Resurrection of a cool thread...
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...
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
I was 16 when i bought my first Fender back in 1979, a new black Stratocaster that i still own. One refret and thousands of hours playing later, she´s still ringing like a bell. Haven´t touched anything but the frets and setup, quite amazing Guitar! I love her!:jack
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
If you're counting Squier, 1991 - P-Bass (24 years Old)
Fender, 2000, MIM Strat. (33 Years Old)
had a few other guits in between there, Ibanez, Yamaha
DD
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
I got my first Strat in 1981 - I was 16. It was a used one but it was a 1968 rosewood board in 3 color sunburst. My dad paid $ 450.00 for it and I had it until 2003. I sold it and gave my dad back the $ 450.00 and treated him to a nice long weekend in the Adirondack mountains in a nice lodge in Saranac Lake. Needless to say I had a little extra cash which he said was mine.....
My second one came in November that year since I became a Hendrix fan and a buddy of mine wanted a Les Paul. Paid a whopping $ 375 for a very late 1970 Olympic White maple board model. This one I also sold a couple of years back to a collector. Was a bit more beat up but still nice. I
I have recently got the jones for one of these big headstock and big logo 4 bolt neck Strats and playes some 1969 Custom shop models. These are as good as the originals as fas as I am concerned - minus the mojo of course. And we all know the real mojo comes from use and not from a relic job.............
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
Ignoring my Amp
My First - A MIM 60’s Classic Strat – 48years young (I’ve had too struggle up till then with a 71Les Paul Custom)
My Second – 2 weeks tomorrow for my 50th . A CIJ Bound Tele - its in the box upstairs awaiting the big day
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
Ha! Everyone should have to asnwer this question/thread as a right of membership here.
First Fender guitar was a brand new off-the-shelf '68 Sunburst Strat when I was 13. Painted houses all summer to get the cash.
First Fender amp was a '66 Super from a guy named G.W. Smith who made pedal steel guitars. I had been bugging him forever to make me a steel guitar but they were too costly. Finally to shut me up he gave me the Super in '69. It had been in a fire and had a really cheesy cab on it. It was a few years before I realized what I had. GW was a blind steel player so the Super wasn't clean enough for him I guess, LOL. Only got rid of that one (in head form) a year ro so ago.
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
My first Strat was a '66 in 1979. It was stamped "DEMO" on the heel.
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
My first Fender amp was a 67 Blackface Vibrolux Reverb when I was 14 My first Fender guitar was a 1999 crimson red transparent, Am Dlx Strat with maple fretboard when I was 40 years old. I grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan and it was much cheaper to buy a Gibson than a Fender.
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
Got my first guitar at 13. It was a Fender 62 Sunburst Telecaster reissue. Not long after that, I got a black 1978 Fender Strat (large Headstock) with a maple neck of which I still own almost thirty years later.
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
49.... My son kept asking me how to play somthing on the guitar. I would take his electric out of his hands to show him. He was never happy about this. I "needed" an electric to play with him because none of my 5 acoustic guitars would do ;) One trip to GC latter, I had my MIM Tele to enjoy. I'm getting a Strat this next week.
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
It was a year ago, so I was 41. :D
I may have told this story before, but I was a Gibson/metal guy when I played in the 1980s. Had an LP copy, then a Les Paul Custom. For gigging, I backed up the LP with a pretty cheap Ibanez X-Series with a radical body shape, locking whammy, and metallic red finish.
Late in college, I sold off all my gear, bit by bit, to pay for school. The LP Custom was the last to go. I'd just about kill to be able to go back and stop myself from selling that one.
I barely touched guitars for more than a decade after that. Then, in 2006, I decided I'd try getting back into playing. Didn't want to spend a lot of money on a guitar (in case it ended up collecting dust), and I didn't want anything I'd be tempted to compare to my old LP Custom. So I got a Squier "Deluxe" Stratocaster. (I put "Deluxe" in quotes because it actually says "Standard" on the peghead. As far as I know it's only called "Deluxe" in the marketing materials because it has a matte amber finish and a matching headstock.)
Turned out I loved playing, and I was starting to get into the blues, which I'd always been a fan of but never played or studied. Then I got the DVD set of the 2004 Crossroads Festival, and I decided I *had* to have a nicer, Fender Strat. :D
So, for my birthday last year, I got myself a Deluxe Player's Stratocaster. Almost 30 years after I first picked up a guitar, I had my first Fender.
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
on my 13th birthday, dad took me to the store and bought me a new 2001 mexican strat and a peavey amp. my first fender amp was a twin. :wah:
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
In early '68 I bought a '66 sunburst Strat from the original owner for the then-princely sum of one hunnert yankee dollahs. I was sixteen years old an' the Fender replaced my severely-used/abused-and-totally-boogered Gibson Melody Maker. My first Fender amp was a '65 Deluxe (not DR) that I bought in late '66 for ninety bucks from the kid down the street who got a new Vox Viscount for Christmas.
Geez I wish I still had 'em both!
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
Got my first guitar about 1.5 years ago when I was 17 which was a Fender Stratocaster 60th Anniversary (MIM). I just changed the pups out of them to GFS Jimi Staggered. This guitar is painted silver (Blizzard Pearl) with a maple fretboard. I love this guitar so much.
Re: How old are u when u get your first Fender?
My first Fender was a '76 Stratocaster which I purchased in '85 (I was 22 at the time) for three hundred dollars. I had two LP's by that time and decided I wanted to see what this Strat thing was all about. I sold it in '97 to a kid in the neighborhood, for the same three hundred dollars.