Your first guitar from a "big" brand.

[Blazer]

I'm sure we all know brands like Gibson, Fender, Ibanez, the works. Those brands that come with a legend attached to their name and I'm sure we all worked towards owning a guitar made by one of those brands. Let's talk about the times we actually succeeded and got to own one of those big brand made guitars.

My First Fender
Was a Candy Apple Red Japanese Telecaster. I bought it used on my eighteenth birthday in 1994. It was a fifties reissue model with a maple neck and a one piece white pickguard, it was a lovely guitar that because of poverty of being a college student, I had to sell it and I still miss that guitar.

My First Gibson

Was a 1993 Nighthawk special in cherry red. It was a cool guitar with a slick playability plus I was so stoked because it was my very first Gibson. But the sound was a dissapointment. I had the three pickup model and neither the single coil settings or the Humbucker setting had that magical "It" It wasn't until I bought my second Gibson (an SG) when I found out for myself how a Gibson SHOULD sound because that one had the magical "IT" in all the sounds I get from it. I sold my Nighthawk but every so now and then I see it resurface on auction sites going from owner to owner, I guess a lot of people found out about that guitar that it doesn't have that Magical "It" in it's sound.

[wilkinsi]

My first guitar ever was a cheapish Fender Squire. I soon got rid of it when I saw Chesney Hawkes played one!

[Newc]

Kramer Focus1000 in Salmon Pink. Traded to my best friend (at HIS insistence) for a Kramer Striker 300 and a '76 Gibson SG.

Sold the Striker (with original single-locking Floyd) for $100, and traded the SG to a pawnshop for a no-name silverburst Strat copy

Next "name" after that was an Ibanez EX350. Kept it for 5 years and loved it to death. Got my Les Paul Standard in that time as well. Needed a new trem for the 350 and it took them 3 months to ship it. 2 days before it came in, I got tired of waiting and traded it to another shop for my first Jackson - a Kelly.

Been hooked on Jacksons ever since, and due to Ibenahd's poor service, I've been under a self-imposed embargo of all things Ibenhad.

[rjohnstone]

My first "big" brand guitar is my 1987 Ibanez RG560.
Still have it too.

[Norton]

I guess my crappy washburn doesn't count.


So, it was a Jackson SLSMG.

[jcm800x]

LP standard in natural, got it in 85 for $200!

[slashrox]

well, my first guitar was a squire affinity strat...what a shit guitar that was! (the affinity squires suck!)

My first big brand guitar is my Mex Fender Stratocaster . I have an epi LP, but it never gets played because I'm always wanting to play the strat. The neck on it is awesome. The first 12 frets have quite abit of fretware due to me playing it heaps :ROTFbut still have heaps of life in them)

my next big brand guitar will probably be a Kramer (well, its not a "big name" these days, but still, they were big in the 80's) and at some point, Hopefully a Jackson/Charvel.

[markD]

my first big "name" guitar was an ibanez 540S. i still have it. i got it 20 years ago!!

[Racerx2k]

Black 86' Charvel Model 4. My graduation present.

[GodOfRhythm]

Jackson SL2, the '96-97 no-inlays edition. Played like a dream.

[Mike]

First Ibanez:
I had wanted a shred guitar since I first heard Steve Vai's Passion and Warfare. Take in mind that I was 10 when this first happened. I had put on my Christmas list that I wanted a Warlock (so naive), or an Ibanez RG. Thank God my parents weren't too stupid on guitars. I woke up on Christmas morning and there she was, a 2002 Ibanez RG120. I fell in love with that guitar. Mostly because I knew that it was the brand that Vai used. I played that thing everyday, just learning stuff like basic chords, and easy songs, like 'Paranoid'. Then after 3 years, I started getting better, and obviously wanted something better. My grandparents were up from Florida and I kept hinting about this Ibanez in our local shop. My grandpa said that we could go check it out. It was a 2005 Ibanez RG320FM. The next day, came and picked her up. Still in my room right now. As for the 120, I passed it down to my little brother who has no idea what he's doing. I think I may have to take it back and maybe mod it a little so I can still have it.

[Robert Burns]

1976 Ibanez "Black Beauty" copy! Jet black, 2 gold plated PUPS...
i paid $299 in 77' and should have never traded it for an Ovation in
82'! It was superb , and easily on par with the "Real Deal".

[toddstaples]

Yamaha SE150, (I think)

[kelly user]

gibson explorer......... i have had ibanez, esp, B.C. rich....... none compare but jackson came in at a close second.

[Sunbane]

Kramer ST-100