What was your first "good" guitar?

My first "good guitar" (?) was a Höfner Tele copy (Höfner 175), that is still a VERY GOOD guitar (I still have it, and I still play it).
I bought it second hand in 1973. Before I played an Eko X27... Different worlds...

 

my first was a very old National Steel Guitar that I bought in the early 70's at a pawn shop for 40.00 I was the Delphi model like Son House played, I love the sound of that metal body and single resonator.

 

My first good guitar was a Gretsch Astrojet I picked up in the 10th grade, paid for it with my own money. It took me all the way through high school.

 

95 G&L Legacy Strat. Did some mods on it and went to school with it. Got stolen out of my first apartment. May start the search for it again...

 

a 1984 les paul studio. go ahead and laugh.....it was the 80s.....

 

Didja ever paint it green?

 

No, I did not. I decided to leave the foam green project for the future (with made-to-spec parts), and go Charvel style on the MIJ.

I added an '80's Kahler, black jack plate, black pickguard screws, black strap buttons, black pickup screws, black Hipshot tuners, a black Tusq nut, and installed the proper 25K pots. Whoever had originally put the EMGs in back in the late '80's had only switched the volume pot to 25K, not the tone pot. I put in EMG brand stack pots, so now it has a V/T/T/T control setup (the setup that I have always wished Strats used). I also rigged up 18V power instead of 9V, and re-located the batteries to the vibrato cavity for easy replacement.

I still need to track down a black stereo jack and nut, which I have had the hardest time finding. Failing eventually finding them, I'll just be lacquering the visible parts of the jack and nut with black.

The hole near the vibrato is one of two that were kindly left by the previous owner. My guess was always that he tried to block the vibrato by holding it down to the body with an overlapping pan screw head on each side (even though all he needed to do was stick a block of wood in the back).

Here's a pic shot during the modding process. The Kahler rout was made by me during this process, using a hand built router template. It took quite the commitment to tear into my first guitar like that, but I did it in the end, and haven't regretted it since.

The only thing I don't really like is the B/W/B guard. I might make it single-ply black instead, some time in the future – possibly black anodized aluminum.

 

Kaepa, right on.

 

An 80’s 61 reissue... unfortunately traded off to a friend, regretted trading it for years.

 

A Gibson LP Studio, A Lotus LP lawsuit guitar with Dimarzio's.

 

Fender 60th Anniversary Telecaster with Texas Special pickups. The pickups are gone now, replaced by Bare Knuckle Yard Birds, but she is my number one, go to guitar. Just had the 2nd crown and leveling done on her, just getting worn in.

 

My first guitar was some no name plywood POS that I got from a friend (traded some albums for it).

I got the bug bad, and a month later my mom put a Pearl White Yamaha SBG 200 (set neck SG ish) on layaway for me. A month later I had that guitar in my hands. So shiny and new. That was 1985, the guitar cost $139 on sale. It was my first good guitar.

(the pic is not mine, but just like it)



Though that guitar has not been played in years, and currently has no pickups, it still resides in my closet.

After that guitar, I worked and saved up for 2 years, and bought a '76 Tobacco Sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard. I no longer have the Gibson.

 

I was lucky....my second electric guitar was an Axstar by Ibanez Tele copy. I bought it because I liked the cool red and it had humbuckers.....although they're quite low-output.
Anyway, I still have it - I can sell pedals and even amps, but never instruments! I even own my ****ty first guitar ever....I'm probably a hoarder.
But I still play the Axstar from time to time and that means something as I now prefer Hollowbodies/Semi-acoustics and usually don't play solidbodies any more .

 

A mid 60's ES125. My father bought it new for me, red sunburst. If own at least one electric hollow body ever since. Right now I have a modified Ibanez AS83 and Gretsch 6120 Setzer Nashville.

 

Late 70s, I was in a band formed from school friends. I started off with a bass guitar (I wanted to be Geddy Lee but couldn't find a Rickenbacker I could afford, so I had a Hondo version and, when that gave up the ghost, I bought a Gibson EB3 - short-scale with classical guitar style tuning pegs. Wish I still had it.

Life intervened and I gave up playing in a band early/mid 80s.

A year or so back, I was offered guitar lessons as a birthday present, so I've started learning. My first good 6-string was a "tranquillity blue" flame-top Gibson "Peace" LP model. I made the mistake of buying on looks. yes, it sounded great with 61(?) humbuckers but I had the wrong strap and couldn't get it to sit right. Stupidly, it never occurred to me that it was the strap's fault and not the guitar's - so I traded it.

 

The first really good guitar was a Profile vintage strat. It was made in the Fuji Gen Kakki factory and was actually an early Fender Japan guitar that some Australians had labelled Profile. It had kluson tuners, spectacular wood ( alder), two piec, tobacco sunburst and it sounded great A local luthier gere, Steve Salvi, has a tele and a strat of this brand. He has worked in Denmark St., for Santa Cruz and in LA. They are collector's items and were lawsuit Made in Japan late 70s/early 80s Fenders.
If you have one DON'T sell it.
I was also playing at my peak then and was working 4 gigs a week as well as a day job.Best guitar I've owned on reflection.

 

First guitar was a crappy hand me down acoustic no name from a cousin. Broke my parents hearts for a better one and they relented and I got a white Yamaha RGZ 312 and a Peavey Rage 108 amp for my 16th birthday. Was a good guitar but the first great guitar was a really early Epiphone Les Paul, cherry sunburst. It was amazing. Went from standard pickups to EMG Zaak Wyldes during my metal phase and then a set of PAF with the T stamp. Returned it to standard eventually and sold it on. Big regret. Hey ho.

 

My first good (electric) guitar was a 1970s Guild S-100. It was a sort of chestnut colour and a lovely player. I foolishly traded it in early 90s for a new Fender Tele Thinline, which wasn't a bad guitar, but in retrospect not a patch on the Guild. All that needed was a refret to bring it back to life, but I was momentarily starstruck by the Fender. I do have a Gibson SG Standard now, but would be interested to see how they compare, certainly the Guild's pickups as I recall, were more distinctive.