How old are u when u get your first Fender?

[stratcat62]

Got my first in 68, a 62 which I still own. I was 20.

[hudpucker]

21. And I paid for it by working my ass off in a Fiberglass factory one hot hot summer.

[tmmblues]

41 because I was raised by a pair of humbuckers.

[bluzkat]

Hi everyone,

Thought I would jump in here, I started lurking awhile back.

My first amp was a '63 BF Bandmaster I bought from a friend (keyboard player, he bought a DualShowman) in '65. I didn't get a Fender guitar until I bought my first Strat in '73 (Olympic White/maple). I sold that in '79, and regretted it.

I'm happy to say... I am currently deeply in love with the '10 American Std. Strat I bought earlier this year. I don't know if its a 'freak' or what, but it is definitely one of my all time favorite guitars I have ever owned (and there have been many!!). This thing is an absolute monster.

[Gold Strat]

Must have been in '91 or '92 that I bought a Mexican strat, electronics were so bad that I traded her in for a very nice Vintage Reissue tele JV series from Japan, which I still regret today when I swaped it for a Coronado '66 because that is my birth year, the Coronado had the looks and that lovely Tele had the sound and playability.

[NoNeck60]

My first "real" electric ( other than my blonde Sears, Roebuck and Co Tele in early '74) was when I was 16. It was July of '76. I saved my birthday money, money from lawn cutting jobs and cleaning out the neighbors garage. 3 months of hard work yielded me a whopping $182.00. I went and looked at a '71 Strat/Sunburst/Maple neck/board/Trem. It was beaufiul. It looked just like the Strat Robin Trower was using and like Ritchies on the inside sleeve of Machine Head. I thought I would keep that FOREVER!!!!......lol....2 months later it was sold!!!!!!!!
Fast forward 34 years.....and numerous Strats and Teles (Les Pauls, Guilds and SG's as well) later. The Strat I have now, is THE ONE.
As for amps, I have gone through many, but they have always been Fenders.....and a Twin has been my main amp for 16 years.

[Bluesky636]

I got my first Fender guitar, a CAR Strat with maple neck and parchment pickguard, this year as a birthday present to myself. I turned 56 this year.

I quit playing 20 years ago after playing from the mid/late 60s to the early 80s. Mostly bluegrass and classical. Gave it all up a few years after getting married. I decided this year that I wanted to start playing again. I bought my Strat and a Fender Frontman 25R. I recently also purchased a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. I am now concentrating on playing the Blues.

[Rampdog]

Well...It wasn't a REAL fender but it was a Strat copy... You can see the date below... Do the math...

[68tele243]

Got my first Fender(strat) at 22 which was a quick replacement for a LP that I had ripped off. It wasn't supposed to be permanent just a stop gap until the insurance came to the party. I fell in love and I've never looked back.....at 31 I fell into a 1968 butterscotch maple necked telecaster, it's been #1 ever since

My 15 year old has designs on it though, so I'm back to playing my strat more often than not

[NoNeck60]

I got my first Fender guitar, a CAR Strat with maple neck and parchment pickguard, this year as a birthday present to myself. I turned 56 this year.

I quit playing 20 years ago after playing from the mid/late 60s to the early 80s. Mostly bluegrass and classical. Gave it all up a few years after getting married. I decided this year that I wanted to start playing again. I bought my Strat and a Fender Frontman 25R. I recently also purchased a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue. I am now concentrating on playing the Blues.

Great story .....like reconnecting with a long lost love!!!! play in good health, Bro
Dave

[palermog]

I was 56 in 2008. Retirement is looming on the horizon and it is something I had always wanted to do.

So, a 1988 American Standard in Tanqueray Green was my first and I will never get rid of it. Loaded it with Texas Specials, got a Peavey Delta Blues amp and I am still taking lessons....that blues playing is a lot tougher than it looks!!(sic).

Since then a 2009 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster Tobacco Burst, a 2006 American Deluxe Telecaster (Butterscotch), a 2006 Gibson Les Paul Studio Swamp Ash and just today an Egnater Tweaker amp.

Jeez I wish I had started this a long time ago!!

Bye the bye I really enjoy reading all the posts and I have picked up quite a bit of info from these forums you are all pretty darn good people....thank you all!!

gino palermo
port dover ont

[Bluesky636]

I was 56 in 2008. Retirement is looming on the horizon and it is something I had always wanted to do.

So, a 1988 American Standard in Tanqueray Green was my first and I will never get rid of it. Loaded it with Texas Specials, got a Peavey Delta Blues amp and I am still taking lessons....that blues playing is a lot tougher than it looks!!(sic).

Since then a 2009 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster Tobacco Burst, a 2006 American Deluxe Telecaster (Butterscotch), a 2006 Gibson Les Paul Studio Swamp Ash and just today an Egnater Tweaker amp.

Jeez I wish I had started this a long time ago!!

Bye the bye I really enjoy reading all the posts and I have picked up quite a bit of info from these forums you are all pretty darn good people....thank you all!!

gino palermo
port dover ont

I too am taking lessons in the blues at age 56. When I played 20 years ago, I was entirely self taught, and not bad. Especially classical. I got rid of the classical just this year to pay for some of my new toys because I could no longer stretch my arthritic fingers across the wider fretboard of a nylon string classical. That plus the little finger on my fretting hand is almost useless as a playing finger do to a broken knuckle in high school. Today they can replace knuckles (my 75 year old brother has had it done). Back in the 70s they just chopped the joint out and froze the finger in position.

[Rampdog]

I was 56 in 2008. Retirement is looming on the horizon and it is something I had always wanted to do.

So, a 1988 American Standard in Tanqueray Green was my first and I will never get rid of it. Loaded it with Texas Specials, got a Peavey Delta Blues amp and I am still taking lessons....that blues playing is a lot tougher than it looks!!(sic).

Since then a 2009 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster Tobacco Burst, a 2006 American Deluxe Telecaster (Butterscotch), a 2006 Gibson Les Paul Studio Swamp Ash and just today an Egnater Tweaker amp.

Jeez I wish I had started this a long time ago!!

Bye the bye I really enjoy reading all the posts and I have picked up quite a bit of info from these forums you are all pretty darn good people....thank you all!!

gino palermo
port dover ont

Looks like you're making up for lost time... And picking up some great instruments...Good on ya'... My dad is 82 years old and he just started taking lessons, and he is slowly building up his own stable of guitars...(thanks to me slipping him a couple of mine to get him started)...

[kaicho8888]

circa 1964....ahhhh to be young again! Well...maybe not.

Geeze, I just noticed that I still have that home made gray colored guitar chord. It was rather stiff but durable!

[Bluesky636]

Me circa 1969:

[gibsonjunkie]

I got my Tele at age 48... about 9 years ago... now I have that, a Strat, and a J-Bass too.

[lineboss58]

I would have been about 24 it was a 25th anniversary strat brand new finished in silver, it was a dreadfull guitar i sold it a year later. It makes me laugh to see what they go for now, the same year i bought a 62 rosewood necked precision bass. Not much stock stuff on it now exept the electrics i still have the old bits lying around, people lust after that bass but i dont take her out much anymore.

[Russ]

I was 19 the year was 1972 the strat was a uesd 71

[Russ]

Me circa 1969:

What model Fender is that?

[Gris]

Damn, i just remembered my bro n i shared a Fender in 1966... it was a sparkly blue w SC PUs n a rosewood neck is all i remember...

[scottgd]

I was 15 or 16. Got a used Tele in '72 or '73. So the Tele was prob. a '68 or so. Man I wish I still had that Tele.

[martindc1]

I was 10 when I got my Squier Strat for Christmas in 92. In 02 I saved up and got my MIM. For the last 8 years the Squire sat in a case in the upstairs at my mom's, I guess I was bothered by the word on the headstock. I recently got it out and was amazed at how it has aged. I plan to get it playable again soon, once I thought I was going to be the next SRV and I broke the nut trying to put on a set of 13s.

Its not as nice as my MIM, it has a plywood body and the overall finish isn't quite as good, but that doesn't bother me anymore. It feels like it has more like a 12" fretboard radius. I'm either going to keep it a half step down or use it for slide work. At any rate I'm looking forward to it.

[NeoFauve]

Fender started making Standard Strats in Mexico in '89?I must've been 24-25.

I had two for a little while, for some reason, less than a year. One black, one white. Perfectly so-so guitars. The white one definitely had a maple neck.
Around $300-ish bucks new w/gigbag.
I don't remember much else about them.

I traded one toward a Boogie MkI and sold the other.
Those were the first and last Fenders I owned in the 20th century.

[Jonnda]

I never had a first true fender now that I think about it. I have a squire affinity bullet, and parts of real fender guitars on various other guitars, but I have never been able to afford an entire fender guitar.

[Don Wiklund]

I was 20. It was a Coronado II and I was playing it through a black face Bandmaster. I believe it was 1968 or 69.

[Yossi]

It was 1973 when my father took me over to the house of someone who posted a Fender Stratocaster for sale in the Sunday Paper.
It was either $200 or $250, I can't remember for certain.
I've had it ever since:

[Bassbob]

When I was 10 or 11 my Dad gave me his 61' Brown Deluxe. I still have it and it is still my favorite guitar amp.

[Demina]

1st Fender Amp: Old tweed Champ when I was 15 in 1965. I seem to remember thinking it was a 1953 model, but I don't know that they were dated or how I figured that.

1st Fender guitar was a used Mustang when I was 24 in early 1975. No idea what year it was. Over the next couple years I got 2 Strats, a used 61 and a new 75 (the Mustang went in trade on the new Strat). In '77, I traded the '75 Strat even over, for the 66 or 68 SG I have now and sold the 61 for what I'd given for it ($125) when I needed cash a year or so later.

I now have some Squires, an 09 Bullet Strat, 07 Jazz V, and an 08 CV 50's Precision.

[RicOkc]

First Fender at sixteen, a 1966 Tele.

[photoweborama]

I got my first Fender Strat in about 2001.
I always had Gibson's but a kid loaned me a Squire Affinity Strat, and I was hooked from that point on.

[ES350]

I got a early 60's Music Master around 1973; 25 bucks at a hardware store. Went to Gibsons and Guild solids and archtops by the mid-70's and didn't get another Fender until about 1984 when I bought two new Strat RI's off the rack at Mannys/NYC.

[Wire and wood]

I was 25 before I got my first. I was turned on to them well before that but just never put the money together I guess.

[xmark]

I saw my first Stratocaster in 1957 when I was still in high school.Most of the kids had fat body acoustics or Gibson hollow body electrics so the Strat looked odd because it was so thin and didn't have the fancy bindings or fret board inlays.I thought it was made out of ironing board wood.My views on a lot of things have changed since then and I am the happy owner of a Fender American Series all single coil.I will always own one, one way or another.

[bern1]

16 years old, in high school in West Germany, my Dad brought a 1968 Strat home from Cream Music in Frankfurt...worked all summer and then some to pay for it.....

[bluespckr]

I was just barely 19 in 1968 when I got my first Fender guitar and amp (white CBS-era Tele and Fender Bandmaster amp).





Paul

[MusicallyMrM]

2002. Age 42. Been playing guitar for some 30-something years. My first nice guitar was a 1977 Les Paul Standard. (Parents bought it on my 17th birthday for $650 w/case.) I've had some vintage Peaveys along the way. Got Fender Nashville Tele in Malachite green with the Fishman Bridge option. 5 Strats later, I've finally intergrated Fenders into the herd. :)

[enriquecaliente]

My first strat was a 1969 that I got in 1974. I was 23yrs young. I sold it, got a Les Paul and sold it. Started playing again in 93 and got a Telecaster. Still got it and 6 Strats now.

[Jeff H]

I played acoustic guitar since 1961.
In 2003 I bought my first Fender, a Hiway1 Telecaster. I still have it and enjoy it very much.

In 2008 I bought an Am Std Telecaster. Did not like it as well as the Hiway 1, I gave it to my 16 year old grandson. He likes it very much.

[BAT340]

14, In 1978, It was a '72. Black, maple neck. Traded it in for a Flying V in 1980. It wasn't a great guitar. But I wish I still had it. The V is long gone as well. Currently own 6 strats. 4 Custom shops, 1 25th Anniversary, and an '83 two knobber. And I'm building a Blonde, tortoiseshell pickguard Strat now.

[Hornchurch]

"Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?" My life tale isn't too dissimilar to yours....

Got my very first Fender, a brand-new l/h CBS-Era 1977 Ash-bodied 'Blonde' (Olympic White), on 4th Nov' 1978 at age 17

I owned it, kept it, played it to death (fret-wear & pink-undercoat showing thru), as late as Dec' 2000 (22-yrs)

Ironically, traded it in for another 'brand-new' (but year-old, "N.O.S"), 1999 Olympic White USA Fender Stratocaster.

Amazing thing is, my 1977 CBS/USA Ash-Telecaster cost me MORE than even my first-car, a nice late '60's Sports-Coupe

Daft thing is, when I traded 'her' in (Tele'), it sold for almost DOUBLE what I paid for it !!!!!!! (So, in other words, I got my use)

At the time, was dumbfounded, as I seriously expected the dealer to metaphorically "boot me in the bollocks" (but he didn't)

Hindsight "IS" a most wonderful thing - "IF" I could turn clock back, I'd've kept the Telecaster as well (& just paid the extra)

By then, USA Stratocasters were nudging just over £1,000 here in the U.K. = But I only needed another £185.00 for the Strat'

Was SO damn impressed with my '99 Olympic-White Strat', that I bought another - (Black/Maple/Alder - the Olympic is Ash, again)

Bought a 23-yr-old Gibson Les Paul Custom (for not much more than the '99/White-Strat'), so I then had some variation.

Snagged a few Basses - Japanese 'Sea Foam Green' 1962 Re-Issue & a Mex'-Jazz, brand-new, at a suicidal price (E-bay, local)

Several more Stratocasters (GAS-Syndrome had set-in, by now ) - Bought a rare l/h Cherry-Burst-Ash-DELUXE

Like you, bizarrely, ended-up with SIX Fender Stratocasters & 5/6 are all USA models (I preferred the build-quality, too)

It's the 'Ergonomics' (body comfort, physical feel & playability) that make Stratocasters an absolute winner, for me.

.