My first guitar (before I learnt how to play) was a 'nobby no name' acoustic bought from a charity shop for £2 when I was 14 years old.
It had no strings, a really horrible 'sunburst' effect finish that was gouged and scratched to hell, it stank of cigarettes, and when I did put some strings on it, the action was so high you could fit your fingers on the 12th fret under the strings without touching them!
In true Paul W style the first thing I did was give it a new 'paint' job.
My parents had just finished decorating our house and we had half a tin of white gloss paint left over, I didn't waste time sanding down the guitar or even taking the strings off, the white gloss was slapped on quickly and certainly not sparingly and the gouged sunburst finish was consigned to history.
The cigarette smell had now also gone as all you could smell now was the gloss paint.
I had that guitar for 2 years and taught myself how to more or less play a few chords along to my favourite Jam, Who and Kinks records. But in all those 2 years I swear that the paint stayed sticky and never dried, I would guess that this is why Rickenbacker dont use household gloss paint on their guitars, there are definitely drying issues there.
I left home soon after and moved to London to find work, I left the guitar behind at home, and later discovered that my parents had given the guitar away to some poor unfortunate local youngster who wanted to learn how to play.
I wonder if he still has it.
The guitar shop I ordered it from told me I'd probably have to wait a whopping six months for the guitar, but much to my surprise it showed up after about 3 1/2-4 months. I'd learned a few chords and such on the Telecaster by the time the Rick showed up, after which my learning pace picked up quite a bit.
