What was your first guitars?

[Telecaster582]

What was your very first electric and acoustic? I'll start with my first guitar being a rouge dreadnought which I still have and is undergoing a refinish. My first electric was a series 10 danelectro copy. Post pics if you can, I'll have to find mine. Let's see some guitars!

 

[CCK1]

First electric was a Teisco Del Rey much like this one, and a Silvertone 1482 amplifier. First acoustic was a Silvertone that after about a year, had action at the 12th fret of about 1/4".

 

[Freeman Keller]

FK and Yamaha FG150 circa 1970

FK and Yamaha FG150 circa 2020.

 

[OmegaWoods]

Been too long for pictures. My first acoustic was a Yamaha, similar to @Freeman Keller .

My first electric was a 1982(?) Peavey T-60 Sunburst. It was heavy but I loved it. Sold it when I got married and joined the Navy.

 

[Freeman Keller]

Here is another picture of the Yamie along with a couple of others from the '70's

 

[bgmacaw]

My first acoustic, fresh from the 1970 Sears catalog. Virtually unplayable above the third fret. I sold it in 1992.

My first electric, a used 1963 Strat that was heavily modified by the previous owner that I was able to buy at a very good price. It explains why massive mods to an already great guitar is a terrible idea.

 

[raito]

First electric is a Synsonics, sold by Mattel, rumored to have been manufactured by Gretsch. A friend was moving west and needed to get rid of stuff. I paid him $30.
First acoustic was an MF stupid deal. A Yamaha F335. $79 or something like that.

I still have both.

 

[hotraman]

My first acoustic was a 1970's Alvarez.
My first electric was a 1973 Fender Telecaster deluxe, which I sold and still regret to this day.

 

[JL_LI]

My first acoustic, the guitar I learned on, was a department store Harmony “f” hole with painted on binding. I put a DeArmond pickup on it, mounted on a block to place it closer to the bridge. My first amp was a Wollensack reel to reel tape recorder with a 12” salvaged hifi speaker in a pine box. The grille cloth was a burlap coffee bag from A&P. My first electric guitar was a cherry red Gibson Melody Maker. I couldn’t afford the SG, then Les Paul, I really wanted. My first real amp was a Reverberocket.

 

[Moonraker5]

Brand spanking new, made in the USA Fender Stratocaster. It was a Valentine's Day gift! Didn't know how to play it, but I sure learned. I wasn't going to let this guitar waste away in a case under the bed.

A month later I wanted to compliment that electric with an acoustic. MTV's "Unplugged" was a huge show at the time. So I went to Sam Ash and bought myself a fancy Ovation Elite. Love this guitar.

 

[ChicknPickn]

What was your very first electric and acoustic? I'll start with my first guitar being a rouge dreadnought which I still have and is undergoing a refinish. My first electric was a series 10 danelectro copy. Post pics if you can, I'll have to find mine. Let's see some guitars!

 

[Telecaster582]

Woah, some of you guys have started off with actual Fenders, that would definitely be something I could only dream of. Anytime I get somewhat close to buying one something else pops up and then I have to buy that instead.

 

[Donny Osmond fan]

 

[Bob M]

First acoustic was a Stella that my mom got with S & H green stamps. First electric was an Aria 335 type guitar. First really good instrument was a ‘66 Guild Starfire III. First decent amp was a Teisco Checkmate piggy back. 50 watts, reverb and tremolo, 2 15” Pioneer branded speakers. Would give a Bandmaster a run for the money.

 

[Telecaster582]

First acoustic was a Stella that my mom got with S & H green stamps. First electric was an Aria 335 type guitar. First really good instrument was a ‘66 Guild Starfire III. First decent amp was a Teisco Checkmate piggy back. 50 watts, reverb and tremolo, 2 15” Pioneer branded speakers. Would give a Bandmaster a run for the money.

My dad's old classical he gave me was a checkmate from the 60's

 

[kuch]

1st electric was a 63 sunburst Fender Jaguar.... although I learned on my brother's Harmony bobcat....
1st acoustic was a Aria dreadnought that my daughter is learning to play on....
63 is long gone and I don't have any pics of the Aria

 

[brookdalebill]

My first acoustic was a $9.99 Hecho En Mexico (Paracho) 1/2 size kid’s toy, on April 9, 1967.
My first electric was a white MIJ Guyatone Moserite/Jazzmaster knockoff.
I got it for Christmas, 1969.
Alas, I don’t have either.

 

[KeithDavies 100]

First ever guitar was a nylon string acoustic. I was 16, and worked in an auction room. This came up at auction, from a house clearance, and I bought it. Cost me two weeks wages. I gave it to a girlfriend's daughter when she wanted to learn to play, probably around 1990.

I played that till I was 21. Didn't really have any money for anything better. I wanted to be a blues player. I used to bend notes as best I could, but it never sounded very good. I didn't realise that a steel string is fairly fundamental if that's the sound you're chasing.

When I was 21 I saw an advert in the local paper for a Hofner Senator. She's the beauty on the right, below. Again, funnily enough, two weeks wages. I didn't have it, but my girlfriend had been saving up for a washing machine., and she said she would lend me that and maybe my boss would give me an advance on next week, which he did. I played it, and the blues licks I'd been trying to master suddenly just came tumbling off the fretboard like magic. I couldn't put it down. She was made in Germany the same year I was born. We've been together ever since. That's the longest continuous relationship of my life.

However, played loud through an amp she will always feedback uncontrollably, so I needed a solid body. Again, could never really afford one, but I had a motorcycle accident in 1987 - I was working as a bike courier in London; stupid way to try and make a living! - and I got an insurance payout. I had decided a Telecaster was what I needed - a straightforward, honest, working man's guitar. However, I was seduced by the beauty of the limited edition all-rosewood version that had just been released - a reissue of the George Harrison guitar. I got the one in the picture - Marlene, she's called. Once again, I wouldn't have been able to afford her - even with the payout - but she had some minor damage to the headstock so she was reduced. To be honest, I never even noticed - they had to point it out to me. She's been my number one stage guitar ever since. The pickups always seemed a little disappointing. I put a battery-powered preamp in for a few years, but you never quite knew when it was going to die on you. Around 2007 I had a pair of Joe Bardens fitted, and never looked back.

The rest of the "family" in the photo. Top right, the first amp I bought - an early 60s Selmer Treble n Bass. Beautiful tone. I watched a YouTube video about them just the other day and the guy described it as very like a Dumble, so there you go! It hisses a bit these days, so I'll get that sorted out at some point. Too loud for home use, though, and I'm not gigging at the moment.

I liked that Selmer head so much I bought a Selmer combo - a quite rare crocodile skin thing. I never quite got on with that, so I put it up for sale. Someone got in touch and said he collected amps and didn't have one of those, but he had three Vox Ac30s - would I take one in exchange. So that's how I got the Vox bottom left. Sounds divine, but you need to stand fifty yards away when you crank it up!!

And the resonator was hand-built by my ex-wife. When we split up I tried to give it back to her but she insisted she'd made it for me and I should keep it, which I thought was very gracious of her. Three years later I told her I was moving in with someone I'd met - now my second and final wife! - and my ex suggested this was an appropriate moment for me to return "her" resonator. So off it went. Sidenote - my ex-wife doesn't play guitar.

So that's the only one of the family no longer here. This photo was taken around 2006. I'd need a bigger camera these days!

 

[Gardo]

As best I can remember my first guitar was something like this. The intonation was bad and it was not adjustable.
But it had a whammy bar

Then I bought a Korean made Harmony Sovereign and actually learned to play

 

[jayyj]

My first ever guitar was an old nylon strung guitar found at the back of dad's closet, and kind of ok to learn a few chords on. After that I had a Korean Rickenbacker 330 clone that I stuck a Bigsby on, and an Epiphone J200 for my first string string.

I don't remember particularly bonding with either and quickly started putting money aside for something better, and a couple of years later bought a Gibson - a brown 70s Gibson, admittedly, but still a Gibson - ES355 that I still consider my favourite guitar 25 years later. The J200 was quickly replaced by a Martin 000 when I was at university, which in turn was replaced by my 1920s Gibson L-1 which I still have and adore.

So I took a couple of attempts to find my forever guitars but I got there relatively early on. Didn't stop me buying tons more since but hey...