Tell me about your first good guitar

[jp2558]

In 1977 I bought a Starfield (MIJ) Les Paul copy. I was a huge Zeppelin fan at the time and this guitar played well and stayed in tune. It was literally my first guitar purchase as I'd learned to play on my brother's acoustic guitars. 10 years later I traded it in for a real Les Paul Custom (not knowing it was the top of their line) 🤔 Fast forward to 2012 when I bought my Martin M-36 as a worthy replacement for my 1992 Takamine EF341C. I thought the Tak was decent, but compared to the M-36, it might as well have been built from Legos.

[rstaight]

My first good guitar I got when I was around 12. It is a 1963 Gibson SG. Yes I said is. I'm 65 and I still have it.

It is the one listed in my signature.

[rounder]

Got a Guild classic when I went away to college in 1963. Classic is what Peter Paul and Mary played and loved everything they did. Then went past that and got a D-28 because I was more into Kingston Trio and country at the time. It was a nice guitar and I loved it. The fretboard developed a dip on the treble side. I probably would have had it fixed if I knew then what I know now. But it got stolen, so did not matter. Was bummed out for a while until I said so much for that and bought an HD-28 around 1995. Nice guitar...still like it.

[rollypolly]

A 2009 recording king to-t16. I guess I haven’t been playing as long as some of y’all on here. I played a crummy lam Yamaha for many years but it was definitely not a good guitar. So the RK was my first good one. It was really good but I stupidly sold it. I’ve since purchased two more but they aren’t the same. I also purchased a RO-06 and it actually comes close.

[Dave Hicks]

I got a Yamaha FG140 around 1972. It was my only acoustic for almost 30 years. It had a few square inches on the front that didn't have any scratches or dings.

However, the neck needed a reset so I sold it a few years ago.

D.H.

[CASD57]

My first good acoustic was a Yamaha A3M that they were closing out due to a new upgraded model coming out... I paid $425

Electric
Carvin TL60(Tele-Copy) in solid KOA
And a Custom Peavey 3-pickup Tele-Copy in Burbon burst

[Scootch]

I had three guitars from about 1973 to 1992. All three were pretty bad. I had a terrible classical string with steel strings, A Harmony Monterey, and a Sears Teisco Hollow body. All were bad, I knew no better. I played the dickens out of them, but I was not a social person and pretty much played by myself and taught myself. I did not realize how terrible they were. FWIW, the Harmony and Sears are now hanging on my wall or old guitars. My dad tossed the classical into a bon fire. IDKW?

I began working at my last employer in 1991. I made friends with a social worker, named Dave. He played guitar and sang in a little acoustic show he had. He was OK, not exactly Stephen Stills, but still, he played out. So we talked and it led to guitars and he was shocked at how I was played such "primitive" instruments.

He mainly played a D-28. He also had a D-18 he got at a yard sale for $300. Lastly he owned a Yamaha APX-6. An ancestor to the current APX line, the 6 was quite nice. Solid top, Back was wooden and oddly, chamfered with rounded back corners, kind of odd. It had two pickups, one was a piezo and the other was an internal stick on and you could mix them.

He offered it to me for $250. I bought it from him and thought it sounded heavenly. I used to string it with Adamas 8020s and really liked it.

I regretfully traded it in on an old Alvarez 12 string. I really liked he 12 string, it was the best 12 string I ever had, but I missed the APX 6.

Later I bought an APX500, but it was a pale comparison. I do not know if my liking for the APX6n was because I'd never had anything as good or if it was really as nice as I thought. Once I began to buy Martins and Gibsons, Most any cheaper guitar kind of failed to impress me. I'd love to strum one today.

[Backpocketnj]

I think it was a Martin HD-16R-LSH. It was the newly released large sound hold model with a 1.75 inch nut width. I knew I liked a dreadnaught sound at the time, but wanted something with that nut width. In the end, it was a great guitar but I just don't find dreadnaughts very comfortable for my right shoulder. I ended up selling it to a local shop and got a pretty decent amount for it, all thing considered.

[JanS]

My first guitar was a fairly crappy Yamaha that I bought new in 1976. My first GOOD guitar was a 1968 Guild D40 that I bought in 1979. I sold my Teac reel-to-reel to finance the purchase. That D40 was a factory acoustic-electric with the knobs on the soundboard. It played great as an acoustic but not so good when plugged in. I sold it a couple years ago.

[Oldguy64]

I bought my first good guitar the day I graduated nursing school nearly thirty years ago.
It’s the Alvarez 5013 listed below.
Over the years it got better tuners.
I’ve also added a K&K pickup.

It’s semi-retired. But since it’s all laminate, it still serves as my low humidity winter guitar. And it’s out long after the humidity is reasonable again.

[Arapaho G]

1972 Gurian. Don't know which model it was. I had no business with it as I knew nothing about guitars and could strum a few chords. It was stolen in a move in 1988. It would be worth way more today than the $450 I paid for it.

[Dr356]

My Eastman E 20 OM.

Regret moving it on. After that came the little Martin I still have and will never let go.

[Myopic Squirrel]

In 1980 bought a ‘78 Takamine F 370 SH for $75 from a wealthy kid who had more money than sense. I think it retailed for $499 and was one of the Martin “lawsuit” guitars (never was a lawsuit in spite of the nomenclature). From a couple of feet away visually indistinguishable from a D28 (sonically a different story). Still a very good sounding guitar (compliments from a luthier and a couple of very experienced Martin owners). Since dreads are now uncomfortable to play, delighted it’s in my son’s possession, hopefully to be furthered played by our granddaughter and/or grandson.

Even a blind - or in my case myopic - squirrel - finds an acorn every now and then.

[Tycobb73]

Gibson les paul. Hated the ergonomics. Playedmy squier strat more. Traded it for a Jackson. Tried les Paul's every now and then. Went thrift a few until I found one that weighs sub 8 pounds that stuck.