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I just stumbled upon a pic on google of my first guitar. I was so excited that I would be getting a guitar for my 12th birthday and when I opened the box I hated it! Stupid Sears.
I was so envious of all the other kids with the rented Squier Bullet Strats in the group guitar lessons..


I eventually saved up and bought an Ibanez RG550 in metallic red. it was the 80's ok?

A Squier 2 Stratocaster that could not remain in tune for more than a couple of seconds. You'd tune a string, move to another, and the prior one was immediately out of tune.

I sold it and got a Gibson SG.

Cort P-bass exactly like this one:



(Apologies to the guy whose image I stole)

Must have been around 1987 or so. I remember it cost $129; I think I still even have the receipt. It was junk; the action was really high and it was really hard to play. My pickguard shattered one day when I pulled out the cable; I couldn't find a replacement so from then on, it was held together with duct tape. But I gigged with that bass many times. It sounded fine on stage from what I remember. It just sucked to play and it looked really cheap, and I knew it. I was always kind of embarrassed about it.

My first six string was a Gibson J-50 Deluxe acoustic that a girl in high school gave me. This is actually my own photo of that guitar (I later sold it):



My first electric six string was my CIJ Jazzmaster, which wasn't until 2007:

1950s Stella H298

This was my very first guitar. It was given to me by an uncle. He could play a little; when I was about five years old I remember him giving an impromptu concert at the family Christmas party. He gave me the guitar about six years later. I struggled with it: the intonation was poor, the strings were high and the sound was feeble. It was heavy and crude, but did make noise. I tried hooking a microphone to the top which helped with volume but not the tone. I learned a few chords from a Mel Bay book, but never managed to play this guitar above the third fret. It met its demise—smashed to pieces—in a performance piece wherein the group I was playing with emulated The Who. It was the final performance of my high school rock 'n roll days.

I had a small bodied semi acoustic with florentine cutaways and weird pickups, it had no name on it anywhere and I have no photos of it.I would love to know what it was perhaps a Kay or something.

Peavey T-40 bass. pretty uncool at the time ('92) but I wish I hadn't sold it. Heavy as hell but it sounded great and super easy to play.

ruraldave wrote:I just stumbled upon a pic on google of my first guitar. I was so excited that I would be getting a guitar for my 12th birthday and when I opened the box I hated it! Stupid Sears.
I was so envious of all the other kids with the rented Squier Bullet Strats in the group guitar lessons..


I eventually saved up and bought an Ibanez RG550 in metallic red. it was the 80's ok?

mine was exactly like this, but with no name on the headstock.

back in 1992 or so my mother got it for $50 at a garage sale in my hometown.

I sold it in 2005 to some i(diot)ndie kid for $100


other early guitars were a Charvel strat-thing, someone gave me a no name SG style with gold foils, and I had an El Degas Tele that I destroyed.

Synsonics by gretsch my Grandma bought me out of a fingerhut catalogue. I quickly traded up to a Lotus LP copy.

Mine was a telecaster clone - I think the company was called Brunswick. It weighed a tonne, but it actually looked pretty cool (or so I thought at age 12). Black guard with three colour sunburst with a rosewood board. Nice.

My first 'proper' guitar came two years later - I sold the tele clone and bought a 1989 Fender Strat Plus Deluxe in bahama green (think a more yellowy vivid/lurid surf green!). I still have that guitar, but I haven't played it in close to a year or more. It's a shame really as it's not that bad a guitar ... but it badly needs a proper set up and fret job. Some moron before me also stripped the truss rod adjustment screw, so the relief is what it is ... thankfully the neck has just enough relief as it is (as you can't adjust it!).

My first offset was a 2003/2004 CIJ Jaguar - OTM with matching headstock. Only sold it a few years back to fund a '65 D&B LPB Jag!

Of all the guitars I've had over the years (must be close to forty passed through my hands by now) there's only one I regret letting go - I had a fantastic 2004 LP Standard goldtop - had it for about four years. It made sense to sell it when I did (it went to fund something nice and vintage), but I've tried quite a few LPs since then and none have been as nice - apart from a three pickup LP Custom reissue that I played in a store (slept on whether to buy it, went back the next day and it was gone).

My first was some sort of Yamaha acoustic. I kept it for a few years before trading it in for something else. The first electric I ever owned was a black, Squier Strat with a rosewood fretboard. I think it may have also been traded in as part of the same deal with the Yamaha. I honestly don't miss either of them I've had over 100 guitars pass through my hands since then Some of those I do regret selling.

90s Squier bullet strat bought brand new from Steve's music in toronto back when i was in grade 11. I modded it heavily and i had it up until last year, but honestly i didn't need or want more than one strat so i opted to sell it mostly because i didn't care for the thinness of the body and the lack of sustain (compared to my MIM). i do get a bit nostalgic sometimes and i miss it.

This monstrosity right here, an Ibanez Gio with a shredder neck and super high gain pickups. I got it as part of a build-your-own package with a Peavey Transtube amp for my 16th birthday. The guy at the counter of the store threw in an acoustic gig bag and a rainbow guitar strap, possibly just to mock me. I'll never know. I've actually still got it and use it from time to time as an experimental tuning guitar, but that's pretty much all it's good for at this point (until I get into metal, then maybe it'll get more love).

FightingPlankton wrote:Synsonics by gretsch my Grandma bought me out of a fingerhut catalogue. I quickly traded up to a Lotus LP copy.

I had a VERY similar crappy Service Merchandise guitar with the amp built in. A year later I got my first "real" guitar, a late '80's MIK Squier Contemporary Strat HSS. It had a plywood body and a floyd, but decent neck and pickups. I left it in a house after I moved out (the house was being torn down). It either was demolished, or it belongs to a kid of one of the workers who tore down the house.

No pic, but a Japanese Avon Les Paul copy in the early '70's.

Bolt on neck, plywood body with bent ply top too look "carved" and humbucker covers that hid cheap single coils.

PRS SE Custom
The SE stands for Student Edition.
At the time I didn't want to buy a Fender or Gibson but didn't want some typical metal brand either.
Later on I found the pickups too hot, the looks too metal and the neck heel HUGE. Great tremolo though, the only one that gets close to Fender offset tremolos!