what did you start off on?
- Thread starter WEBCYAN
- Start date
gbdweller
Structural Member
My first was also a sunburst Kay. I loved the way it would shock you if you looked at it the wrong way. I still have it. I'm in the middle of restoring it. My second guitar was a Silvertone that ended up getting tied to the bumper of my Monte Carlo and dragged around town after I bought my first Strat. Damned thing still played until I smashed it against a fire hydrant and threw it onto the roof of a movie theater. Gotta love drunken rage.philboyd studge said:
BTW How did this 4 year old thread end up resurrected? 
goodbyebluesky
New member
Wow, all these guys talking about Sears Silvertones and Kays, I feel really young now.
I started out on a Peavey Telecaster copy 10 years ago, and made all kinds of noise through a crate SS amp not knowing what I was doing. I later frankensteined that guitar with Texas Special pickups, custom wiring, a different neck, stickers all over it.
Got into acoustic with an Alvarez elecric/acoustic around the same time I moved up to a Fernandes made LP style guitar. Then I became a drummer and barely played for years.
I still own that Fernandes guitar and its my main electric, even though that Tele copy was reduced to parts and then later slapped together and given to someone. My Telecaster now is a custom built job w/fender parts. But most of all my prize is my japanese made Martin DM-5 acoustic from the 70's. I play it more than anything now that I'm older.
I started out on a Peavey Telecaster copy 10 years ago, and made all kinds of noise through a crate SS amp not knowing what I was doing. I later frankensteined that guitar with Texas Special pickups, custom wiring, a different neck, stickers all over it.
Got into acoustic with an Alvarez elecric/acoustic around the same time I moved up to a Fernandes made LP style guitar. Then I became a drummer and barely played for years.
I still own that Fernandes guitar and its my main electric, even though that Tele copy was reduced to parts and then later slapped together and given to someone. My Telecaster now is a custom built job w/fender parts. But most of all my prize is my japanese made Martin DM-5 acoustic from the 70's. I play it more than anything now that I'm older.
Dogbreath said:My first was a "Woolworths" Special...
Not even sure if it has a name. I don't think Woolworths is even around anymore but they were like JC Penney.
I still have it. 25 years later. Broken neck, 2 strings left, dented pickup...
It's awesome.
You know, you can get replacement strings for those guitars. ;^)
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
I started out on a no-name 3/4 scale acoustic that, like most things I owned as a child, was a hand-me-down from my tone-deaf (but otherwise perfect, it seems) older brother.
My second was also a hand-me-down, a Harmony thinline hollowbody (no f-holes, just hollow) that I still have. It has an unfixed wooden bridge that is adjustable for height. You set the intonation by moving the whole bridge around on the body.
I don't know what became of the acoustic. Hopefully it's in one of my parents' closets. I still have the Harmony. I pick it up every once in a while and cannot imagine ever learning on such an unplayable piece of crap.
Y'all think a 40-year-old Harmony is worth anything? Or would it be like a 40-year-old dog turd.....dried out but still shitty?
My second was also a hand-me-down, a Harmony thinline hollowbody (no f-holes, just hollow) that I still have. It has an unfixed wooden bridge that is adjustable for height. You set the intonation by moving the whole bridge around on the body.
I don't know what became of the acoustic. Hopefully it's in one of my parents' closets. I still have the Harmony. I pick it up every once in a while and cannot imagine ever learning on such an unplayable piece of crap.
Y'all think a 40-year-old Harmony is worth anything? Or would it be like a 40-year-old dog turd.....dried out but still shitty?
Monsoon
New member
I had a horrible no-name acoustic guitar that the neighbors gave me. Their whole family learned on it, and when they all grew up, they gave it to me so that I could learn. Was mighty nice of them to do that.
But...
Man was that a horrible guitar. The nylon strings were about a quarter inch off the fretboard. Had to work like a sonuvagun just to get a note, and chords where almost impossible. I learned on that for years. Years and years I played that crappy thing. In hindsight, I think I would have advanced faster if I had had a better playing guitar - at least one with action that didn't require you to have hands of steel to play.
I still have it. And it is still to this day just as frustratingly difficult to play. I can't bring myself to get rid of it.
But...
Man was that a horrible guitar. The nylon strings were about a quarter inch off the fretboard. Had to work like a sonuvagun just to get a note, and chords where almost impossible. I learned on that for years. Years and years I played that crappy thing. In hindsight, I think I would have advanced faster if I had had a better playing guitar - at least one with action that didn't require you to have hands of steel to play.
I still have it. And it is still to this day just as frustratingly difficult to play. I can't bring myself to get rid of it.
hungovermorning
Dr. Caveman.
And now for modern garbage
I bought a black and white Squier Affeinity series Strat because I got fooled by guitar Center's ad for "Fender Stratocasters, $129." Oh man, what a heap with no personality. It was a happy day a year later when I found out about truss rods and bridge adjustments (as rarely are they set up out of the factory, that's teh guitar store's job but on a squier? nope). Anyways, a little time went on and somehow I had a guitar that I smashed (why I didn't smash the squier I'll never know) and the Squier then ended up with a humbucker in the bridge position and a FLOYD ROSE TREMOLO. Yup. In retrospect I wish I would've bought an old lawsuit les paul knock off or a $30 harmony. Can't beat em.
I bought a black and white Squier Affeinity series Strat because I got fooled by guitar Center's ad for "Fender Stratocasters, $129." Oh man, what a heap with no personality. It was a happy day a year later when I found out about truss rods and bridge adjustments (as rarely are they set up out of the factory, that's teh guitar store's job but on a squier? nope). Anyways, a little time went on and somehow I had a guitar that I smashed (why I didn't smash the squier I'll never know) and the Squier then ended up with a humbucker in the bridge position and a FLOYD ROSE TREMOLO. Yup. In retrospect I wish I would've bought an old lawsuit les paul knock off or a $30 harmony. Can't beat em.
tamky
New member
A sunburst Harmony bass, against my parent's wishes. I remember it had normal sized tuning gear and was a bitch to tune and re-string. Bought it in 1964. Paid $45 for it in a Pawn Shop. A year later and I had saved enough to buy an original Hofner (360?) Beatle bass. $360 with hardshell case.philboyd studge said:
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amra
Well-known member
I started with a nylon string spanish guitar given to me by my grandpa. It was made in Spain if I remember right. Manufacturers name started with a V.
The neck was about 3 inches wide. The only way I could get lessons was in the church choir. So in church I learned how to strum A, D, G, and C chords, then I came home and tried like hell to play Crazy Train, Diary of a Madman, and ACDC. It was 1982, and I was 12 years old.
The problem was, no matter what you played it came out sounding like "Bolero". So what did I do to this beautiful sounding spanish guitar? I put steel strings on it. NOW, it sounded like a rock guitar. Only problem was it bowed the neck and pulled the bridge up, giving me about a solid 3/8" or 1/2" string height on the smaller frets. It was brutal. That was the only guitar I had for the next 4 years.
Then for Christmas, 1986 I got a Mako RR Flying V, and a 35 watt gorilla amp.
Compared to my mangled steel strung classical with 1/2" action height, this was a DREAM. I had already learned to play Randy Rhoads stuff on that super high action, and now on this low action, thin necked guitar, I was FAST!
Unfortunately, the Gorilla sounded like fried ass. It had a "tube drive" switch that made it sound like fried, scrambled ass. I got a boss DM-2 Analog delay pedal, and a Chorus pedal, so it least it sounded like nicely delayed, and modulated fried ass. Eventually I got a red and white memphis strat. I loved those guitars. I hated that damn gorilla amp, though, and still do!
The neck was about 3 inches wide. The only way I could get lessons was in the church choir. So in church I learned how to strum A, D, G, and C chords, then I came home and tried like hell to play Crazy Train, Diary of a Madman, and ACDC. It was 1982, and I was 12 years old.
The problem was, no matter what you played it came out sounding like "Bolero". So what did I do to this beautiful sounding spanish guitar? I put steel strings on it. NOW, it sounded like a rock guitar. Only problem was it bowed the neck and pulled the bridge up, giving me about a solid 3/8" or 1/2" string height on the smaller frets. It was brutal. That was the only guitar I had for the next 4 years.
Then for Christmas, 1986 I got a Mako RR Flying V, and a 35 watt gorilla amp.
Compared to my mangled steel strung classical with 1/2" action height, this was a DREAM. I had already learned to play Randy Rhoads stuff on that super high action, and now on this low action, thin necked guitar, I was FAST!
Unfortunately, the Gorilla sounded like fried ass. It had a "tube drive" switch that made it sound like fried, scrambled ass. I got a boss DM-2 Analog delay pedal, and a Chorus pedal, so it least it sounded like nicely delayed, and modulated fried ass. Eventually I got a red and white memphis strat. I loved those guitars. I hated that damn gorilla amp, though, and still do!
stonepiano
Member
started on classical guitar... turned to steel string acoustic, then electric. Now, I play mostly 6 string steel acoustic.
rayc
retroreprobate
I started with a Coronet short scale bass that I bought by saving MY lunch money in the 2nd last year of high school (late starter) @ 75c a day figure how long that took. It LOOKED great - a white SG copy - & I played it through the family stereo (when they weren't home) for 5 years before the lunch money turned into casual salary then regular pay so I could afford an amp (Jade Clubman 80 & Etone box).
The old man wouldn't spend money on an instrument for me. Years later he bought himself a guitar though.
Treble is right though - they were different times & AU$75 bought me an instrument that lasted quite a while until it was "borrowed"
Cheers
rayC
The old man wouldn't spend money on an instrument for me. Years later he bought himself a guitar though.
Treble is right though - they were different times & AU$75 bought me an instrument that lasted quite a while until it was "borrowed"
Cheers
rayC
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Richard Monroe
Well-known member
I guess the first one was a $35 (brand new w/ cardboard style case) flamenco nylon string from Manny's Music in Manhattan. A year later, a new Gibson cherryburst SJ, a big dreadnought. Next, a Gibson unknown model- sunburst, ES335 type body, no center block, fixed tune-o-matic bridge, one dog-eared P-90. Then I got poor. I made a living with an Aria dreadnought, and not one of the good ones. Selling the two Gibsons was my ticket to guitarist hell. Now I mostly play a Taylor 710CE, and a lot of Epiphone and Fender knock-offs of the vintage axes I can't afford. Every one plays just fine. Life is pretty good. I wonder, though, what happened to that old Gibson hollow body.-Richie
Richard Monroe
Well-known member
Thanks, Hixmix, that's the baby.-and I sold it.....bad Richie
