I still got it!
- Thread starter Paradox916
- Start date
My first guitar was a Yamaha G225A, the standard first guitar at that time. First electric was a new Ibanez Roadster - before they changed the name to Roadstar. It actually sounded and played better than my second electric guitar, a Fender "The Strat". First amp was a Roland Cube 60 in white. First pedal was a Boss DM-2 when that was state of the art.
I don't have any of that gear - haven't owned it in years. I'm not really all that sentimental about gear, and don't see the point of just keeping stuff if it's not going to get used. I'll never be one of those guys with 50 guitars. That is something I will never understand! I'd rather have one really good guitar than ten average ones.
I don't have any of that gear - haven't owned it in years. I'm not really all that sentimental about gear, and don't see the point of just keeping stuff if it's not going to get used. I'll never be one of those guys with 50 guitars. That is something I will never understand! I'd rather have one really good guitar than ten average ones.
Coda
Well-known member
This is the first guitar I have memory of playing: a 1959 ES-330T…
My grandfather bought it used in 1967 with an Epiphone amp (one of those old bandstand ones) for $75. My Dad later ‘inherited’ it…except my Dad can’t play, despite his wishes. When I wanted to start playing, this thing was tucked away in the closet…
I nearly fainted years later when I figured out how to read the date code…
The first guitar I bought with my own money was a 2001 Squier Stagemaster, in black, which I do still have…
My grandfather bought it used in 1967 with an Epiphone amp (one of those old bandstand ones) for $75. My Dad later ‘inherited’ it…except my Dad can’t play, despite his wishes. When I wanted to start playing, this thing was tucked away in the closet…
I nearly fainted years later when I figured out how to read the date code…
The first guitar I bought with my own money was a 2001 Squier Stagemaster, in black, which I do still have…
Last edited:
Paradox916
Well-known member
Left handed guitars look so weird…. Ya freak.
This appeared in the “Strat” thread, and although not my actual first guitar, it was my first “real” guitar (preceded by a cheap Yamaha Pacifica that was traded in to help fund this). It has been with me since ab 1992.
My actual first guitar was an Alvarez 12 string acoustic that I only sold a few years ago to fund a mandolin purchase
That SOB taught me the true pain of barre chords and string changes. Would probably still have it if not for some belly-ing that was happening. I have a bad habit of forming emotional attachment to stuff. I hold onto shit for way too long.
My actual first guitar was an Alvarez 12 string acoustic that I only sold a few years ago to fund a mandolin purchase
That SOB taught me the true pain of barre chords and string changes. Would probably still have it if not for some belly-ing that was happening. I have a bad habit of forming emotional attachment to stuff. I hold onto shit for way too long.
peccary
Well-known member
I don't have it still, but my first bass was a cheap Ibanez P bass. It was one of those little combos from GC that came with a little practice amp, cable, tuner, etc.
I do have this 20 year old photo of me holding it, though (probably from 2000, I think), so that's embarrassing. Those sideburns were pretty rad.
I do have this 20 year old photo of me holding it, though (probably from 2000, I think), so that's embarrassing. Those sideburns were pretty rad.
Last edited:
Paradox916
Well-known member
Skateboard decks, roto toms, puka shell necklaces, and sideburns…. Tell me you lived through the late 90s early 2000s in SoCal without telling me.
Coda
Well-known member
No they weren’t…I rocked that same haircut Freshman year, though. 2001: Never Forget…
Paradox916
Well-known member
Harry Klippton
Not Interested
Guitars and hair?
Joben Magooch
Well-known member
I started out playing bass. It was a squier that I bought for $30 at a yard sale. The truss rod was stripped and the action was a quarter inch off the frets. Shortly after owning it I reasoned with myself “can’t have fret buzz if you don’t have frets” and pulled them all out, put some veneer in the slots and sealed it up with superglue. I think I read that Jaco’s fretless was sealed with superglue or something.
My first amp was a fender rumble 100 with a 15” speaker. Shortly after getting it my beater of a bass kicked the bucket but I got my first guitar not long after that. I didn’t have any pedals or anything but determined if you cranked all the knobs you could get a distortion sound out if it. Dunno if it was just the speaker breaking up or what but that got me by for a while.
Pictured then is my first guitar. My local shop the time dealt mostly in metal-adjacent gear/brands. Lotta Peavey, ESP/LTD, BC Rich guitars and Peavey, Crate, Randall, and Krank (remember them??) amps and such. I tried out this Peavey as one of the few in my price range and quite liked it. It’s a Peavey HP Signature. This was one of the lower end models (they did a USA signature for a time too which was actually super nice) and I guess is something between a PRS and double cut Les Paul or something. Set neck, 24.75” scale length, basswood body w/ maple cap, etc. That was my main guitar for AGES and quite literally went all over the country and even to some neighboring countries with me. Then I bought a telecaster and it went unplayed for probably close to a decade lol. I’ve since given it a good cleaning and tune up and replaced the electronics and I’m enjoying playing it more again!
We had a neighbor who was a big metalhead. Super cool guy and monster player (showed me a bunch of photos of him playing with Paul Gilbert before he was really “known”. Pretty cool!) and he sold my parents one of his old guitar amps for me to play on. A Crate DX-212. Big solid state modeling amp with a foot controller for all your settings. As I recall it was actually one of the first ever “modeling amps”
I got my first pedal shortly thereafter which was actually a DIY one too! It was a BYOC kit for a DOD 250. As you might imagine it did not sound that great pushing a digitally modeled solid state amp from the early 2000s. I thought it was cool tho. I think my first “retail” pedal was something boring like a VPJR and I know I had a BBE Boosta Grande early on. Similarly… clean boost didn’t really benefit me much with that rig.
Anyways I think that’s enough “firsts” for now. Fun to look back on though!
My first amp was a fender rumble 100 with a 15” speaker. Shortly after getting it my beater of a bass kicked the bucket but I got my first guitar not long after that. I didn’t have any pedals or anything but determined if you cranked all the knobs you could get a distortion sound out if it. Dunno if it was just the speaker breaking up or what but that got me by for a while.
Pictured then is my first guitar. My local shop the time dealt mostly in metal-adjacent gear/brands. Lotta Peavey, ESP/LTD, BC Rich guitars and Peavey, Crate, Randall, and Krank (remember them??) amps and such. I tried out this Peavey as one of the few in my price range and quite liked it. It’s a Peavey HP Signature. This was one of the lower end models (they did a USA signature for a time too which was actually super nice) and I guess is something between a PRS and double cut Les Paul or something. Set neck, 24.75” scale length, basswood body w/ maple cap, etc. That was my main guitar for AGES and quite literally went all over the country and even to some neighboring countries with me. Then I bought a telecaster and it went unplayed for probably close to a decade lol. I’ve since given it a good cleaning and tune up and replaced the electronics and I’m enjoying playing it more again!
We had a neighbor who was a big metalhead. Super cool guy and monster player (showed me a bunch of photos of him playing with Paul Gilbert before he was really “known”. Pretty cool!) and he sold my parents one of his old guitar amps for me to play on. A Crate DX-212. Big solid state modeling amp with a foot controller for all your settings. As I recall it was actually one of the first ever “modeling amps”
I got my first pedal shortly thereafter which was actually a DIY one too! It was a BYOC kit for a DOD 250. As you might imagine it did not sound that great pushing a digitally modeled solid state amp from the early 2000s. I thought it was cool tho. I think my first “retail” pedal was something boring like a VPJR and I know I had a BBE Boosta Grande early on. Similarly… clean boost didn’t really benefit me much with that rig.
Anyways I think that’s enough “firsts” for now. Fun to look back on though!
Attachments
jjjimi84
Well-known member
My first guitar was a washburn something cheap picked up at a local shop for 250 bucks. Wasn’t much later the headstock popped off and was smashed in true teenage rebellion, 15 years young.
My next guitar is my sunburst strat that is in most of my videos. A month before my 16th birthday, my Mom took me to Guitar Center and loaned me nine hundred dollars. For the next six months I worked my ass off and paid back every cent.
That guitar has been by my side everywhere for 23 plus years and never leaving.
I am not one to trade or sell guitars so most of mine have been with me a very long time.
My next guitar is my sunburst strat that is in most of my videos. A month before my 16th birthday, my Mom took me to Guitar Center and loaned me nine hundred dollars. For the next six months I worked my ass off and paid back every cent.
That guitar has been by my side everywhere for 23 plus years and never leaving.
I am not one to trade or sell guitars so most of mine have been with me a very long time.
I still have my first *decent* guitar and good amp.
First guitar was a CC Clark HH super strat copy which was a GC or Sam Ash house brand made by Cort. Pawned it, a crate amp and various other junk to drive across country at 19.
But I held onto my Ibanez(98 mik 520Q iirc) from the same pawn shop that I got at 18. She's in the ICU waiting for more donor parts and a fret transplant. It's a wizard II but I still like it.
First guitar was a CC Clark HH super strat copy which was a GC or Sam Ash house brand made by Cort. Pawned it, a crate amp and various other junk to drive across country at 19.
But I held onto my Ibanez(98 mik 520Q iirc) from the same pawn shop that I got at 18. She's in the ICU waiting for more donor parts and a fret transplant. It's a wizard II but I still like it.
flemming
Well-known member
My very first guitar was something out a catalog that had a built in amp. I think this might be the same thing, and what the hell is up with that price? I have no idea what ever happened to that, but I do still have the first guitar that I bought myself in the early 90s. It's a Kramer XL III and 30+ years later I can still remember trying it out at Guitar Center and the big haired sales guy that helped me. It hasn't seen any sort of real action in probably 20+ years. I should have wiped it off those vintage fingerprints before taking the picture.
