Your first guitar

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Jim Owen

...it needs a reset. It really also needs a new fretboard and frets, too. In other words, the repairs are cost prohibitive. Yet I would like to play that guitar again...

All is not lost - get yourself a slide and have at it...

[jim_pridx]

This photo was taken with my first acoustic guitar in 1968. It's an Epiphone Cortez, and it was a pretty decent guitar. I ended up trading it off a few years later for a used Martin D-35.

[TwoMartinMan]

Originally Posted by jim_pridx

This photo was taken with my first acoustic guitar in 1968. It's an Epiphone Cortez, and it was a pretty decent guitar. I ended up trading it off a few years later for a used Martin D-35.

Trade of the century.

[UncleJoe]

Originally Posted by redir

But first, back around 1989 I lived with a bunch of hippies who would come home from work every day and play guitars, mostly Dead songs. In fact pretty much ONLY Dead songs.

I was on the other side of your experience. I was one of those hippies coming home from work every day and playing mostly Dead tunes. Still do.

But lets start from the beginning.

I went to my first Dead show in April of 1983. I was completely enamored with the small pockets of guitar playing people scattered around the parking lot before the show. Decided I wanted to be a part of it. Went to a guitar store in the mall knowing absolutely nothing about guitars. I picked one out just because I liked the look of it; an all laminate Epiphone. It was $160 which at the time was an entire weeks take-home pay for me. I put $40 down and went back every month with another $40. Brought it home in August along with the Grateful Dead Anthology and the John Pearse Guitar Chord Encyclopedia.

For the next 7 years the Epi was my constant companion as I followed the Dead up and down the East Coast.

I still have it.

[IMG]P1010647 by unclejoesband, on Flickr[/IMG]

[EllaMom]

My first guitar was a Taylor Baby, which I got after talking with a galpal of mine who said big guitars were hard to play for many women. She had a 3/4 size and loved it, so I followed suit. What was SO cool about that little guitar is that it fit in the basket on the back of my Honda Metropolitan scooter, neck sticking straight up (in the gig bag, of course!). I scootered to/from work (Gonzaga University), where I took lessons from a guitarist in the music department. The tone wasn't bad (for a beginner's ears) and true enough, that little guitar was easy to play, which eased my way in the first year of learning how to play guitar.

Still have the Baby; it's in my office at work, and I still practice on it occasionally.

[Psfam]

I was nine years old when my parents bought me a new B-15, solid mahogany,ladder braced 1 5/8" nut for my tiny hands. Of course I didn't care about any of that. I tried it and the much prettier shiny red hummingbird which cost three times as much. But that hummingbird sparkled in the eyes of a little girl. The satin mahogany wasn't as pretty to me, but my parents were wise and frugal and knew what I needed. When I think back on it I realize they were really very generous!

Today my daughter has that guitar. I have been through a lot of them, but that one is still in the family. It is not loud but I used it a lot, played in church, no amplification back then. Nice little guitar.

Wish she would give it back!

[sweiss]

My first was a Kay Value Leader I bought from a buddy in 1966 for $3.00....which was two bucks too much. Horrid guitar, but I learned my first chords on it.


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[Quake17]

Great reading all these stories! My story is a little different.

Growing up with my Brothers, we were informed that my Dad's violin and my Mom's guitar were under the bed and they were not toys, in no uncertain terms. We all had an interest in music but it was fits and starts learning. When I was 15, my Mom told me I could use her guitar to learn on, if I was serious. I was and after I stuck with it for six months or so, she gave me her Martin 0-17!

Her Dad bought it for $30 in 1940 (terms for 90 days) and gave it to her when she turned 16. It's actually a late 1939 build and it was the campfire sing along guitar through the '40's and '50's for the extended family. The bridge was severely cracked from ramming in the pins so I had it sent back to Martin in 1986 and they put on a new bridge and did it's first neck reset (still does not need another reset). I do not know where Dad's violin went but I have his metronome.

[TrueBlue]

My first guitar (A Gibson Les Paul Traditional) was a gift from my wife. We couldn't afford it at the time BUT she did it anyway. I love that little Filipina...

[fongie]

My first was a Chinese made classical. God knows what ever happened to that.

[fongie]

Originally Posted by Quake17

Great reading all these stories! My story is a little different.

Growing up with my Brothers, we were informed that my Dad's violin and my Mom's guitar were under the bed and they were not toys, in no uncertain terms. We all had an interest in music but it was fits and starts learning. When I was 15, my Mom told me I could use her guitar to learn on, if I was serious. I was and after I stuck with it for six months or so, she gave me her Martin 0-17!

Her Dad bought it for $30 in 1940 (terms for 90 days) and gave it to her when she turned 16. It's actually a late 1939 build and it was the campfire sing along guitar through the '40's and '50's for the extended family. The bridge was severely cracked from ramming in the pins so I had it sent back to Martin in 1986 and they put on a new bridge and did it's first neck reset (still does not need another reset). I do not know where Dad's violin went but I have his metronome.

Quake, I am right now in a dilemma whether to purchase a near replica to yours. It is a "39 model.

[Aping Leo]

I'll start with first "legitimate" guitar. I got a dimestore guitar for Christmas when I was 7. I fiddled on it and my folks signed me up for some lessons. Once inside a structured enviornment I was hooked. I played constantly. One day my teacher (Mr. Stolz, I still remember his name 40+ years later) told me he needed to speak to my parents. Ok? He explained to them that he had basically had taught me everything he could on that particular guitar because was more of a toy than an actual musical instrument. And that if I was to continue they would have to buy me a legitimate guitar. Well, that's all my Dad needed to hear. "Oh well, sorry son. I guess your done playing guitar." We were dirt poor to say the least. I remember very vividly the car ride home as I sat in the backseat, completely crushed by this as my folks mildly argued over getting me a new guitar. But, my Dad wouldn't have of it. He worked double shifts and weekends to make ends meet and there was no money for something as frivolous as a new guitar. So I went to bed in tears as any 7 year old would who just seemingly lost his favorite thing to do would. But the next morning after my Dad left for work, my Mom took me to that attic and then to the crawl space and we picked anything of value we could find and she had a garage sale. 70 dollars bought me a new "Lotus" brand guitar. And 40+ years later I still play every day, and I still have that "Lotus" guitar. I should add that several years later my "Dad" bought me a brand new Yamaha 12 string. So, even though it took him a few years, He "got it"

[FunkenBlues]

1977 Blond Carlo Robelli Les Paul Copy. Seems like it was just yesterday when I learned the A Pentatonic scale which of course allowed me to play 90% of the leads I heard on rock albums .

[Doubleneck]

1967 Gibson J45 I was Sophmore in High School $232 all the money I had. Wanted to be a Beatle.

[VTexan]

I do recall that was an Alfred E. Neuman poster behind me, the WHAT ME WORRY? poster.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jadina...7671007868235/