The very first electric guitar you ever owned, how good or how crap ?

Telejester

My very first electric guitar was made by a company called Artist and it was a black and white strat with rosewood neck. It cost £89 and it was a right pile of shit.The action was comically high and the pickups were total junk.It went out of tune religiously and it's a miracle I didn't just pack guitar playing in. My second guitar was a sunburst hondo II Les Paul with dimarzio super distortion humbuckers and it was infinitely better than my 1st pile of junk.

Your first gtr, nice or junk ?

guitars4you

My first electric was a Grant LP Copy - effectively the same as Columbus, Avon, Satellite and Eros  with a bolt on neck and a black finish - Imported and branded by a small chain of stores in Scotland - @ICBM will know him/them

At the time I thought it was okay and I suppose that whatever were its short comings, allowed me to start to learn how to set-up a guitar to maximise its playing performance - Can't recall adding any hotrods options - partly as little around then and more as I saved to get something better asap

Today the budget end of the market has never been so good - entry level players are spoilt as to the quality of guitars available today

Danny1969

Mine was a Kay guitar, make of thin plywood with an action so high the Terminator would have struggled to play a bar chord and the pickups were truly awful things that squealed micro-phonically like a piglet being tortured. 

I wish I still had it ... mainly so I could torture it like it tortured me

ICBM

Very nice. So good that I recently replaced it when I finally managed to track down another example - the original having been modded beyond the point of restoration and eventually broken up for parts and most of it sold.

1984 Aria (Matsumoku) RS Standard. The pickups were a bit crap - I didn't like them any better on the replacement - and the switch was only a 3-way not 5-way, but those are the only things I've changed on the current one.

DaevidJ

My first guitar I owned was a Jim Deacon Candy Apple Strat copy which I bought with a loan from my dad. I knew next to nothing about the various electric guitars in the early 90s yet the Strat I knew of being the most well known guitar. To call it a pos would perhaps be an understatement. It would not keep tune, it was very low output and felt like I was playing a toy. In my first band after a few practices I was loaned my mates spare guitar which was much better.

I later found out after taking apart my first guitar that it was a plywood body with very cheap electrics and hardware which I could not get any spares to retrofit... I think it ended up in the skip in the end...

The one thing it did do was put me off Strats which given over twenty years later I am only just getting over... 

earwighoney

My first instrument was a Rockwood Bass with a neck curved like a banana.  It was a pile of shite!  

scrumhalf

One of these:

http://xelectrical.com/images/5107.jpg

Beyond crap.

TonyR

Mine was a black "Columbus" Les Paul copy, paid £30 for it back in 1982. It was okay I suppose, though Les Pauls have never been my bag - I only bought it 'cos it was cheap! Dunno what became of it though maybe I sold it or mum & dad got shut of it when I joined the RAF about 18 months after getting it.

I wasn't precious about it and had probably given up playing anyway as I was getting frustrated because I couldn't immediately play my favourite Punk anthems, despite having a few lessons.

When I got my first posting in the RAF a lad I knew at the time gave me a white "Cimar" Strat that I did like. I used this to pretty much teach myself on. I had that about 6 or 7 years before giving it away to a mate of mine at the time.

CHRISB50

Mine was a Jap Squier, Silver Series. 3TSB with a black guard and pickups. 7.5 inch radius, rosewood board.

Still the comfiest neck I've ever played and came wonderfully set up. The guitar sounded like absolute gash though.

I have the neck and the body. A friend has the hardware. I've stripped the body back to the wood. It's the ugliest piece of wood used for a guitar body quite possibly ever!

At some point I will put a solid colour over it, and put it back together (with new pickups).

Until then I will remain guitar less (unless I buy a Firebird when the 2018's are released).

Bridgehouse

Japanese Strat - 1989 (? I think)

It was a Fender branded one (rather than Squier) and was, well, pretty marvellous at the time.

Looking back now, I'd say it played very well, it was extremely well built, but if I still had it, I'd have upgraded the pickups as they were a bit anaemic.

Twinfan

Squier JV '62 Strat in Fiesta (yet orangey) Red.  I've still got it.

It sounds pretty good and plays excellently.

guitars4you

Twinfan said:

Squier JV '62 Strat in Fiesta (yet orangey) Red.  I've still got it.

It sounds pretty good and plays excellently.

that is posh Dave compared to some of the crap me and others had to start on - I assume you mean an early 80's version

guitars4you

scrumhalf said:

One of these:

http://xelectrical.com/images/5107.jpg

Beyond crap.

beyond crap - Don't exaggerate - they are not that good

I've never sold one and can't ever recall selling a used version as I  did not really want to sell such 'low grade' guitars - Yet I have had a few on the work bench and they put the fear of god into me, as I'm hoping that the customer is not expecting to much from me after they have made a visit to my bench

steer

Hondo H76 Strat copy. I still own it 23 years later. 

The original pickups were pretty dire. I replaced them a few years ago, and also gave it some much needed attention - new nut and saddles. It still plays well. Its not worth any money, so there is no point in selling it.  

The neck is too thin for my big hands, but I still like it and it still gets played on a fairly regular basis.  

markv

Westone Spectrum MX, circa 1984. Pickups were rubbish and replaced within a year (Gibson humbucker and OBL twin rails). And that's how it is today. Still in the family, with my brother-in-law. Great guitar.

zepp76

I bought an Encore starter kit, it was without doubt the nastiest piece of poo I have ever layed hands on and to top it off it was RED! I hate red guitars and wonder if this is where it all started. 

mburekenge

Marlin. Nuff said.

crunchman

Black Kay Les Paul Copy in 1984.

It was dreadful. The neck on it warped badly.  Thankfully it happened when it was less than a year old so managed to get it replaced under warranty.

I also had an equally dreadful FAL amp.  When my distortion pedal got nicked, I sold the guitar and amp to a guy at school and spent some of the money on a pickup for my acoustic, and didn't have an electric for 4 or 5 years after that. 

hairboy

Marlin Slammer, a Strat copy in red, mum bought for me in a charity shop. Didn't have an amp so only played it acoustically. 
Remember playing Don't cry and Civil War intros pretty well The following year, I part ex'd for a HB and Floyd Rose strat type from Phoenix (or something like that. It was a mail order thing back in the 90s), and also bought a 10w Marshall and Boss Metalzone, and was quite happy for a while. 

trolley

A Columbus Fender Strat copy. You tuned it either for the first 5 fret positions, or for higher up - but you couldn't have both. Next up was an Antoria (I think) LP copy - much better. And then an LP Deluxe

JDE

Acoustic - a "Lorenzo" dreadnought. Very difficult to play but actually sounding quite good when I was strong enough to push a few strings down.
Electric - Squier Strat. Really easy to play. Sounded pretty good. Had bits of it living on various other Strats until 2005!