA Pro II that actually plays as good, if not better than
    the Gibsons I've owned. Wish I could afford a new ES 347-S
     however.....sigh.

    My first guitar was a Bruno, from probably the 20's or 30's that
    used to belong to my aunt.  It's about the size of a Martin 000,
    if I remember my Martin designations correctly; anyway, it's small.
    In her younger days my aunt took Hawaiian guitar lessons for a while, 
    and used this guitar with a string jack at the nut, which did
    interesting things about making the neck warp.  It's a pretty nice
    guitar, but the action has always been pretty bad.
    At some point I acquired a classical guitar made in Mexico that
    somebody had left out in the rain, kicked in the back of, and used
    steel strings on; I patched it back together enough to be playable,
    and had that through college.  Just after I graduated in 1969, a 
    friend of mine sold me his Harmony Soverign that he had bought new 
    in 1964 for $69 (the top was scratched).  A remarkably good guitar
    for the price.  I have reworked it considerably, putting on Grover
    pegs and adjusting the action until it's about as low as it can
    get and not buzz when fingerpicking; it does buzz some when
    flatpicking, and when the humidity changes a lot the action sometimes
    changes enough to make the strings buzz.  I've tried other guitars,
    but that old Harmony still feels best to me.  

    
    My first guitar was one of those Montgomery Ward $35 things with
    strings a mile off the neck and the strings were made out of some
    weird material - they had fibers inside them and they felt like gold-
    plated plastic or really soft metal windings.  It was still love at
    first sight....
    
    Guy

    My first guitar *is* (as it is my only guitar) a Terada.  I don't know
    a lot about guitars themselves especially mine. I picked it up for 
    50 pounds of a friend (inc hard case). Its just a normal acoustic
    guitar apx ten years old and in good nick.

    Most people I have asked have never heard of the make and get
    pre-conceived ideas that it is just another cheap copy of something
    different.  When they actually play the guitar ideas change....
    they become very startled that I only paid 50 for it and can't get
    over the action and sound quality of it.

    I have been told never to get rid of it (not that I am likely to !).

    So, does anyone know anything at all about it, it would be nice to know
    a bit more!!!!!!

    Yours_hanging_on_just_in_case....

    Arfon. (U.K.  Reading.)
     

    My first guitar was an early 60s SG/LesPaul.  At the time (around 1969)
    I was playing drums, and was working as a messenger in Manhattan.  I
    stopped in this pawn shop on 8th avenue, looking for cymbols, when I
    saw this thing up on the wall, marked $175.00.  I knew very little
    about guitars, and figured that someone had simply stuck the les paul
    truss rod cover on an SG, but figured I might be able to turn it over &
    make a buck on it anyway, so I bought it for $150.00 (told the guy I
    could buy a NEW guitar for just $200. or so).   Anyway, I got it home &
    started messing around with it & the rest, as they say, is history.

    Well, my first guitar was not mine. It belonged to my older brother
    and he being bigger then I left the house daily with threat lingering
    over my head. (I played it anyway). It was around my freshman "64" year
    in high school when I started screwing around with it. I don't remember
    what it was but a spanish looking thing that played well. ( My younger
    brother inherited it) Anyway, I played it on and off for a year or so
    then gave it up. Untill that is when I got out of the army I picked a
    Ginanini (sp) with a cut away for the lap accoustic guitar. real nice
    I should have never gotten rid of it. I of course like all the rest of
    you went through a number of gits but today I live with three of them,
    
    1. about a nine year old Ovation all americian special edition
    
    2. and old squier bullet which I just love, great git.
    
    3. last but not least and I don't know the exact age. somewhere
       between 1958 and 1962 and in perfect condition believe it or not
       An old thin hollow body HARMONY ROCKET complete with wammy bar.
    
    I know they were cheap and I don't think they were made with any
    intention of lasting but this is a beauty. I paid $180.00 for it about
    five years ago from a little old white haired gent (must of been in his 
    mid 60's) said to me its been in the closet for about 20 years with no
    strings on it... everyone that see it wants it...Sorry its not for sale
    and talk about a sound, yep still sounds cheap but the action is great
    and as you can tell by now, I love it when doing some of those old
    sixties tunes it fits the part...
    
    Well thats my bid
    
    Rj
    
    
    
    don't know how old but

    IBANEZ RG550!!!

    BOLERO LES PAUL COPY

    
    Sears catalog Special Les Paul copy for almost 4 years!
    ;^)
    
    I am serious!!!
    
    J.

    My first bass guitar: Peavey Foundation
    Black body-rosewood finger board

    Westbury Standard Mk 2.... With DiMarzio twin super distrotions
    humbuckers ......
    
    Lousy Axe... Lousy Sound... but I'll never forget it!~

Little plastic guitar from K-Mart that came with a cowbow hat and a play-along
record.  I played the sh*t out of it until one day my mother knocked it off
the wall where I used to hang it up and broke it into little guitar pieces.
She felt so bad that she bought me a *used* Harmony guitar (I think she gave
five bucks for it), which I still have.  It has the most wicked action you can 
imagine; better than any acoustic I've played since.  I never did like 
the hat ....

steve

    
    1977-model Sears Les Paul Custom copy.  This did me for about 1 1/2
    years of playing...and actually when I had it setup, people would
    comment on what a good copy it was.  I sold it and the 10wt amp I had
    for a STEAL ($35.00  Sheeesh, I can't believe I did that!!)...damn, the
    sh*t one does when they're 13!
    
    Buck, who also traded original Gibson PAF pickups for two Dimarzios,
    but that's a horror story for another time!  ;^(

    Brand new Sears Sivertone with dual pickups, and get this ... an
    amplifier built right in to the case. Probably about 10W ... and lord
    have mercy it had Tremolo too!!! Oh yeah, and back then I used to use
    Flat wound strings. Either I didn't know any better or light guage
    weren't available, I don't know which. I ended up hot rodding my sound
    by getting a Jordan Fuzz tone. It plugged right into the guitar and I'd
    flick a small slide switch to turn it on. You never heard such an
    awful, irritating feedback howl in your life - and then the tremolo - 
    Psychadelic!!!
    
    "sakman" 
    
    Move over Jimi, 

    My first was a Kent LP copy...But my second was a Sears job too...
    MINE HAD *FOUR* PICKUPS !  Remember those ?  Hmmm ?  Nice green color
    too...
    
    Had to dump the Kent because I tried to file the frets myself...I used
    your standard Mill Bastard file...  Whatamess !
    

    
    
    	Hmmm, The "Sears" effect...
    
    	I guess I win, cuz I had 3 Sears guitars, *TWO* Les Paul copies
    (one black, one *UGLY* suburst) and a Strat copy, complete with 
    vibrato bar. The Strat-thing actually was pretty good for a cheap
    guitar. It has good action and stayed in tune. It did have these
    special "Extra-Feedback" microphonic pickup, though...
    
    -T
    

    My first guitar was a little 3/4 scale Fender acoustic with action a
    mile high.  I took lessons for several months when I was about
    11...then my parents made me quit because I "would never practice",
    even though I didn't want to quit and was still (I think) making
    progress despite the lack of practice.
    
    I picked it up again for a few months after I graduated from high
    school, before starting college because I was bored stiff but got
    discouraged because of the guitar and didn't play the first year I was
    away at school.
    
    Then one night my friend left his guitar (a cheapo classical) in the
    computer center where I worked (and practically lived) and I picked it
    up and was playing some chords and stuff.  He came back while I was
    playing it and freaked "WOW, you play GUITAR!!".  I kind of stammered
    something like "no no, not really...I just remember a couple of chords
    from a long time ago".  He wasn't to be stopped..."I've been LOOKING
    for someone to jam with!".  The next day he brought his other acoustic
    (a no-name steel string) and we started jamming easy progressions that
    he'd show me just about every day.  
    
    After a few months we decided that we needed to get electric guitars so
    we started shopping around for used ones.  I bought a used Ibanez ST-55
    and he got an Ibanez Les Paul copy (both from the infamous Bizarre
    Guitar in Phoenix, Mike).  I had to borrow money from another friend to
    pay for it until my tax return came back...
    
    We used to play them (both) through this little tiny Supro tube
    practice amp that I swiped from my dad in one of the classrooms at the
    school.  It was next to the computer lab and after we'd finish up we'd
    always go through there and people would be going "What was that
    NOIZE?"  8^)
    
    So anyway, that was the humble beginning of my current obsession with
    the thing.  I progressively started exhibiting symptoms of GTS (guitar
    toy syndrome) starting in approximately 1984 and it's only gotten worse
    since then...  8^)
    
    Greg
                      

>    we started shopping around for used ones.  I bought a used Ibanez ST-55
>    and he got an Ibanez Les Paul copy (both from the infamous Bizarre
>    Guitar in Phoenix, Mike).  I had to borrow money from another friend to
    
    That's where I got my Ibanez RG550 from hell! ;-)  
    
    I almost feel sad for you guys in here.  I'm starting off with the
    above Ibanez (first one I bought) and the Kitty Hawk M1 amp.  That's
    quite a start!  Imagine where I'll be in 5 years! ;-)
    
    Mike

      My first guitar was a "Tiger". It was like a plastic ES-335 copy.
    It was playable but not for anything serious. It was real cheap.
      My first REAL guitar was a Gibson SG Special. I wish I had kept
    it just for the memories. That was a long time ago, but from what
    I remembered it played real well. I sold it to get a Les Paul!
    
    							-BooM-

    
    Hey Mike.  ;^Phhhhhhhhhht!
    My first car was a brand new 1986 Tempo Sport GL with 12miles on it so 
    there!  ;^)
    
    My first SERIOUS guitar was/is 1985 Ibanez RG440.  When I picked this 
    up(on sale for $299 w/o case), they gave me $50 for my Sears cheapo.
    
    J.

    
    
    
       My first was a 62 tele. It's yellowed very nicely. I bought it
    used from my guitar teacher in 1969. 
       No, I won't sell.  8^Q
    
    
    
    RichC
    

    My mother had a white "Tiesco" that I used to bang around on while I
    was still a drummer.  Then she helped a fellow band mate finance an
    Ampeg V4 stack.  When the band broke up, the stack came home, and I got
    thinking more serious about guitar.  Sold my drums and bought a Gibson
    SG Standard (Cherry with gold hardware).  Traded that for a Blacl Les
    Paul Custom.  Later bought another Les Paul Custom (white), both had
    gold hardware too.  Then I added a Strat to the quiver.  Not too bad
    considering I had all this stuff while I was still in high school !
    
    Scary (who later got married and sold it all for peanuts ...shoulda
    divorced the (&*^% earlier !)

      <<< Note 11.68 by BTOVT::BAGDY_M "I'm the Lord of the Wastelands" >>>

        My first  six  string.    .    .a  Montgomery  Ward `Harmony'
        electric.  Of  course,  I've  since  torn it apart so I could
        have the neck for a `project' ! :^)
        
        My first bass.  .  .a Cortez, Fender P-bass replica.  Now all
        I need is some REAL electronics in it and it'll sound better.
        
        Matt

    
    Sears LP copy, with a Marlboro 15W amp. Boy those were the days.
                                     
                                                                Mark.

    Sounds like some of you were real fortunate to have parents that
    encouraged your musical aspirations.
    
    Mike

    
    Yup.  I saved up $50, and my parents matched my funds for the Sears 
    cheapo as 17th birthday present.  Then my dad loaned me $50 for an
    EarthSound amp(I still have this).  Around 6 months later, my dad 
    found and bought me a Boeing accoustic dreadnought type(hydious action!  
    Ack!) from a pawn shop for $20.
    
    I ended up trading that Boeing in on the Fender 12 string accoustic I 
    have now back in 86.  They gave me $50 for trade.  Heh, heh, heh!  
    Suckers!
    
    J.

    My first was a Kent don't_know_the_model hollow body.  My dad bought
    that and a Silvertone amp (at least I think that was the name of the
    amp.  He paid $50 waaaaaayyyyy back when I was about 12 years old.  Of
    course, when it came to the $1,000 dollar amps and stuff later, I had
    to foot this bills.  ;^)
    
    Chris D. 

    
    Gee, I had to think about this one.  When I was in 3rd grade Santa
    Claus brought me an acoustic.  I'll be damned if I can remember what 
    kind.  I was even given private lessons.  Then my folks bought me a 
    Kingston electric and I f*cking quit soon after.  I never have had any
    patience.  They gave it away and they don't remember to whom.  It bums
    me out.  But now they're still proud.  They came down South to visit
    one year (they're Vermonters) and I caught 'em eyeballing me from
    around a corner while I was practicing.  Yuk yuk.
    
    -pat

    	A Red Fender Musicmaster bass. Short scale neck, no action, and a
    guitar (6 pole piece) pickup in it. Good starter but the Ibanez
    Rickenbacker copy I got seven months later got me hooked on Ibanez. I
    still have that one and have owned four others since.( geez now I wish
    I still had all the ones I sold.....)

	Short (like 24.75") scale bass similar to a kent. I hated that
	sucker and torched it after replacing it with a no-name Beatle
	bass replica (34").

    		Oh Ya!! The awesome Black Les Paul,Flat Body CORT.I use to
    get dive booms with feedback by taking the guitar bringing it down to-
    wards the ground,by useing the Peavey Backstage Awesome!!
    
    				P.I
    				i
    				e
    				r
    				r
    				e
    

May first guitar was a steel string acoustic of the brand "Hagstr�m" (Sweden) 
whith Gibson-like look (sunburst finish). My parents bought it for me when I 
was 10 - it must still be around somewhere... 7 years later I worked hard 
during school holidays to buy a Martin D-35 - that was not trendy at all, 
other kids bought Les Pauls or motorbikes....

FeliX

    I would kill to have my first guitar back. It was a 1960ish ( was never
    sure of actual year due to Gibsons serial numbers in that time frame)
    Les Paul jr. I had that guitar till the late 60's till Hendricks came
    around. I just had to have a Strat. I traded my LP jr for a fairly new
    strat....even trade sounded like a good deal at the time. NOT!
    Anyway I've had plenty of guitars since then depending on the type of
    music I was into. Today I have three guitars and a bass. These seem to
    satisfy my needs/sound requirements so I may add a guitar/bass to the
    list but I don't think I'll be getting rid of the ones I presently own.
    GUITARS
    Gibson Les Paul std. maple top 1968
    Fender Telecaster std. black 1980's?
    Ovation acoustic/electric cut away model 90's?
    BASSES
    Fender Mustang color rootbeer 1966
    
    Bob
    

    My first guitar was a 1980 Les Paul Custom. It was Blk with of course
    the double lined white trim. It had all Gold hardware. I played it thru
    a Lab Series L-7. Remember them??? I believe Kerry Livgren used one in
    his early days...

    This looks like a forgotten note.
    
    I started in about 1956 with a Kay acoustic with F-holes and a really
    nice neck.  I didn't know it then.  I took lessons from a Mandola
    player and learned how to read music and play spanish flamenco music.
    When I was 13 a couple of friends and I formed a band, the Off Beats,
    and played for Gashland Teentown for $10.00 each.  Lots of money for 
    a 7th grader.  We played Ventures, Hank Williams(not junior) and some
    wild Chuck Berry.  Oh, I bought a Kay electric and an Airline amp to
    play the rock.  The Kay had one pickup, one cutout, and was about 4"
    thick.  It had to weigh 50 pounds and the neck was about 3.5" wide.
    
    I later graduated to Fender (Strat and Dual Showman) in the 60's.
    The other guitar player in our band had a Gibson LP SG.  We used to
    bad mouth each others equipment.  I told him the Gibson's strings were
    too high off of the body and he told me the Fender sounded lousey and 
    wouldn't stay in tune.
    
    Those days were kinda good.
    
    Mark

    
        I got my first guitar when I was around nine or ten years old...
    a baby-blue Fender Mustang with mother-of-pearl pick guard. My mother
    managed a local band at the time (they practiced in our basement),
    so I always had a source for learning new stuff. I lost interest
    after a few years and my mother sold the guitar without even telling
    me. :-(
    
        I regained interest just before college, when I bought both a
    Gibson Les Paul and a Yamaha 12-string acoustic. I sold the Les Paul
    a few years ago, but I still have the Yamaha. Now, I am the owner of
    a new Takamine acoustic/electric which I purchased just three days
    ago.
    
    -Jeff

    I'll never forget my first guitar; a copy of a Tele that my brother
    bought me from Sears. I had that for several years and then "upgraded"
    to a Kent SG copy. From there, I bought a "Westwood" Les Paul copy,
    which if I remember correctly, had a decent sound and look to it. A
    friend of mine had one also, and I liked mine so much that I eventually
    bought his from him as well.
    
    I'd love to be able to get all of the guitars that I used to own back!
    I'd have to get a MUCH bigger place to live, that's for sure......
    
    Mike

    A Ventura something or other.  My big brother bought it for $59.00 and
    sold it to me later.  I was in a band playing drums(age 14)and the lead
    guitar player started teaching me guitar after practice. Wellllll,
    after about 3 months, I could play better than my bro... and he was taking
    lessons.  He used to beat me up when he came home and caught me playing his
    guitar.  Once, he was going on a date and was a little short of
    cash....I dupped him for the guitar.. for $5.00 .  About 2 years later, I
    was in H and H Music and had $200 to buy a guitar. After looking at all
    the Yamaha's et.al, the salesman asked if I wanted to see a Martin. He
    said the $200 would be a good down payment and that I could charge the
    rest($300) which included the hard case.  I went home and asked my
    mom if she would co-sign... and the next day I had a Martin D18.  
    Made my living for 6 years with that guitar.
    
    On this 10th day of June, my 40th birthday, I was playing "Mood for a Day" 
    this morning on that same Martin, and looking back, consider this to be 
    one of the best investments I have ever made in both a material
    possession and in myself. 
    
    Cry for the old man
    Pc

    ...A rather inexpensive Harmony a la JC Penny's
    
    Kev --
    

    
         My first guitar was one that I got Brand new for $6.95 including
    vinyl case that ripped the first day. Got it at a store called "Orbit"
    that later became Bradlees. This was in boston.  Anyway, I took 2 years
    worth of lessons on this thing, and learned to hack anything playing
    on the radio. On my 17th birthday I got a Royce electric and a Peavey
    Backstage 18 amp. All of this stuff dissapeared (vaporized into thin
    air when I wasn't around, but my brothers were) many years ago and now
    I am looking at the used market and Haven't got a clue what the hell to
    look for or made by whom.
         I decided to get another axe based on the fact that 3 months ago I
    picked one up and found out I still knew how to hold onto it (-;
    I've been away from a guitar so long that I can't even pretend I know
    anything, so I've got some friends that do know something, looking for
    me. I cannot afford anything new....thanks for reading.
    
    -john

    I'm going to tell you about my first guitar...tomorrow

    After about a year of playing the badminton raquet I decided it was
    time to get a real guitar with real strings that made real noises.
    So I dropped a few subtle hints to my mother..."maw, can I get a 
    guitar for christmas," that sort of thing. So on chistmas morning of
    1975 I woke to find the best present I'd ever had ,a three quarter
    size acoustic guitar, I loved it .It had no name on it and the strings 
    were about half an inch from the fret board, Oh man , did they hurt.
    The package came complete with a plectrum , a strap and a Bert Weedon
    teach yourself guitar book. I later found out that the "instrument"
    cost the grand total of eight pounds .
    When I was 16 I bought my first electric guitar from a mail order 
    catalogue, it was an Avon les paul copy. For some strange reason I 
    thought that if I had an electric guitar I'd be able to play the lead 
    to "freebird".(20 years later I still can't).
    I did a Pete Townsend on my first guitar which was loadsa fun.I now 
    have a Fender acoustic which I bought second hand about 5 years ago,
    I love it and its all the guitar I'm ever going to need
    

    >    After about a year of playing the badminton raquet 
    
    You remind me of the guy at one of our gigs who jammed with
    me on "A Cue Stick" guitar.
    
    	db

    Hey, db, the badminton raquet isn't my only talent. I'm also very
    profficient on the cricket bat , tennis raquet ,pool que ,curtain rail
    and the hockey stick. Alas I never managed to master the 'air' guitar,
    couldn't get my fingers round those intricate chord shapes. :-)
                     
     jim.

    I have a '65 Mustang that I'm saving for when my kids are old enough
    to want to bang around on guitar.  It was cheap when I got it, but if
    old Mustangs start to climb like Jags I may have a problem too :-)
    
    /rick