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For those who "STILL" has their first guitar?

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(@rparker)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5480
Topic starter  

Derek, I almost qualify. My first was so bad that I quickly got a new one right after I started. I could not fret a simple Em. No-one could use the darned thing. Only truely bad guitar I ever owned, and it's because I didn't know better. Sooooo, I now call my Ibanez GAX-70 my "starter" guitar.

Yo answer two out of three your question, yes, and I did modify it over the years. A few official set-ups and the occasional tweak here and there. I did replace the pick-ups with some GFSs about 2-3 years ago. At the time, they were the second most aggressive ones. I forget the model numbers now. I still use the guitar often. It's the one downstairs beside my favorite chair. I don't play a lot of loud stuff right now, bit the pick-ups do have a bit of growl to them and sound really nice clean.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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(@gnease)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5038
 

okay -- I don't. But I did start modifying mine from the get go: completely new (and different) electronics, new pup covers (Gibby P90 covers over Teisco PoS pups), tuners ... it didn't stop even after I bought my second electric. That first one then got a new (homemade) neck.

-=tension & release=-


   
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(@rahul)
Famed Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 2736
 

I still have my first guitar which is my only guitar.


   
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(@gnease)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5038
 

okay -- I don't. But I did start modifying mine from the get go: completely new (and different) electronics, new pup covers (Gibby P90 covers over Teisco PoS pups), tuners ... it didn't stop even after I bought my second electric. That first one then got a new (homemade) neck.How do you like your P-90's?

P90 Covers went over the pups of that one. I didn't change the actual pups. Though as it turns out, those Teisco pups were somewhat similar in many respects. It wasn't until years later that I heard/played what I knew to be an actual P90 (or P90 - like) pup -- first on a Gibby Blues Hawk and a Pete Townshend SG. Later I bought a Reverend Slingshot with two P90s. These days a P90 is one of my favorite pups. I've put them in the neck position of two of my Squier '51s (killer improvement) and in the neck position of my "Beatercaster," which is a Tele kit guitar (See the guitar decal thread, that creme soapbar on my Harley-Davidson emblazoned Tele is a P90). Other than its characteristic suscepibility to hum, the P90 is a wonderful pup.

If your Cort has humbuckers, then you can buy P90s in humbucker enclosures to fit it. Check http://www.guitarfetish.com

-=tension & release=-


   
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(@rparker)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5480
Topic starter  

Very cool Roy,

so you don't wish that you never sold your guitar at all?

And in my Cort g260 I have 2 61 vintage seymore pups and they sound really good but they have more growl then my mighty mite humbucker pickup and I was going to get rid of that and buy a p-90.

Nope. Not a bit. I brought it in to see what I could get for it once, but it was really low and I said the heck with it. I was not convinced I was going to trade it in regardless. I paid something like $190 for it, and then an additional $60-ish for the pick-ups a year or so later. I've got about $250 into it. I think the last thing I had to do was tighten on of the neck bolts. I have to replace the switch soon. Might hit guitar-fetish for all new hardware when I do it. Thinking of going gold. I like the red & gold combos I've seen on other guitars.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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(@unimogbert)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 174
 

You seem to be assuming electric guitars which CAN be modified relatively easily.

I still have my first guitar. An acoustic bought in 1972 or '73.

Nagoya brand Model N-28. Darn good Japanese knockoff of a Martin D-28.

Had the frets dressed about 10 years ago.

Lately I play it several times a week. (I went guitar-dormant for about 20 years. Got back after it about 5 years ago.)

Unimogbert
(indeterminate, er, intermediate fingerstyle acoustic)


   
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(@noteboat)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 4921
 

Still got mine, still original. Haven't played it at least 25 years, but I'll never part with it :)

Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL


   
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(@citizennoir)
Noble Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 1247
 

I still have my first.
The one I used for my first short lived guitar lessons at age 9 or 10.

It was my uncle's uncle's.
Nobody wanted it.
Never stays in tune.
It probably would've ended up in the trash 30 years ago if it wasn't for my sentimentality.

I've kept it all original, though back in my 20's I did want to change the neck for something with a truss rod
so that it stays in tune.
The neck is REALLY BEEFY though, and I rather like that as I have huge hands.

I still use it for playing slide; AWSOME slide tone!!!!
And I usually grab it to pick on when I'm watching TV, as it's right behind my lazy boy.

I've looked on line for anything close to it.... never ran across anything.

I figured it's from the early 60's as that's when the tube amp dates from that came with it (Harmony H303a).

Then last week, I ran across this:

"1958 Vintage Airline-Supro Les Paul HollowBody Style...$599.00

WoW! Jimmy Page Stylin here folks...Truly a vintage fun player all the way and set up to do JUST THAT!...Its equipped with a vintage humbucker from unknown origin? have not pulled it apart yet...who knows?...Its sounds GUTSY and TONEFULL with a nice big neck just about the same as our 58 Gibson Les Paul Jr. The action is PERFECT! and it even has vintage GROVER nickel tuners to KEEP it in TUNE. This guitar plays and sounds like a real vintage Gibson...No problems or breaks or repairs and this guitar is rated at 10 for vintage fun-cool & condition is rated at 7.7-8.5 for its age. Very cool player and WoW! does this baby sound GREAT for SLIDE. "

That is it.

Mine is black though (Crazed Nitro Lac).
Mine has a single pup in the neck - Not a HB though.... It's just a chrome covered weak magnet.... No windings.
Mine also has a two pos. tone switch in the [white] pickguard.
My two knobs are yellowed just like the binding and the tuner pegs.
And I have a non-adjustable wooden floating bridge.
No F-Hole. Hollow though.

Mine is ALL original :D
You can see a picture of it in the 'Photos of Yourself' thread in the opinions and polls section.

You never know what you'll end up with.

Ken

"The man who has begun to live more seriously within
begins to live more simply without"
-Ernest Hemingway

"A genuine individual is an outright nuisance in a factory"
-Orson Welles


   
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(@cheesehead54)
Trusted Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 37
 

After 42 years I have both guitar and amp back. I have not touched the guitar. It just hangs on the wall making me feel 13
years old again. 1966 Winston. My grandson wants me to tweak it for him. I am starting to get a little weird in my old age. Maybe it would be a good project for the two of us.


   
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(@kent_eh)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1882
 

Still have mine. It's sitting in my lap as I type this.

It's a 1970's Japanese Les Paul copy that says "El Degas" on the headstock.

I've had it for over 20 years, though it spent much of that time in it's case waiting for me to learn to be patient enough to stick with trying to learn to play the darn thing.

I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep


   
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(@kent_eh)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1882
 

LOL you got enough picks their mate?
That's not all of 'em :wink:

I used to be a stagehand, and did a folk festival for about 10 years (among other gigs). I always hung onto the stuff I picked up off the stage after the gig, and had it in a small box backstage. (allen keys, screws, drum keys, bridge pins, felt washers, odd bits of guitar stands, and a near infinite variety of picks. among other flotsam)

Anytime a musician came to me during a show and said "hey, do you have a spare...?" I'd open my magic box and let him grab what he needed. The show must go on, and all that.

I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep


   
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(@billyboy)
Estimable Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 91
 

My first guitar is the one I still play. Bought a Mexi Strat Squire in 94(?). The top of the white pick guard has all colors of streaks from the different color picks I've used over the years.. red, black, grey. :)

Since I've been on this site been seriously thinking about upgrading, or toy with trying to put new pups in it. Don't think I can disturb it as is. Thing is priceless to me compared to the $200 something I payed for it.

"In my dreams your blowin' me... some kisses" - Lets Duet - Dewford Randolph Cox


   
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(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
 

Yes, I still have my first guitar.

It's a Terada acoustic, dreadnought style, made in japan in the early 70s. I bought it new back then in a fit of enthusiasm that never actually translated into learning to play, having any lessons, or even buying a 'how to play' book. Instead I just carted it around and shoved it in cupboards or under beds for 30 years. For the latter part of that time it was left forgotten in its now battered old case in a blisteringly hot roof space through 15 long hot Australian summers and damp winters. When I opened the case again about 3 years ago I expected it to be just a pile of rust and sawdust. But I tuned it up, and it played just fine. I then used it fairly regularly for a while. It's currently back under a bed, but it still does get pulled out and played, and it still sounds good. (It's the one in my avatar pic).

At some stage I did 'modify' it by filing down some of the frets (badly) and replacing the nut (reasonably competently). It survived the experience.

Chris


   
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(@notes_norton)
Noble Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 1497
 

I still have my first guitar, an Epiphone flat-top I bought in a pawn shop. I don't know what model it is, the tag inside says "Epiphone Guitars, Kalamazoo, MI" and "Made In Japan" but the model and serial number have faded.

I also have my first Electric Guitar, a Gibson ES-330 which I bought for $300 back in the late 70s or early 80s. It is now a collectors item, so I won't sell or mod it. In fact, I don't even bring it to the gig anymore. I bought a used (2001) Epiphone Casino and I play that on stage and I play the Gibson at home.

I did some minor mods on the Casino (pickguard, knobs) myself, and the previous owner changed the tuners, pots, switch and I suspect the pickups. Here are the before and after pics of my minor mods (they make the Epi look more like the Gibson - I never liked the white pickguard and I thought the gold knobs didn't look good on the light wood body)

Before:

After:

BTW: I love the P90 sound. The attack and the harmonics are great --- and with the right settings, it is clean as can be, --- but with the help of an amp simulator/FX pedal, they can also growl like a humbucker.

Also:
I do not have my original tenor sax.
I do have my original alto sax.
I do not have my original wind synthesizer.
I do not have my original bass guitar.

Bob "Notes" Norton

Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com Add-on Styles for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith

The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<


   
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(@ricochet)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 7833
 

Nothing's wrong with switching around between electric, acoustic, reso depending on the mood of the moment or day. I go through stretches of playing mostly one or another, then sometimes I mix 'em up. But I've never "hated" one or suddenly wanted to sell off what I've got.

"A cheerful heart is good medicine."


   
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