Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

A Regal acoustic which I traded in toward a St George electric, Danelectro reverb unit and a Magnatone amp..

First guitar: '82 Alvarez Festival
First real bass (after $40.00 Japanese "toy") ~ '69 - '71 Fender Jazz Bass

whojamfan wrote:A POS acoustic from an out of business chain store called Gemco. You could slip a zippo under the strings at the 12th fret the action was so bad.

Sounds like my first bass!

Not sure what the go was in my family,but it seemed that the girls got a little better treatment than the boys! I'm one of seven(3boys,4girls)! When i was allowed to have guitar lessons at age 10(1970) my father bought me a POS with NYLON strings 3/4 acoustic that i was too embarrased to show my schoolmates.(we all wanted electric guitars). A few years later with working in a toystore after school, i finally had enough money saved to buy the $35.00 sunburst Srat copy that sat in the music store window for what seemed like an eternity! (looking back now,$35 in 1975, it may well have not been a copy at all!!)
Now, at about this time, my sister wanted to have guitar lessons,.... my father bought her a $150 Steel-stringed(12)!!!! Was i ever peeved about that!!!

A no-named Les Paul copy with horrible action my mom got me in 1978. I had it for around two years until I got a job after school and bought myself a fender lead I. I had that until the early 90s when I got my younger brother's Les Paul, which I still have. I got my 4003 in 2000.

I was given a Cimar Jazz bass copy for Christmas in '77. Little did we know it had no neck adjustment left. Traded for a first generation Ibanez Roadstar bass (1 soapbar pickup + active preamp) in '79. Nice bass - a poor man's Stingray!

The first I bought with my own cash was my battered 4000, which on reflection must have been bought in '80, and not '79 as I have sometimes thought (old age creeps up). The Ibanez went on consignment after I had the Rick refinished and set up, as I was flat broke, but happy!

gregga41 wrote:Not sure what the go was in my family,but it seemed that the girls got a little better treatment than the boys! I'm one of seven(3boys,4girls)! When i was allowed to have guitar lessons at age 10(1970) my father bought me a POS with NYLON strings 3/4 acoustic that i was too embarrased to show my schoolmates.(we all wanted electric guitars). A few years later with working in a toystore after school, i finally had enough money saved to buy the $35.00 sunburst Srat copy that sat in the music store window for what seemed like an eternity! (looking back now,$35 in 1975, it may well have not been a copy at all!!)
Now, at about this time, my sister wanted to have guitar lessons,.... my father bought her a $150 Steel-stringed(12)!!!! Was i ever peeved about that!!!

I had the same experience with my little sister. I have the theory that each kid weakens the parents for the next one. Your pleading softened them up for your sister, ultimately. My folks got tired of saying NO!

kiramdear wrote:

gregga41 wrote:Not sure what the go was in my family,but it seemed that the girls got a little better treatment than the boys! I'm one of seven(3boys,4girls)! When i was allowed to have guitar lessons at age 10(1970) my father bought me a POS with NYLON strings 3/4 acoustic that i was too embarrased to show my schoolmates.(we all wanted electric guitars). A few years later with working in a toystore after school, i finally had enough money saved to buy the $35.00 sunburst Srat copy that sat in the music store window for what seemed like an eternity! (looking back now,$35 in 1975, it may well have not been a copy at all!!)
Now, at about this time, my sister wanted to have guitar lessons,.... my father bought her a $150 Steel-stringed(12)!!!! Was i ever peeved about that!!!

I had the same experience with my little sister. I have the theory that each kid weakens the parents for the next one. Your pleading softened them up for your sister, ultimately. My folks got tired of saying NO!

Hmmm... same here...after proving he was keen on a $100 drum kit, my little brother got a Sonor kit with a full set of Paiste cymbals.... when he was 14 or so. I think your theory has legs Kira!

I first used my sister's Stella acoustic. I think it ran about $30 new. I then got some cheap Japanese rental bass, maybe a Kent or a Crestwood.

I was given an Harmony acoustic on Christmas Day, 1965. It was stolen in the summer of 1966 and I didn't get my second guitar until Christmas Day, 1996.



Note that even then, I was a lefty!

I bought an Egmond archtop acoustic with money I got for Christmas in 1970 or 1971. It cost the princely sum of 16 pounds. I also bought a copy of Bert Weedon's "Play in a Day" book. It didn't take me very long to figure out that Bert's idea of 'playing' and mine were drastically different - nearly 40 years later, I'm still trying to figure it out.

First guitar was an Olive Green Epiphone SG, which is now set up for slide and sports a Fool-inspired paint job.

First bass was a Premier Precision copy, which is currently in pieces, though I'd like to get it back together at some point - it wasn't bad!

sloop_john_b wrote:First guitar was an Olive Green Epiphone SG, which is now set up for slide and sports a Fool-inspired paint job.

First bass was a Premier Precision copy, which is currently in pieces, though I'd like to get it back together at some point - it wasn't bad!

I'm impressed , John, you still have your first two. Wish I had mine

A sigma nylon string that Mum got for for $60 (which was good value at the time) It had a repaired headstock.
I've still got it!
Eden.

I still have mine. It's a 1962 Harmony steel-string acoustic. I wanted a set of drums for my eleventh birthday in '63 but my parents were wise and bought me a guitar instead and saved me from going over to the dark side. The neck is pretty chunky and the tone is fair at best, but with a leftover set of TI Jazz Flats on it, it's at least playable. With normal strings it sounds better, but it's a real bear to play. My first bass was a Hagstrom H-2 in 1964. It's long gone but still had the fastest neck of any bass I've ever played.