The first electric guitar, or bass, you ever owned?

MagicPigDetective

Encore Stat. I recall it being a pretty good first guitar to learn on, but I knew nothing about guitars at the time so don’t really have an idea what it was like. I may have chosen it after seeing Kurt Cobain with a white strat. Traded it for a Washburn MG-42 which I still have. 

https://i.imgur.com/aQJkzRE.jpg

thermionic

One of these, for £25 in a pawn shop in Shotton in 1982, after months of trawling the classifieds in the local paper (Columbus LP Custom copies for £80 was out of my reach):

https://i.imgur.com/Xz703wy.jpg

Amp was my parents’ radiogram, which had a 5-pin DIN socket to connect a tape deck. Somehow I figured out which pins were which, and attached bare wires to a jack plug with sellotape.

Humbucked

A 'Grant' SG copy. The body was made from chipboard. The neck was a white wood of some sort. One neck pick up which squealed at the slightest movement and received Norwegian and Russian shipping radio with great efficiency. Alarmingly, the bridge was made of folded tin which was roughly finished. Smooch so, when I played for more than ten minutes, it would start to cut into the heel of my hand. Built up a great callus there. £22 brand new in '82. I used to plug the curly lead into a 150 Grampian p.a. amp that came from an RAF base. 4 KT88's kept my bedroom warm in winter. What a racket! Replaced the 'SG' with an '82 Squire Strat in Oly White with rosewood f'board. All these years later, it has remained stock excepting two re-frets.

SteveRobinson

HarrySeven said:

Mine was a Kay K-32, which I believe is still buried somewhere in the house or workshop.

In case you'd like another
https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/k-32-guitar-dates-1967/1296292437

axisus

Black Kay LP. It was terrible. I killed it in the end.

olafgarten

The first electric I had was one I played a long time ago when I was around 10 years old, it was a Hannah Montana branded guitar that belonged to my sister. 

It was made of plastic but surprisingly it actually worked.

I can't find any pictures of the exact one but it was similar to this, the one I played wasn't a JEM, but a more standard strat, complete with fake whammy bar.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/hannah-montana-electric-guitar-with-amp/1281190279

thegummy

First guitar from 1996 on top, more recent guitar from 20 years later at bottom:

Philly_Q

"Arbiter" Les Paul copy.

Just one of those generic 70s/80s Japanese LP copies, probably not very different from Axisus' Kay above although it looked a bit prettier (sunburst and gold hardware).  It had a a bolt-on neck, crappy tuners and weird single-coil (I think) pickups under humbucker covers.  And no name on the headstock.

p90fool

This, bought at Christmas 1976 from a school friend's brother, forty quid paid in instalments.

I really wanted a solidbody to start with, as this seemed more Freddie and the Dreamers than Jimi Hendrix, but then a year later Double Live Gonzo came out and it all made sense....

http://i63.tinypic.com/156y821.jpg

hotpickups

Aria pro II les Paul copy. Should've kept that one

Phil_aka_Pip

hotpickups said:

Aria pro II les Paul copy. Should've kept that one

I taught a boy who had one of those. IIRC it had one or two shape differences between it and a real LP although you could tell who its dad was. It was a well made and good sounding instrument. He is probably grown up by now. He was capable, but he knew it so put less work in than he needed to in order to get a good result. I would like to think that he's extracted his digit since I last saw him, and that he's taken good care of his guitar.

hotpickups

Phil_aka_Pip said:

hotpickups said:

Aria pro II les Paul copy. Should've kept that one

I taught a boy who had one of those. IIRC it had one or two shape differences between it and a real LP although you could tell who its dad was. It was a well made and good sounding instrument. He is probably grown up by now. He was capable, but he knew it so put less work in than he needed to in order to get a good result. I would like to think that he's extracted his digit since I last saw him, and that he's taken good care of his guitar.

It wasn't me I'm sure

BeardyAndy

  MagicPigDetective said:

Encore Stat. I recall it being a pretty good first guitar to learn on, but I knew nothing about guitars at the time so don’t really have an idea what it was like. I may have chosen it after seeing Kurt Cobain with a white strat. Traded it for a Washburn MG-42 which I still have. 

https://i.imgur.com/aQJkzRE.jpg

We must be about the same age. I've got a picture of me with my old white strat, same hair cut and the same poster on the wall (the one of Cindy Crawford was out of shot!)

MagicPigDetective

BeardyAndy said:

  MagicPigDetective said:

Encore Stat. I recall it being a pretty good first guitar to learn on, but I knew nothing about guitars at the time so don’t really have an idea what it was like. I may have chosen it after seeing Kurt Cobain with a white strat. Traded it for a Washburn MG-42 which I still have. 

We must be about the same age. I've got a picture of me with my old white strat, same hair cut and the same poster on the wall (the one of Cindy Crawford was out of shot!)

Yes the photo is very much of it's time when I worshipped Nirvana. I date this around 93/94 when I was 17ish. Note the guitar stand I made for a woodwork class project!

Neil

Avon Les Paul  custom copy, About thirty quid shop soiled from a luggage store around 1977.

Played through a Fal 10watt with built in tremelo.

peteri

Hondo Les Paul copy, black with white binding - looked amazing and cost the grand sum (if I remember correctly) of £99 in 1984.

Turned out to be plywood with I believe pickups which were single coil under the covers. Much improved with the fitting of some Kent Armstrong pickups I got a year or two later.

Played through a JHS, brown plastic 5 watt amp - not drive, just volume and tone.

With a pedal board from my mum's catalogue, that within a year had:

Pearl Octaver

Arion Distortion Pedal

Arion Metal Master Pedal

Arion Chorus

Arion Delay

zepp76

Mine was an Encore Strat type abomination that came as a starter pack, come to think of it that's probably where my hatred of red guitars comes from.

Roysterdoyster

1983 Tokai Strat "Springy Sound". Bought second hand in 1986,from Crymbles in Belfast,black with a black scratch plate. Only sold it a couple of years ago,which I regret now!

bloodandtears

Tanglewood Les Paul

Skipped

Always fun to revisit this topic.

My first electric guitar was a Roger 54 model. Exactly like the one in the picture.
My Dad (sadly missed) was an Engineer by trade and was deeply unimpressed with the plywood Egmond or Framus guitars that the salesman was offering to us.
He suggested to the salesman that surely there must be something better than this.......maybe a second hand guitar instead?
The guy went in the back and came back with the Roger in a Selmer case (green lining). The guitar was very nicely constructed and had the lowest action I have seen in any guitar. My guitar teacher could not believe how easy it was to play.