What's the worst guitar you've ever owned?

[Chezler]

The worst would be my first.
AND I really wish I had it back.

My oldest sister, born in 1932, was given a used guitar by our dad. That was in the mid 1940's
She never learned to play. It was given to my older brother a few years later. That would be in the early 1950's, he never learned.
It was given to me in the mid 1960's. I was 14 at the time.
I wore my fingers to the bone learning to play.
A year later, for my 15th birthday since I had learned to play, Dad got me a REAL guitar. A late 1950's Silvertone archtop. I then realized just how bad that first one really was. That Silvertone really did sound and play pretty good.
My first one, however, turned out to be a Hawaiian lap guitar. The strings at the first fret were over 1/8" above the fret. At the 12th, you could slide your little finger under the strings. I learned to fret chords on that thing. It hurt.

Don't know what happened to it, but being made in the late 30's or early 40's, I would love to have it back. As a wall hanger.

[ilikeguitar90]

The technically worst guitar was probably a mid 60s Stella. It had a cool bluesy tone and was cheap enough where it was basically an impulse buy slide guitar ($75) but man was it crappy as far as quality goes. Intonation was bad, action was bad, wouldn't hold tune. I feel bad for the kids in the 50s and 60s who wanted to start and had to play those when nowadays we have guitars like Yamaha, Epiphone, and even cheaper Martins. The Stella looked really cool though I'll give it that.

The most disappointing guitar was a Martin D-16RGT that had a repair on the top. It was very cheap because of the repair, got it for about half what they usually go for used but man was it a dog. Very brash and metallic sounding, when I tried to strum it all you could hear was metal zinginess all over, no warmth or woodiness to it whatsoever. I tried different strings and letting the strings settle too, it was just a dud. Luckily I found a buyer for it and got back what I spent on it but it put my off repaired guitars so badly that I just today passed on a 2013 Gibson J-35 with repaired headstock for $700 on reverb. It sold quickly and I'm regretting passing on the Gibson...

[godot2520]

I imagine this will spark some response...A Gibson 200. It was big and heavy and had one level: Loud. I took the first offer and bailed.

[love the guitar]

A 1952 Gibson L-48, my first guitar. It was a great instrument but it was my
"worst" in a long line of very nice guitars I've been fortunate to own and play.
I've only owned quality guitars, including the L-48.

[Big*Al]

Back in the 1970s I had a Fender acoustic, student model, made in Japan. It was very hard to play. I believe it may have actually been designed for slicing cheese.

[Tone Monster]

A new 2002 Martin D 28m a DUD

[djg]

My first steel string guitar was probably not terrible but it wasn't very good either. Back in the '70s, in high school, I was studying classical guitar but wanted a steel string guitar as well. I cobbled together a little bit of money and bought something . . . I think it said "Washburn" on it but it was not one of the better ones -- not by a long shot. Something of an impulse purchase probably. Maybe a pro setup would have helped, but what I had in hand was not nearly as good as my classical guitar even if it did sound flat-top-ish. And my classical guitar was a good, mid-range student guitar from Japan, not a concert guitar from a famous luthier. The cheap guitar did give me a different sound (and look and feel) -- it was exciting . . . for maybe a week.

I'll credit the guitar I didn't like with providing motivation. I scrimped and saved for something better. I was still a teen when I bought a much better guitar, a Martin D-18 that I kept for more than 20 years before passing it along to another good home. Whether the poorer guitar taught me to be careful I cannot say, although I was pretty deliberate the next time around. Partly by necessity, I suppose, and partly because I'd decided that the choice mattered to me.

I was careful choosing the Martin -- after going here and there and trying this and that, I still played 5 or 6 D-18s in a row the day I bought mine (the shop had quite a few, new and used) before settling on the one I wanted. That was a good guitar -- '70s issues notwithstanding -- so there's that.

[Eric_M]

Originally Posted by godot2520

I imagine this will spark some response...A Gibson 200. It was big and heavy and had one level: Loud. I took the first offer and bailed.

Originally Posted by Tone Monster

A new 2002 Martin D 28m a DUD

Bought sight unseen I take it?

Originally Posted by love the guitar

A 1952 Gibson L-48, my first guitar. It was a great instrument but it was my
"worst" in a long line of very nice guitars I've been fortunate to own and play.
I've only owned quality guitars, including the L-48.

My first is a far more humble instrument but I dig this. I would happily play even my first/worst instrument today.

Mine was a Morris, OM-sized. Recently bought a birth year Morris dread for nostalgia's sake but am actually enjoying playing it. Even put a Baggs Lyric in it so I can gig with it.

[H2O]

Mine was a cheap Yamaha nylon string. Sent it back the day after receipt. Very buzzy, finish issues, etc. Just not a very nice/playable instrument.

[Reasley]

Originally Posted by billder99

Worst guitar was an Ovation... I could never get the hang of holding it with the rounded back... it always slipped away from me, impossible to play (for me). It may have sounded ok, but I never got that far with it.

It's an easy fix: just cover the back with "male" Velcro and wear a "female" Velcro shirt -- problem solved. It won't move. Guaranteed.

[Reasley]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

That was my first guitar. Oh my, I wish I still had it - so I could BURN it, or maybe pull a Fargo and woodchip it. I don't know what happened to it but I'll always regret not actively removing it from the pool of available guitars so that someone, somewhere wouldn't encounter it and have their passion for learning guitar extinguished forever.

I actually did something similar with a set of tires once. Though tire shops in Texas (maybe nationally, not sure) charge a "disposal fee," they regularly sell used tire "take-offs" to others further down the food chain. I had a set of Bridgestones, I believe, that had plenty of tread left but were so bad in the rain that I requested that the shop puncture the sidewalls with a knife so they would not be reusable. They said "We will." I'm thinking "Yeah, right." I told them: "You don't understand. I want to WATCH you puncture the sidewalls." They did.

[Gomers]

When I asked my parents for my first guitar some 23 years ago, I hinted that a Yamaha F310 would fit the bill nicely. They were hugely popular and well priced. Instead my Dad (RIP) bought me a store special from a well known store in Manchester UK. It was the typical all-lam dreadnought and it was pretty good as I remember it. I learned a few bits on it and enjoyed it.

With the enjoyment though, comes exposure to more of the guitar press and magazine reviews were devoured. As I progressed, I decided I needed a 'better' guitar after about a year. Read a glowing review of the Epiphone PR200 and decided that was the one, after all it had Gibson on the truss rod cover. I actually tried it in the same shop and brought it home with me and about an hour in, thought, 'What an idiot !!!' It was a hideous thing, terrible to play for a new player, sounded deader than a kitchen worktop, hateful thing.

A Washburn D13S followed a perfectly good F21S OM sized guitar because I wanted a dreadnought again, awful.

[pegleghowell]

An E-Ros Dakota guitar...bloody awful.The only guitar I have ever met that I couldn`t get anything out of.

[PeterM]

I was steering clear of this for obvious reasons but when I saw all those Martins listed...

Gibson LG0. Simply not a good guitar all around. Bad sound, narrow neck, the bridge... YIKES!

[Bax Burgess]

An H14 Froggy. It never got within shouting distance of a Gretsch Jim Dandy.