1st Guitar

I'm enjoying reading all of your stories....and, the stars on your jammies, dapmdave, are really kewl. Do you remember what song was on the music score on the floor next to you?

In this great Guy Clark video, The Guitar, there are quite a few photos of 1st-time guitars.....that became life-long guitars. The song is a fairly recent one Guy has written.......again, the great Texan storyteller, songwriter, and singer does it again. (Warning: Please just ignore the last few photos.....enjoy the song and the old guitars. :wink: )

I learned on my brothers' guitars, one nylon and one an Asian made steel string which I don't recall the brand of. I was a high-school senior when I set out to buy my own and found a flawless blonde T100D along with a Thunder 1 amp in Providence RI, it seems I paid around $230 for the set...and YES I wish I still had that guitar!

My first acoustic guitar was a low end Crestwood Classical (Nylon Strings). It was what I found at a friends Garage Sale. I played it for a few years (7th, 8th, 9th Grade), but wanted a Steel String Acoustic. I was able to owned a Chicago 5 String Banjo and this Crestwood Classical and I traded in both toward the purchase of another inexpensive acoustic guitar. I remember the next snapping and that made it necessary for me to go guitar shopping. I found a Takamine Jasmine ES40c in a small music store in St. Paul Minnesota. I played that guitar for 18 years. I also played an Austin 12 String, but after getting the itch for a newer acoustic and maybe even a solid top acoustic, I found a '75 Guild D35 in a local music store. Her name is 'Olivia' today. Wow, what a great acoustic 6 string. After that purchase I sold my Takamine Jasmine and put my Austin 12 String up for sale and started looking for a GUILD 12 String. I found a '67 GUILD F212 For Sale at a Guitar Center in Boston. I remember posting a question, here on LTG, "I am considering the purchase of an F212, is there anything that I should know about the F212 before I buy it"? A response came saying "Make sure you bring an extra pair of socks, because that F212 is going to "Blow Your Socks Off"....Lol! Her name is "Zoe' and I believe my favorite acoustic guitar (don't tell 'Olivia' !).

Each guitar that I've owned , has taken a little further down the road.....even though, my two Guilds are keepers and I will take them the rest of way, even if I do someday looking at adopting other acoustic for my stable.

-frettedstrings

ladytexan said:

TonyT said:

I had a "first" in Broad Ripple as well, but this might not be the proper forum to tell it.
Spent many,many hours there back in the day.

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Tony,

Maybe we need to compare notes.....spent many, many hours on Rush Street (Chicago) back in the day...gosh, the piano bars and discos....YIKES!! :shock: 8) :wink: My gosh, we might be giving away our age.....::::teehee:::::

P.S. Lived near 'downtown' Broad Ripple Village.....back in the day.

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You might have missed by a few years, but just a few blocks over from Rush was Wells where you had the Earl of Old Town where just about every note able folkie and singer songwriter played. And to top it off, right across the street was Second City.
Not to veer too far, my first guitar was a Harmony classical, which I sold to a friend in college for 30 bucks. I'd pay at least 35 to get it back.

If you look at the signature you'll find my first guitar which I still have, got it at a music store in upper Manhattan. You will also notice that I had it for 49 years before I bought another guitar. Played it heavily during the early 60s and then as grad school and work took over I played it less and less, except when my kids were young. By the end I was probably playing once or twice a year. Then I retired :roll: :roll:
It has a large top crack, no one ever told me about humidity a flimsy semi-canvas case in MN (grad school and after) winters took its toll. Won't part with it, it has a value of ~$25-50, and more importantly my kids would disown me. Lots of memories associated with that beast.

Harmony H-173 bought in 1960 (retired), Alvarez AC60S 2008, Eastman AC320ce 2008 "Hybrid", Guild D25M 1974, Martin Grand J35E 2009, Martin D12-20 1970, Martin OM-21 2009, Martin 00-15M Custom (full body gloss, wide neck) 2011, Voyage-air VAOM-06 2010
"I'm glad there are a lot of guitar players pursuing technique as diligently as they possibly can, because it leaves this whole other area open to people like me."
Richard Thompson

My first guitar was a Stella Harmony steel string that Santa gave to one of my brothers which he never learned to play. My first good guitar was a new maple necked '75 stratocaster my folks bought me for $350. That was alot of money for them to spend back then and I had to deal with 4 siblings getting jealous because of that. We went through the experience of a traumatic death in the family and it was their way of helping me get my mind off of that I'm sure. Wish I'd have kept both those guitars!

gjmalcyon said:

My parents bought me my Yamaha FG-110 in '69 (that's me on the left playing it in 1974). Money was tight, and they still managed to figure out a way to buy it for me - they knew it was important to me. Still have it, and hope to refurbish it some day, not because its a great guitar (it isn't), but for what it represents.

If I didn't have it, I wouldn't have met my wife, and my life would be very different, and not in a better way.

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My first guitar was also a Yamaha FG-110 that I got new in 1972. Still have it and play it from time to time. I know that common wisdom says a laminated top doesn't get better with time, but they must have had some special glue in that plywood....I could swear that mine has improved drastically with age.

It's also neat to see that you also have an F-212XL like mine.....our ears must be tuned to the same wavelength!

KY

My first guitar [it's hard to call it a guitar] was a Stella all ply grey painted piece of crap.
I was about 9 or 10 at the time. I took a few lessons from a neighbor to try to learn how to play it.
We found that it was impossible to tune it let alone play it.
I decided that guitar just wasn't for me.

Then in 1970, my parents gave me a Yamaha guitar as part of my High School graduation present.
I took that guitar with me to my Army Basic training.
That's where I really learned how to play it.
Several of my Army Buddies played and they showed me some chords.

Although it was an all ply guitar, it had a very good tone and played easily.
After Basic Training, I bought some John Denver song books and these were my first songs to play and sing.
I added some Gordon Lightfoot songbooks a few years later.

I wound up trading the Yamaha in on a solid top Yamaha that I never bonded with.
Next was my first 12 string. I had to have a 12 string because John Denver played one. Mine was a cheap import
and I didn't keep it for long.
I eventually got my first Guild, a D-212 or D-25-12 in around 1974.

The first guitar I can remember was a Harmony arch top that sounded absolutely horrible. Then came the Gretsch twister. Played three chords in a band for a couple years. "Skinny Minney, Boney Maroni, Sea Cruise, Summertime Blues, Wipe Out, La Bamba, Whole lot a Shakin, Etc. Then an Epiphone classical. And then, drum role please......1974 D40 bought circa 1975 in Motown. Latest additon is Gretsch 6129 blue pearl with filtertrons. I'm trying to ruin the blues for true believers.

My first guitar was a Series 10 handed down to me from my older brother. Definitely a cheapy, but I put an EMG 81 in it and the bridge/action was awesome. Had it from the time I was 15 until I was maybe 25 or so. One day I was cleaning my apartment and knocked it over. Snapped the headstock. After that I had a cheap Stryper-esque Dean I got from a friend just for something to play. Then another friend had a Washburn (American-made, heavy as $hit, Super-Strat style) that was in pieces and he thought maybe the neck would fit on my Series 10. Instead, I had someone put the Washburn back together with the EMG and I was all set, despite the Floyd Rose. Played many a punk show with that guitar, but I eventually passed it on to a friend (and former employee) who was looking for an electric, but had very limited funds. Hey! A free guitar! Here ya go! Of course, that was after I decided to go looking for my dream guitar - a '61 reissue SG with classic '57 humbuckers, preferably made in the '90's. That's when I came across Guilds and the rest is, well, you know...a sordid tale of GAS.

Anyway, the Series 10 looked like this:

My first guitar was a Yamaha FG-325 steel string made circa 1976. I got it for Christmas, and played the heck out of that clunker for almost 20 years until the bridge pulled off.

My first GOOD guitar was a Carvin CM-130E that I bought new in 1979. The truss rod broke on that guitar, TWICE! I took all the hardware off it, and burned it in the wood stove. Really :mrgreen:

kyguild said:

gjmalcyon said:

My parents bought me my Yamaha FG-110 in '69 (that's me on the left playing it in 1974). Money was tight, and they still managed to figure out a way to buy it for me - they knew it was important to me. Still have it, and hope to refurbish it some day, not because its a great guitar (it isn't), but for what it represents.

If I didn't have it, I wouldn't have met my wife, and my life would be very different, and not in a better way.

Click to expand...

My first guitar was also a Yamaha FG-110 that I got new in 1972. Still have it and play it from time to time. I know that common wisdom says a laminated top doesn't get better with time, but they must have had some special glue in that plywood....I could swear that mine has improved drastically with age.

It's also neat to see that you also have an F-212XL like mine.....our ears must be tuned to the same wavelength!

KY

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Too much time listening to Buffalo Springfield (and its progeny), and looking for that enormous acoustic guitar sound -- that's my excuse.

I keep the Yamaha strung, and take it out from time to time. Its a mess now - pieces of paper matches under the B and E strings at the nut to keep the buzzing tolerable, pickguard almost all the way off, the first couple of frets are almost worn flat, but my fingers know where to go automatically and without conscious thought.

In a way its very much like catching up with a childhood friend you see every few years - immediately comfortable and you pick up right where you left off.

Look what I found on page 102 in Miscellaneous !!! My first guitar was a 1960 Teisco and the first song on it was FROM A JACK TO A KING by Roger Miller. Looking for old photo to post. SGB.

http://imageshack.com/a/img838/5716/rucj.jpg

My very first guitar was a Lyle electric...semi-hollow like a 335 or Starfire...not a great guitar but got my started. My first really nice guitar was (I'm proud to say) a Guild S-300-D purchased by my father for me in 1976. Sadly..I traded it in 1978 for Les Paul standard. Love LP...but wish I still had the S-300. Those dimarzio pickups with the coil tap were awesome...great playing and sounding guitar. just didn't appreciate it at the time. Looked very much like this one.

First guitar, a $15 sunburst Harmony. I was maybe five or so and at the beach. No telling where it went.

First real guitar? A '73 Guild D-35 I bought in high school for $250, if my recollection is correct. I took it to college and then dragged it around for 40 years. It has been neglected, left in hot cars, left in a closet without humidification for years on end tuned to pitch, beat on by two kids, survived an extended stay in one of their bedrooms, and remains one of my most sentimental possessions. In a fit of desperation, I got the action back down using a JDL Bridge Doctor. There is a part of me that wants to do a neck reset, and ditch the JDL, but I just can't seem to put her under the knife.




Neal

'71 D-25BR
'73 D-35NT
'77 D-212NT
'81 D-212SB
'07 F-30SB
'12 F-50SB Std
'13 M-120CH

Looks a lot like my first Guild, a '75 D35.

Sigh..... :blue:
Joe

Ewe.....JDL......Pulled many of those out in my day. Have the bridgeplate replaced.

Again, reluctant to do any major surgery on her, Refret. Plays great just the way she is. And for some reason, the JDL made it a much livelier guitar.

The most I am considering at this point is replacing that god-awful MOP dot on the bridge with a rosewood plug.

This thread made me go straight to my guitar closet, pull her out, and play Wild Nights.

Neal

my first 'good' guitar was a conn folk-style (om size) that i had for many years. traded her in finally on an ibanez of similar size (wont make that mistake again--apologies to those that like them). traded that in on a martin om-1--a '90's model. that was the 'dawg' that i loved but finally sold to get my martin d-18. when my then-stepson destroyed it i finally got my soulmate mckaila; my guild dv6