Did you buy your first electric on looks?

[Acoustic Pain]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Are you going to get another one?

I don't think so. Not made anymore. This was a used out of the blue opportunity. Does yours play OK. It seems to me that the issues are fundamental. I changed all strings and adjust Truss and bridge. Even more than action has limits it feels like a wet noodle. How to describe? Like strings stretched over a wood crate.

After playing for 5+ hours a day every day when I was 15/25 years old then stopping for 20 years. Having been back into for 1 year I want top quality/playability (bang for the buck I am not a rich man) and I do not ever see this model being that. I am more likely to save and wait for a Gibson or buy one new for $3,000. in the future.

PS More likely to buy a Les Paul Standard flamed Cherry Sunburst. My Studio Plus II Honeyburst is great but on a budget what I had to get. It plays as good as a Les Paul should but.......

[BoneDigger]

It was a pawn shop Suzuki guitar. I think I paid $50 for it.

I think I bought it because it was cheap. That was in college in 1988 or so.

Todd

[zabdart]

To answer the original question: No! My first electric was a Telecaster because it fit my budget and it provided a nice contrasting sound to the Les Paul the lead player in my band was playing. I certainly didn't buy it for its looks (Teles are homely)! It being the '60's and listening to a lot of bands where the guitar players all played Gibsons, I originally didn't care much for the sound of my Tele -- that grew on me. Then I saw "The Best Unknown Guitar Player in the World" on PBS with Roy Buchanan. That really turned me around!
Still have that Telecaster -- and love it, love it, LOVE it!

It was the late sixties, I needed a guitar for a band, Hagstroms were on sale so I got a Hagstrom III for a hundred bucks. It had great action and that's all I knew. Knew nothing about pickups etc. Don't even remember the amp, but it was some no-name deal.

[The Growler]

I picked "Looks", but I should qualify that. I KNEW I had to have a Gibson Les Paul. Then I just bought the best looking one.

[jseth]

I voted "on looks", mostly because it was a big ORANGE Gretsch, and I saw it from 50 feet away, as I was walking through a swap meet at the Orange Drive-In, back in 1969!

When I saw what it was, I wanted it! One of my favorite American bands of the era was the Buffalo Springfield, and, of course, Stephen, Neil and Ritchie all played Gretsch's most of the time... so there was that "hero worship" aspect...

When the fellow told me it was $35... well, that about did it right there! I couldn't hand him the money fast enough! Of course, now that I'm a bit older and have "been around the block" a few times, I realize that it was probably hotter than a $2 pistol... but I had a blast with that big old orange Gretsch Country Gentleman!!!

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by The Growler

I picked "Looks", but I should qualify that. I KNEW I had to have a Gibson Les Paul. Then I just bought the best looking one.

LOL. Sounds like you could have selected multiple options in the poll.

[moosedog]

Mine was in 1976 when I was 16 years old. I was in a band with my Uncle and I had been playing his early 70's Fender Jaguar - he had a Guild Starfire IV. He took me to Stutzmans Guitar Center in Rochester, NY (still there) and mostly due to the price and the looks, I became the proud owner of a used Guild S-100 in a natural finish. I played the hell out of that guitar for many years but ultimately traded it for an Aria Pro II solid body somewhere around 1982. I still wake up in a cold sweat from a nightmare about that transaction. A local guy bought it, refinished it and still owns it. I have tried to buy it back a couple of times but no dice. Parting is indeed such sweet sorrow............

[Yeah]

I just wanted the cheap version of Frusciante´s strato (the Divididos player, a good local band, also uses it). I got my very cheap squier and loved it (I was 13 at the time, so don´t judge me)

[The Growler]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

LOL. Sounds like you could have selected multiple options in the poll.

It was a dilemma!

[kydave]

My parents bought a Sears Silvertone for me to learn on when I was 12. I had no input in the patter. $69.95 out the door with amp built into the case and they figured I was set.

I've NEVER bought a guitar because my "hero" played it. I'm just not wired that way.

[Yeah]

Originally Posted by kydave

My parents bought a Sears Silvertone for me to learn on when I was 12. I had no input in the patter. $69.95 out the door with amp built into the case and they figured I was set.

I've NEVER bought a guitar because my "hero" played it. I'm just not wired that way.

C´mon man, if Spiderman sold you his guitar, you wouldn´t buy it?

[David Eastwood]

My first electric was a used Hofner solidbody. Vaguely SG-shaped, IIRC - I think I paid 25 pounds for it in 1971 or so. I didn't keep it very long - never could afford even a half-way decent amp to go with it.

The next, which was the first electric I played seriously, was a white Antoria Tele copy. Now, that was a sweet guitar - definitely bought on looks, but also, fortunately, good to play as well.

I've had a hankering for another white Tele ever since, and one day will satisfy that urge.

[s2y]

I wanted to sound like Slash, so I picked up a bolt-on GTX Les Paul copy. Sounded great and had sustain for days. Horribly planed fingerboard and abysmal fret job.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by s2y

I wanted to sound like Slash, so I picked up a bolt-on GTX Les Paul copy. Sounded great and had sustain for days. Horribly planed fingerboard and abysmal fret job.

I bet you felt like a rock star when you played it. Do you still have it?

I remember seeing GnR open for Iron Maiden in 1988. They were relatively unknown at that time but I still remember "the guitarist" playing a riff way up on the fretboard ... a few months later when I started listening and playing GnR I realized it was Sweet Child o Mine.