What Did You Have To Do For Your First Guitar?

shasha said:
Yeah, I didn't have an amp for mine, but I had a boom box with RCA inputs and made a cable to hook it up. Not sure what type of jacks they were supposed to be (mic, line, turntable), but cranked up it would distort a bit. If I jammed the source switch in the middle I could play along with a tape.
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I was not specific in my previous post.

There was a gap between buying my guitar and my amp.

During that gap I had busted open the plastic on top of my boombox ripped out the mic and soldered in a jack. If I put a tape in the deck and pressed play and record and then pause I could play through the boombox.
If I let pause go it would record what I played.

Later on I used a Walkman as a preamp into the boombox for distortion. Horrible, scratchy, awful, exciting distortion.

This one lol:

Vintage General Electric Dual Cassette Boombox Model 3 5632A Fully Tested | eBay
 
My dad was/is a blues musician. When I told him I wanted my own guitar, he told me he would match anything I raised. He then started working me as painters helper and later on as a painter. A skill I still use today (thanks Dad).
I was at a local guitar store in Oak Cliff (Dallas Tx.) called Eugine's Guitars everyday after school and got to looking at this tobacco burst Gibson Explorer. I WANTED IT!!!! I could barely play and had been using my dads knock off Tele to poke around on. But when I saw this guitar, I KNEW I was going to be a guitarist. It was like a beacon and an old memory all coming together. Seriously, almost an out of body experience when I picked it up. Bliss! Joy! I ran home and told my parents what I had found. My dad told me again, he would match what I raised. He then did something that changed the dynamic of my house hold forever more. He split a job with me 50/50. I was 11!!! I can still remember my mom loosing her mind and screaming in the other room, "he's only ELEVEN!!!"....haha. My dad just stood his ground and waved me away as to not make the situation any worse. I sat in my room feeling scared and happy at the same time.
The next day I went back to Eugine's and put that Explorer on layaway. I went to the guitar store every day and asked to play it, and they would let me most days.
Then one day I walked into my bedroom and there it was, in its HUGE tan case with a pink lining. OMG, I was in heaven. A week later my mom took me back to Eugine's and bought me a white snakeskin Fender Champ.
I was now shitting in tall cotton....and do to this very day. Thanks for keeping the tradition going Cliff.
 
Great story! It's wonderful when parents are supportive!

Funeral said:
My dad was/is a blues musician. When I told him I wanted my own guitar, he told me he would match anything I raised. He then started working me as painters helper and later on as a painter. A skill I still use today (thanks Dad).
I was at a local guitar store in Oak Cliff (Dallas Tx.) called Eugine's Guitars everyday after school and got to looking at this tobacco burst Gibson Explorer. I WANTED IT!!!! I could barely play and had been using my dads knock off Tele to poke around on. But when I saw this guitar, I KNEW I was going to be a guitarist. It was like a beacon and an old memory all coming together. Seriously, almost an out of body experience when I picked it up. Bliss! Joy! I ran home and told my parents what I had found. My dad told me again, he would match what I raised. He then did something that changed the dynamic of my house hold forever more. He split a job with me 50/50. I was 11!!! I can still remember my mom loosing her mind and screaming in the other room, "he's only ELEVEN!!!"....haha. My dad just stood his ground and waved me away as to not make the situation any worse. I sat in my room feeling scared and happy at the same time.
The next day I went back to Eugine's and put that Explorer on layaway. I went to the guitar store every day and asked to play it, and they would let me most days.
Then one day I walked into my bedroom and there it was, in its HUGE tan case with a pink lining. OMG, I was in heaven. A week later my mom took me back to Eugine's and bought me a white snakeskin Fender Champ.
I was now shitting in tall cotton....and do to this very day. Thanks for keeping the tradition going Cliff.
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a Kay E100 re-strung leftie.. it was old even when I got it in 1979..
was made bad out of crap..
looked crap, played crap and sounded even worse..

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I wonder what happened to that guitar
I left it at my mum's house when I moved out [with my '78 USA Fender Strat] and never saw it again

I've no idea what my first amp was.. just that it was a 15W combo.. it was nasty..
the only thing that mended it's tone was the JHS Fuzz pedal I got..
well I say mended.. what I actually mean is that it sounded crap, but at least was dirty..
that vanished from my mum's with the Kay after I moved out [with my HH IC 100 2x12] and I never saw it again

no pride or shame though.. it was the moment I discovered electricity..
and it set me on a path and love affair which is still with me today..
 
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I think that I'm quite a bit younger than most of you so this will be less nostalgic, but reading all of your stories has been rather entertaining so I thought that I would chime in with mine.
My first guitar was a black Epiphone Les Paul Special II. The story of me getting it is pretty boring; I received it as a Christmas present from my Dad when I was 10. The funny part of the story comes about 5 or 6 years later when my Dad told me that the only reason that he bought it was to piss off my Mother, as my parents are divorced. He expected me to drive her insane with "loud, head-banging rock shit" for a while and then ultimately give up on it a year later. Needless to say, he was wrong about the latter.

For a beginner guitar it actually plays pretty well, though I did end up swapping out the pickups. It was my only guitar up until a year ago when I finally saved up enough money from teaching guitar to purchase something a bit more high-end out of my own pocket. It doesn't get played too often now unfortunately.
 
I really wanted an electric guitar when I was 9, but my parents had an instinct for self preservation so for Christmas, they got me a no-name acoustic guitar instead. I banged on that for years, but still wanted an electric. By the time I was 15, I had enough money from my paper route, strawberry picking and other manual labor to buy my own -- which still required hard-won permission from the parents. Knowing nothing about guitars and amps, I bought a POS Kay guitar like the one above and a Peavey amp that had to be cranked to get even bad tone. If I remember right, it all cost over $250 around 1976. My older sister moved out 30 days after the first speaker movement.

I kept trading in and buying guitars to find one that was playable. Eventually, I bought an Ibanez Artist Les Paul copy around 1977 that was actually really nice. I still have that one.
 
An older friend who had a good job lent me $600 in 1980 to buy a second hand '77 Strat which I paid back over six months working weekends (was in high school) washing dishes for $2.50/hour. I wanted a Strat since I was a Ritchie Blackmore freak, and I still have it.
 
Shovel horse poop for an entire summer at a local equestrian center. I was 12, but I knew the owner and he knew I was doing it to buy a guitar/amp, so he looked the other way regarding child labor laws. :D

Then again, that was 1977, so it was a much more relaxed time.

Sal Buentello, the man who owned those stables, helped change my life in more ways than he will ever know. Good man, good friend, and the one who helped me get my first guitar. I appreciated that guitar/amp more than I would have if someone had given it to me, for sure. That guitar represented a lot of hard work, sweat, and stinky clothes. :D My parents, while they wouldn't just buy me a guitar and amp, are the ones who instilled the values early in life to work hard for what you want. It's paid off in the long run.
 
Funny that I had to beg my parents for my first guitar (Aria Pro CS350) when I was 13 years old, got it a year after for xmas when I was 14 and still have it. Now the funny thing is that I had to beg the wife for my first serious guitar: a beautiful PRS SC trem that I unfortunately traded a few years ago.
 
My first guitar was given to my by my mother. It was a Stella acoustic. But my first ELECTRIC guitar was given to me by a music store manager.

I was about 13 years old. Me and two friends walked to a music store about 6:30 one Saturday night. The lights were on, a hat and coat were on their hooks, but we didn't see anybody. We walked in and jammed for about two hours. We pulled instruments down. Hap was a drummer, Mel was a bass player and I was the guitar player. After two hours of bliss, playing these great strats and gibsons the other two guys said we should just take a bunch of stuff. I said no. What would it look like three 13 year old boys walking down the street holding a bunch of new instruments. Let's call the manager. So we looked through the Sherman and Clay directory and called the manager. He couldn't believe it! He said he was just so tired at the end of the day he just walked out. He came over in about 5 minutes and gave us each an instrument and severe discounts or freebies any time we went back. He'd stop everyone and tell them how he now has faith in the youth of today and tell them this story.

The guitar I got was a no name strat copy, blue metal flake. But the action was real good. It eventually became a fretless guitar.
 
I BEGGED my parents for at least two years before I received my first guitar. I received a 1985 Gibson SG on my 10th birthday - this was back in 1986. My family was extremely poor so I am not sure how they paid for the guitar, but my uncle was a professional musician (guitarist and songwriter) and I know they bought it from him. I still have the SG, and while it is not really my main "player" anymore, it is by far my favorite guitar for sentimental reasons and I still play it quite often.
 
I got my first guitar a little late.. I think I was 22.
I had been engaged to this girl, and living with her and her family. Her father is Ian Anderson's (Tull's) cousin. Quite a good player, he was.
So, with him playing every day and being around it, when an opportunity for a trade arose, I took it.

My first was a BC Rich Ironbird. At the time, I was doing some prosthetic make-up work. A guy wanted some of my work, but had no money. He offered the guitar in trade, so I took it... in fact, I've gotten many guitars in trade for these over the years. I still have two of the strats I traded... I almost got a good running Oldsmobile Delta 88 instead of one of the strats, but nobody else could drive it home from California during the trip.

A pair of these are what I made for him:

PS: 18 or so years later, I sure do miss that girl...

fangs.jpg
 
(1968) My first guitar came from daddy. I only had to be a good little boy.
(1973) My first REAL guitar was a gold-top Les Paul and I had to dig fireplace holes on a construction site all summer.
 
Just remembered something funny. I was in children's homes most of my child hood and would see my mum or dad in the holidays. One yeah whilst passing the local music store of which I had fallen in,love with a black tele there was a black blue sunburst explorer shaped beauty in the window... WOW.. Well to move along mother dearest said she would buy for the following Xmas. oh Yeah.. Damn I was excited all yeah.. Told all my school mates.. So year ends, I go to stay with Mum.. Xmas comes... Excited is an understatement.. Then, then, she hands me a brand new Ukelele......


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I was basically a pain in the @$$ when I was in high school. I made a lot of poor choices. I was in band and ended up getting kicked out. My friend asked me to join guitar. My dad felt i needed something, like an extra push. He bought me a left handed Jackson dinky which I still have. Definitely changed my world.
 
I borrowed an acoustic from my school (1979)
Then, for my 2nd, I borrowed the $15 from my folks (1980)

My 3rd was a graduation gift (1981).
My 4th was a Christmas present (1982).
The rest I bought for myself (1998-present).
 
When I was young (about 10 yrs old), my Dad would take me to work with him on the weekends. I would ride my bike around town and one day noticed a small music shop nearby. I would ride up there all the time, going in to oogle at all the awesome guitars and amps. I remember seeing my first Ibanez catalog and fell in love with an S-series guitar, but it was way out of my reach, but was determined to save up for a guitar. So I would help my Dad around his shop earning a few bucks and eventually saved up (along with my parents' help) and got a Alvarez strat-style guitar, a small Crate amp and a few beginner books. I carried that guitar everywhere with me and played nonstop. Great memories.

... And yes, I eventually got my Ibanez.
 
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