mikestearns
Tele-Holic
Harmony Beginner's Electric. I have the parts. I keep meaning to rebuild it one day.
What was your first guitar, and do you still have it?
- Thread starter Richie Cunningham
- Start date
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ManFromMars
TDPRI Member
Squidface79
TDPRI Member
Westone Concord II with a Sound City amp. 30 quid from a Jumble sale in 1994. Sold my best mate who flat out refuses to give it back and gets it out when I go round to gloat. About 15 years ago I put a couple of Gibson miniature humbuckers in it for him and he actually used to gig it in his hipster band.
Awesome light playable guitar.
Awesome light playable guitar.
richey88
Friend of Leo's
Love this thread! Great memories and cool gear. I learnt "Red River Valley" on my mom's Silvertone acoustic, strings a good 3/4" from the fretboard (ouch). I complained that it hurt to play, and I got a Montclair (strings only a little lower than mom's). I thought I was the bees knees though, had a little plastic Teisco amp. 
I actually had a half-dozen or so songs under my belt and could tune it using one of those pitch-pipe tuners (this is 1974, I was 10 and there were no electronic tuners except those Conn strobe tuners). Long gone
So I was getting better, wanted something I could schlep to school and dad got me a Yamaha FG75. I had that for about 8 years and likely traded it off for weed or something. Decades later, I'm in the thrift store an lo and behold there was another one! $35, needless to say it came home just for nostalgia's sake, new strings and it plays and sounds good!
My cousin gave me a modded Melody Maker, red with a PAF in the bridge position (sorry no photo) that I played a while and traded 'up' for a '61 Les Paul (1st year SG style):
Lord help me it foolishly let this one go also (back in '77 it was just an old-ass guitar). I recall it was an extremely kick-ass axe! Check out my cowboy shirt. This was my junior high talent show and chili cook off. I played "I'm Free" by The Who and of course, butchered Stairway. Good times.....
I actually had a half-dozen or so songs under my belt and could tune it using one of those pitch-pipe tuners (this is 1974, I was 10 and there were no electronic tuners except those Conn strobe tuners). Long gone
So I was getting better, wanted something I could schlep to school and dad got me a Yamaha FG75. I had that for about 8 years and likely traded it off for weed or something. Decades later, I'm in the thrift store an lo and behold there was another one! $35, needless to say it came home just for nostalgia's sake, new strings and it plays and sounds good!
My cousin gave me a modded Melody Maker, red with a PAF in the bridge position (sorry no photo) that I played a while and traded 'up' for a '61 Les Paul (1st year SG style):
Lord help me it foolishly let this one go also (back in '77 it was just an old-ass guitar). I recall it was an extremely kick-ass axe! Check out my cowboy shirt. This was my junior high talent show and chili cook off. I played "I'm Free" by The Who and of course, butchered Stairway. Good times.....
my 1st was a pasteboard acoustic. it was in bad shape. my mom threw it away when i was in basic training. it was not missed.
Wow! That's what my first electric was. I paid $37.50 for it used in about 1969. Mine still had the Lafayette badge on the headstock. Apparently they were made by Guyatone and/or Tiesco. Mine only had 2 pickups - it is long gone but here are a couple of photos of a similar one from this website: https://jedistar.com/lafayette/
Attachments
4 Cat Slim
Poster Extraordinaire
I purchased my very first guitar at a nearby location of a San Antonio clothing store chain called
Bruner's. I happened to be walking past the display window and they had an acoustic guitar and a soprano
ukulele displayed there. The guitar's label read "Dyko Guitar Made in Japan". The guitar cost $8.00, ukuleles were $5.00.
I quickly went home and gathered all of my savings and began my musical journey.
I later sold the Dyko (at a small profit) to a classmate's older brother (las I heard, he still has it), so that I
could buy a slightly nicer nylon string acoustic built in Mexico. Not that much nicer, but a step up.
Bruner's. I happened to be walking past the display window and they had an acoustic guitar and a soprano
ukulele displayed there. The guitar's label read "Dyko Guitar Made in Japan". The guitar cost $8.00, ukuleles were $5.00.
I quickly went home and gathered all of my savings and began my musical journey.
I later sold the Dyko (at a small profit) to a classmate's older brother (las I heard, he still has it), so that I
could buy a slightly nicer nylon string acoustic built in Mexico. Not that much nicer, but a step up.
FenderMan61
TDPRI Member
1961 Fender Duo Sonic in Desert Sand.
Still own it but needs quite a bit of work - this was pretty much my only guitar through high school and college. Did a little gigging back in the 80s.
So glad I still have it.
Unfortunately, the 1960 Princeton that I got at the same time has long since departed. Interestingly, I saw that very amp for sale on Reverb not long ago.
Still own it but needs quite a bit of work - this was pretty much my only guitar through high school and college. Did a little gigging back in the 80s.
So glad I still have it.
Unfortunately, the 1960 Princeton that I got at the same time has long since departed. Interestingly, I saw that very amp for sale on Reverb not long ago.
Randypttt
Friend of Leo's
That's real close John. I wish I could describe the pups better but the rings were "silver" and over the screws was this cheesy, glittery gold foil. Maybe aluminum. I don't know. Pretty classy looking
. I never did have the little badge on the head. No logos or script at all. I'll take word for it on the origin. Sounds right.Thanks for posting that pic.
Fiesta Red
Doctor of Teleocity
Yes, I still have my first two guitars—an acoustic and an electric—as well as my first amp.
First guitar was a 1986 Fender F-250...I’m the second owner. It plays far better than it’s pedigree, and I recently had my luthier friend tweak it a bit—adding a bone nut and a compensated bridge. It looks and plays great.
Second guitar (first electric) was a 1980 G&L F-100 with the series II neck profile (12” radius). I was really spoiled to have such a great instrument for my first guitar. It’s like having Raquel Welch for your first serious girlfriend.
I personally know three of the previous owners (they were brothers—6 in all, 4 that played—that would swap gear and pass guitars/amps that didn’t interest one of them amongst themselves).
...and I got my first amp from the same guy who sold me the G&L...it had been passed between several of the brothers as well. It’s a 1972/3/4/? solid-state Gibson G-20. Decent-to-good tone, and excellent vibrato/tremolo/whatever...perfect for REM’s “Crush With Eyeliner”...
First guitar was a 1986 Fender F-250...I’m the second owner. It plays far better than it’s pedigree, and I recently had my luthier friend tweak it a bit—adding a bone nut and a compensated bridge. It looks and plays great.
Second guitar (first electric) was a 1980 G&L F-100 with the series II neck profile (12” radius). I was really spoiled to have such a great instrument for my first guitar. It’s like having Raquel Welch for your first serious girlfriend.
I personally know three of the previous owners (they were brothers—6 in all, 4 that played—that would swap gear and pass guitars/amps that didn’t interest one of them amongst themselves).
...and I got my first amp from the same guy who sold me the G&L...it had been passed between several of the brothers as well. It’s a 1972/3/4/? solid-state Gibson G-20. Decent-to-good tone, and excellent vibrato/tremolo/whatever...perfect for REM’s “Crush With Eyeliner”...
'84 or '85 MIJ Fender '50s reissue. Possibly a Squier originally. I'm not sure, as the neck had been stripped and oiled by the time I got it.
Yes, I still have it. It is loaded with the "vintage" EMG SAs that were in it when I got it, and my own custom wiring scheme with 18V power. Put an '80s vintage black Kahler on it too. Neck is off at the moment for a truss rod replacement.
Yes, I still have it. It is loaded with the "vintage" EMG SAs that were in it when I got it, and my own custom wiring scheme with 18V power. Put an '80s vintage black Kahler on it too. Neck is off at the moment for a truss rod replacement.
Mine had the gold foil on the pickups too. I never got a photo of the guitar I had. This was just a photo I found on the interwebs. When I first got it I was in love but before long, the Fender envy set in and I was kind of ashamed of it. Now (over half a century later) I kind of wish I still had it.That's real close John. I wish I could describe the pups better but the rings were "silver" and over the screws was this cheesy, glittery gold foil. Maybe aluminum. I don't know. Pretty classy looking
Thanks for posting that pic.
Technically my first although I didn't actually learn to play on it, I would just make noises - An old offset single pickup Teisco that only had four functioning tuning machines(and thusly four strings), and a previous owner had hand brushed with craft acrylic paints to look like EVH's red/black/white striped Frankenstrat. Only the red was really more orange. I eventually smashed it in the street for fun one evening and I really wish that I hadn't. A few years later my parents got me an acoustic - a $200 Korean laminate Fender acoustic with a Strat-style headstock(major selling point). I don't really remember what happened to the latter.
A grocery-store-level 2nd hand Williams Strat. It was painted like light burgundy by previous owner. Nice color, horrible instrument.
Add cheap and crackling 15w practise amp plus Ibanez L.A.Metal distortion pedal to that.
Voilá.
E: Oh, that was the first electric. The first overall was 3/4 sized nylon string Landola. Or it was a nylon string before I painted the top board white and changed steel strings. I was a teenager then.
Quite shortly after that it retired being a guitar.
Add cheap and crackling 15w practise amp plus Ibanez L.A.Metal distortion pedal to that.
Voilá.
E: Oh, that was the first electric. The first overall was 3/4 sized nylon string Landola. Or it was a nylon string before I painted the top board white and changed steel strings. I was a teenager then.
Quite shortly after that it retired being a guitar.
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Togman
Tele-Afflicted
This a me (aged 13) in 1973 with my first Guitar. It was a Jedson. I can't recall the model No. but it should have been CRAP1. This Guitar would not stay in tune and the action was way too high (for me). Due to my ignorance at the time, I was unaware that these things could (probably) have been rectified with a few adjustments. It didn't put me off though - it made me determined to get a better Guitar! A year later I got a 1968 Fender Tele that I went on to own for over 45 years.
62 Jazzmaster
Friend of Leo's
The first guitar I played was my Dad's '60s MiJ Classical (shown alongside a Raven Les Paul copy):
He gave it to me back in the '80s (shown with my Wife's Sigma, my Seagull Mini-Jumbo and a '70s Epiphone FT-150 that I no longer have):
He gave it to me back in the '80s (shown with my Wife's Sigma, my Seagull Mini-Jumbo and a '70s Epiphone FT-150 that I no longer have):
first guitar was a 1964 Gibson ES 120T. I split the cost with my father for christmas in 1964. I still have it. It is the guitar I judge all others by. It will be the last of my guitars I part with. I still have my second guitar I bought, a 1971 Gibson SG Custlom.
LGOberean
Doctor of Teleocity
I voted "No." But it's more complicated than that.
My "first guitar" was one I never had. As in, I didn't own it. During the summer of 1967, I started learning on Dad's Harmony Archtone H-1213 archtop (mid-1960s vintage). For the next few years, I would play mostly that guitar. The pics below are screen captures from home movie footage rendered to video, taken in the summer of 1973.
It was one of the last times, if not the last time, I would play, or even see, that guitar. Like I said, it wasn't my guitar; it was Dad's, and my younger brother by almost 7 years, also a guitar player, started learning to play on that guitar. Consequently, when I left home, I didn't take it with me. So I don't have it now, not that I ever really did.
However, two months ago I bought a Harmony archtop, as sort of an homage to that "first" guitar, and also as a birthyear guitar, since it's a 1953. Specifically, it's a Harmony Broadway H-954.
My "first guitar" was one I never had. As in, I didn't own it. During the summer of 1967, I started learning on Dad's Harmony Archtone H-1213 archtop (mid-1960s vintage). For the next few years, I would play mostly that guitar. The pics below are screen captures from home movie footage rendered to video, taken in the summer of 1973.
It was one of the last times, if not the last time, I would play, or even see, that guitar. Like I said, it wasn't my guitar; it was Dad's, and my younger brother by almost 7 years, also a guitar player, started learning to play on that guitar. Consequently, when I left home, I didn't take it with me. So I don't have it now, not that I ever really did.
However, two months ago I bought a Harmony archtop, as sort of an homage to that "first" guitar, and also as a birthyear guitar, since it's a 1953. Specifically, it's a Harmony Broadway H-954.
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