Keeping/selling your first guitar?

Jack_

How do people feel about this? I've seen many stories where people say they regret selling their first guitar.

I still own my first acoustic and electric, but they're both dead-weight and kind of getting in the way (mainly the acoustic) but I can't decide whether or not to let them go. They're worth pretty much naff all.

paul_c2

If there's nothing drastically wrong with them (ie they're working and work alright as guitars) and worth naff all, there's no point in getting rid of them for the sake of it, just a case of finding somewhere to put/store them?

Jetfire

I chucked loads of money at my first guitar (like, obscene amounts)to make it in to a proper decent player... plays lovely nw and is a proper fender tele... just sayin

Adam_MD

My first ever guitar (squier strat) has been in bits for a few years now.  I don't think I can remember the last time it had strings on it but I wouldn't sell it for sentimental reasons and because it's probably worth 3p 

paul_c2

Are we all assuming first guitar = cheap guitar?

hotpot

I wouldn't dream of getting rid of my first guitar Epi Les Paul. I too spent a few quid on it, Re-fret, new Dimarzzio pickups, new wiring/pots/caps etc. It plays/sounds better than ever.

colourofsound

Mine's a Japanese Squier Strat from 1985 - she ain't going nowhere!

Sporky

Mine was decent, but I sold it and don't miss it.

Sassafras

I suppose it's nice to hang onto your first guitar for sentimental reasons but usually they're really crap so I wouldn't lose sleep over selling/giving away/chopping up for firewood said guitar.

AndyR

Mine are long gone. I don't miss them.

In general, I don't really sell stuff, so the next generation of instruments (after the first ones) are all in various states in the loft. I don't miss them either.

Danny1969

My first one was shit, awful thing, hopefully it's been burned and not impeding someone else's  progress 

Gallagherone

I've still got my first acoustic for around the house, and as much as it cost £99 and I haven't changed the strings in maybe 4 years... it sounds excellent! And because it is so cheap it means I'm not scared to knock it so its a great always out guitar!

My first electric was a Yamaha Pacifica which sounded OK... I still played it every now and then at home until one day I came home and found my sister had sold it at a car boot sale for £15. 

So I didn't really have a choice...

english_bob

paul_c2 said:

Are we all assuming first guitar = cheap guitar?

No, I think we're all basing our answers on our own experience.

My first guitar was a MIK early 90s Squier Strat with a plywood body that weighed a ton. I think it had a decent neck, but overall it wasn't a patch on my second guitar, a CIJ Fender JD Telecaster.

The Squier got sold to a Cash Generator (I did have a pang of regret when I saw it on their wall) but the JD Tele isn't going anywhere.

andyp

I've been contemplating this very thing recently. I am fortunate that as a late starter I could afford an Epi LP as my first guitar back in Feb 2015 but I am giving serious thought to trading it for a Tele. It's my first guitar but I now also have an SG Faded and the SG is the one I want to keep. I've got no attachment to the LP at all, but I do like it a lot. The SG however truly feels like mine and I love it more by the day.

It depends, if I'd had the LP for years and done things with it and had memories attached to it then I'd want to keep it. But it has no stories to tell and is worth a couple of hundred quid, so I'd rather trade up than hold onto it. If I do flog it though, I'd want another LP someday, but likely I'd want a Gibson.

Andy

Teetonetal

My first guitar was an Encore strat copy, well made and played nicely. I moved on, so donated it to a music school my friend setup in Gravesend,

stickyfiddle

Kept mine (Squier Standard Strat, xmas 2000). Chucked plenty of cash at it and now it's brilliant.

MattG

mine is a very nice Gibson sg special and so it is going nowhere but as i started learning recently even if my first guitar was a budget one it would have been reasonable and i still would not consider getting rid of it

AndyR

Gallagherone said:

...until one day I came home and found my sister had sold it at a car boot sale for £15. 

So I didn't really have a choice...

Oh my word!!!

I felt physically ill reading this!! lol

TheBigDipper

My first electric guitar was a Columbus LP copy of a black Deluxe. Don't regret selling it.
My second was an Ibanez LP copy (natural finish, gold plated hardware). Don't regret selling it.
My third was a 1973 hardtail Strat in white (now a buttery yellow) that I bought in 1979 and still own, love and play. It's part of me and my life. It's the first serious guitar I ever owned and I don't think I'll ever sell it. 

Fatfingers

My two first guitars were unplayable Kays - a sort of plywood SG thing and another plywood bolt-on neck Les Paul thing.

I consider my first proper guitar is this 1980 Tokai Strat, which, although I don't currently play it, I'd never sell.

TTony

I don't think it matters too much whether it's your 1st or your 101st (that day will come), it's more about what the guitar means to you.  It might have emotional attachment, it might simply feel & play so right that you can't imagine never having it there.  That's not necessarily your 1st though - could be the 2nd, 3rd, or you might spend your guitar-playing life searching it out. 

As a parallel, sometimes you marry your "1st", and sometimes your "1st" was just a quick pissed fumble at a party, never to be seen again ...