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i ask because..well i'm still waiting for my 1st, and i'm 23 this year and just got my first strat replica this summer!! guys, any late-bloomers here?? so i don't feel so alone in the stratosphere, GASed..
Got my first Fender amp in 1966 I was 16 yrs old a 65 BF Super Reverb for $180
Got my first Fender Tele new in 1972 was 22 years old. Saw an ad in the paper in San Francisco 1972 Blonde Tele with hardshell case new $200. I was living in Visalia California so I got on the bus took a trip to San Francisco and got one. It was Don Weir's Music and they had about 25-35 of them to choose from.
It was a really nice Tele too. I sold it a year or 2 later and got a nice acoustic guitar to play James Taylor songs on.
I got my 80s MIJ 62RI Strat when I was 20. I almost traded it for a Hamer Steve Stevens guitar three years later. I would SO be kicking myself if I didn't come to my senses!
I got my first strat when I was 14 or 15, an American Standard. I'm 18 now and I'm on my third strat.
I was twelve. The strat was a bump up from teh Samick. Great guitar, I still have it and play it daily.
I got my first Tele when I was 23......... that was 36 years ago!
God only knows how many tele's and strat's and 'other' brands since!
Hammer on.....Blair
I got my first Strat when I was 19, a brand new 1982 with a maple neck and ash body finished natural. I still have it.
Got my first electric, a Strat Plus, when I was 17. It's still my #1. The one on the left. Lucked out pretty fair as the woods add up to super good mojo. Just got my second Fender, a Cunnetto 60's Relic Strat.
:bigal :bigal Two hot peppers so far!
I was 36 when I got my first Fender... an American Standard Strat. Didn't start playin' till I was 34. Sure wish I would've started sooner.
I got my strat last year at age 14.
I got my first Strat when I was 19. It was a 1973, maple neck with a natural body, brand new. Only kept it about 6-8 months!!! It was my first real serious guitar after owning a used Harmony Vibra Jet, that my parents bought me, and a Univox copy of a Les Paul Custom that I bought new. As a matter of fact, my first Fender was actually in 1964, which was a used 1961 tweed Champ that my parents bought for me in a package deal with the Harmony Vibra Jet. I still have the Champ!!
I was 16, trying to pull out of a tight parking space in my brother's car; nailed the front left of that Caddy, but good! Cost me a bundle. :rolleyes:
Sorry...misunderstood the question.
My answer is; late in life...but it was a very easy delivery. ;)
I was a lucky kid. When I was 14 in 1982 my parents(whom I'm forever thankful for) bought me my first electric, a Fender Bullet Deluxe and a Peavy Decade amp with the saturation input. Very cool for my first rig, wish I still had it , but the GAS bug bit me real early on. QTB
I was 13 when I got my first fender standard strat it was a beautiful white with a rosewood fretboard I'll never forget her
way back in 1969 i bought 2 "old" guitars because i could not afford new ones. a '60 LP GT and a '59 strat. in '70 i got rid of the "old" guitars to but NEW & SHINEY ones. replaced the LP with a '70 deluxe and the strat with a new model.
both axes (new) played great and i was very happy with the trades/sales.
a few years later i discoverd what a dufus i was and to this day regret the move. but i like to think (for my sanity at least) that i was dumb & stupid. but to my downfall, i am drawn to a NEW & SHINEY guitar over a "distressed/antiqued/aged" one.
i would rather put the "vintage" on my new guitar than pay someone to do it for me.
my oldest guitar at he moment is a 28 year old yammy accoustic that is basically worn out but gets played more that my others.
anyway that is my story and i am sticking to it.
:stxrus
peae
steve
I was 20 ('87) when I got my 1st, a Japan Strat with the System I locking trem. That sucker stayed in tune at least as good as a Floyd, without some of the Floyd hassles. Played great too- very well made. But in '92 I traded it in on an Am. Std. Strat- that guitar smoked too.
I got a part time job at 16, and put away as much money as I could for about a year. At 17, I bought a brand new '74 hardtail, natural ash w/maple neck. Sold it about 2 years later.
My first strat was a '74-ish hard tail, natural ash/maple bought used in the fall of '78 when I was not quite 18. I think it was my fourth guitar, after my ES320, Ovation Deacon solidbody (?!?), and a Travis Bean Standard (I still had a lot to learn about guitar selection). All purchased with lawn mowing/part time job money. I still have all of them (I can't seem to part with guitars, even the crappy ones).
In the intervening 24 years it's had about 10 different sets of pickups (I seem to have settled on an EMG SA set up), a refret and various bridge and nut changes. I've now almost warmed up to it.;)
I bought my first Fender, a Strat Plus, when I graduated HS in the early 90's. Still have that guitar. Of course, the whole thing has almost been replaced piece by piece......
i got my first guitar right before my birthday at age 14.
1977, was like 13, got a Fender acoustic. A few years later got my first electric - tele style Fender bullet =)
I got a second-hand Strat in '79 — my first one. I was 12. It was a '77 with a maple fingerboard, natural finish, and a white 'guard. From that moment on, I was hooked on Strats. I absolutely loved the 5-way selector, and all of the tonal possiblities; especially the neck and in-between positions.
Wish I still had that one, at least for sentimental reasons.
I think I was about 19 or 20 when I got my first Fender, a mid-80s 1957 reissue that looks like Clapton's "Blackie". I still have it, but the frets are just wiped out. I played that guitar so much in the mid-80s that there are grooves in them!
One of these days, I'll get it refretted and put back into action. It was (and assume is) a great guitar!
Ed
Ed D,
That's cool that you kept it! Should make it a priority to have it refretted. Be like getting a new guitar! :)
It's on the to do list for the near future. I also want to get the tremolo bridge set-up again to allow me to do at least a little wammy-bar work, without hopefully knocking it too far out of tune.Quote:
Originally posted by Preztone
Ed D,
That's cool that you kept it! Should make it a priority to have it refretted. Be like getting a new guitar! :)
There was an early episode of Mary Tyler Moore when Lou Grant thought he'd be laid off from the TV station at age 45, and had a tough time lining up another TV job. "In politics, they'd call me the kid", I remember him saying. At 36, I guess I'm an old-timer when it comes to music!
Ed
Got my first at 16 in 1976. It was a refinished 65 Jaguar. Ugly as hell, but it played like butter.
I used that guitar well into the 80's, mostly because i couldn't afford anything else.
I wanted a Strat, but my dad wasn't too interested in spending a lot of money on what he thought (hoped?) would be a passing phase. Had to change out the bridge pickup for something beefier.
Here's a pic of me playing it at a gig circa 1984:
http://webdev.loyola.edu/swatson/stw.jpg
I was 14, and wanted to be Eric Clapton :) So I saved all my money up and bought a rejected Midnight Wine American Standard Stratocaster that had been sitting around in a local guitar shop for a year as it was the cheapest one I could afford (after painfully wading through the Custom Shops, the Ultras and so forth. Since then she's gone through a lot of crap, and several changes of appearance but she is still, to this day, my number 1 :D
I would say when I was about 22 or so (late 80's)
It was a terrible Strat, modded big time with a Floyd Rose. It was a piece of crap. Not too much longer, I got rid of it and bought a nice American Std. that was black with a maple neck.
I was around 18 when I got my first strat with highschool graduation money. It was blue with a maple fretboard. Wish I knew where that one was now......
In March of 76 I got my first guitar: a black Musicmaster, and a Vibro Champ amp to go with it. I was 16.
Deneva
First Fender Guitar came when I was 11 a lead II, first Fender Amp came at 20, and ond Twin that was on it's last leg but I cranked it till it died.:wail2
I was 20. I got my first Strat in the China Fleet Club in Hong Kong in 1986. It is a MIJ strat, alder body with maple neck. Basically a 57 RI with Gotoh tuners. I have swapped the Pups with 3 Texas Specials and replaced the pots and selector with American. I also replaced the gaurd with a pearloid.
My first strat was a 1979 Anniversary Stratocaster in silver. Traded my Les Paul Deluxe for it. I only kept it for less than a year before it was traded for a LP Standard. I was just a lad of 19.
When I was 16 in 1965 I bought my first electric, a Daphne Blue Mustang. Still have it, and until last year it was my only electric. Now I also have two Strats (a MIM and a CIJ) and a Hamer Vector Flying V.
I was 13 when my dad bought me a brand new red Mustang. Sold it a year and a half later (DOH!) to help fund a puschase of an evil LP ('69 Deluxe), but I now have a nice Tele & Strat for those Fender moments.
I forgot to mention the main reason I bought it. The friend who owned it didn't like the burst, so he was contemplating having it painted sea-foam green!:barf I had to save it!Quote:
Originally posted by lure555
I got my 80s MIJ 62RI Strat when I was 20. I almost traded it for a Hamer Steve Stevens guitar three years later. I would SO be kicking myself if I didn't come to my senses!
First Fender Amp. = 14
First Squire = 25 (sold it 2 days later, I hated it.)
First Mexican Fender Tele = 34
First Mexican Fender Strat = 37
First American Made Fender Big Apple = 37
First American Made Fender California Strat = 37
1987, my Dad bought a Squier Strat at Guitar Center we both played it, so it was sorta mine, Creme white w/ white pickguard and maple neck, I was about 15 or 16 years old at the time. It sounded like a Strat, but my playing couldn't do it justice, I prefered the "easier" action and humbucker of my Westone Strat copy, but the Strat looked way cooler. Guitar was sold a few years later(by my Dad)...we noted that the frets seemed to have worn down prematurely. :\
Around 1995, I purchased a used 1991 American Standard Strat from my Dad, Candy Apple Red w/ Rosewood fret board....has been my #1 ever since.
http://www.photo.net/photodb/image-d...420039&size=lg
I'm 30 now.:)
I was 19 in late 1981 and walked into Par-Troy Sound to buy some cassettes. They had a few guitars for sale, including a black/maple neck '73 strat. Soon as I saw it, I had to play it. As soon as I played it, I had to have it. Een though it was the wrong color and neck (I wanted a Hendrix-vibe) it played like a dream and sounded so cool. put it on layaway and visited her every Saturday till she was paid off.
I still have her, but she needs new frets. Even after I have that done, it still cost me only about half of what one goes for now. Plus, I got the relic-ing for free!
Hey! My first Fender Strat came from Tom Lee Music too, and I bought my Pro Jr at the very same store your Strat came from. Small World.Quote:
Originally posted by MiJ_Blackie
I was 20. I got my first Strat in the China Fleet Club in Hong Kong in 1986. It is a MIJ strat, alder body with maple neck. Basically a 57 RI with Gotoh tuners. I have swapped the Pups with 3 Texas Specials and replaced the pots and selector with American. I also replaced the gaurd with a pearloid.
Anyhow, I got a great Japanese Strat copy in '78 for my 18th birthday and used it for years. My avatar pic is of me playing it n my 40th birthday. I do wish my parents had talked to me about it, at the time though, 'cos I could have got a real '57 at the time for the money they spent :) Anyhow, I added a MIJ Squier contemporary Strat in '85 (black, one humbucker, matching headstock), and finally got a real USA Fender Strat from the TST Tom Lee Music in Hong Kong in June or July of '96. That's my Fiesta Red '57 RI.
It's great to hear these stories!
I could never afford a 'new' Strat, so when I was 15, I bought a brand new 1979 Fender Lead II (remember those? they had the Lead I, II and III.. similar profile to a strat, slightly smaller.) with my paper route money.
I didn't get my first Stratocaster until I was 26.
In the spring of '81 I was a few months shy of 14, and my mom took me to "New York Music," which, naturally, was in Boardman Ohio. I'd been taking lessons on my 3/4 scale Alvarez acoustic for almost 5 years, and as she'd promised she would way back when, it was time for my first electric.
After trying many off-brand guitars out and having the salesman say, "Well, it's a good guitar... for the money," she wanted to know what he thought was the best. Mind you, I was pretty enamoured of the Electra MPC guitar, since it had BUILT-IN effect modules. Hmmn, I guess there's a reason that didn't catch on. :p
Anyway, he brought out the Lake Placid blue "The Strat" and the brush-chrome "Anniversary Stratocaster," and after much debating between the two, I went for "The Strat." Mom bought me a Fender '75' tube amp to complete the package.
Mom ruled. No 13-year-old should have a 15" speaker powered by 75 watts, but hey, I wasn't complaining. And you wouldn't have heard it if I did. Good times.
Still have "The Strat," but it's pretty beat, and really, my hearing is still pretty good...
I was 18, it was white with rosewood brd, bought it with summer savings and gave it to my younger brother a couple of years later and he pawned it like a little jackass when I left for the Army...
i was 16. worked all summer for my grandfather and saved everything i earned. at the end of the summer i think i had about 350 bucks. i went in and got a chocolate brown cbs strat with those horrible 3 bolt tiltmatic necks. wow, that brought back some memories.
When I was 19, in 1982, I bought a really early Japanese Squire strat. I think it was a '57 re-issue. It's long gone. I don't even remember what I traded it in on. My first Fender strat was a few years later, a heavily modded late seventies strat with a C neck, bridge and neck humbuckers, and a Kahler. My current number one is a '95 American standard upgraded just about everywhere. Only the neck body and one tone pot are still stock.
I was 16, I think. My parents were tired of listening to me raving about fenders for half a year and decided they´d double the money I already had. I went to the "big city" and bought a sunburst MIM strat with a maple board. The same day there was a big school ball. I got really really drunk but when I got home the next day I´d overcome the hangover in a minute just to play my baby all day long.
Two years ago I lost the axe in a bet with a girlfriend and donated it to my old school.
every time I see people (J. Frusciante comes to mind) with sb strats I miss that thing somehow. :(
Either 72 or 73. I was 12 or 13. It was a white late 60's Strat.
I got my first fender when I was 17.
A 66' strat i still have.
In '78 at the ripe old age of 14 I got a near mint '72 Competition Orange Mustang for $150.00. I played it until I was 25 and working full time in a punk rock band. It's beat to crap now, on it's third set of pickups, second set of tuners, and third nut, but I still have it. A few years ago it got a much needed refret and is now playable again. I bring it out a few times a year for kicks and to let "admirers" gawk at its "stunningly well used" condition ;)
Got my first Strat. (In avatar) when I was 42.
brianf
16, in fact just a couple days ago. A 2002 (pretty sure) MIM in the dark wine w/ maple fretboard :D
Sam R you have the exact guitar my son has, but his is a 2000.
brianf
your kid has good tastes :cool: It's a nice guitar, got its first ding the other day, it's now a part of the 'family' anyway, just getting the maple board 'broken in' they had the same guitar in rosewood but it played like crap.
I am still waiting to get my first real Fender! guitar :lolspin
I have had a few amps though. I was 18 when I got a Fender M-80
Then I got a blackface Champ when I was 22. Then a Blackface Bassman, Brown Deluxe, and a Silverface Deluxe Reverb.
In the early 70's, high school, I replaced my Japan 335 copy with my first Fender...a light blue Mustang. I think I paid $125.00. It was used but really nice and had a case. It was a good guitar and the first of many to be upgraded as the years passed. I got a BF BandMaster (from my school conselors son) for $100.00. It was like new...I wish I kept my old gear.
Christmas Day 1985, I got a used 1979 25th anniversary strat. I was 17. Still have it, too. For a while, I thought all strats weighed a ton!
LOH
I was 16 when I bought a brand new Fender Precision Bass in 1976. Played only acoustic guitar at that time, to many guitar players but no bass players. So my first Fender was a bass. Changed to a Strat shortly and played nothing else since.
I got my Am. Std. sunburst beauty in 98 when I was 17. It is an '88 in mint condition from a collector at a guitar show. He really didn't want it because it was the only, non-$2000 guitar he had. I love it and cherish it to this day.
stratking
I was about 16. I traded a practically new Hagstrom III for a slightly used '64 sonic blue Strat.