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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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:
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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.
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.
First Fender at sixteen, a 1966 Tele.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.....
I was just barely 19 in 1968 when I got my first Fender guitar and amp (white CBS-era Tele and Fender Bandmaster amp).
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Paul
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. :)
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.
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.
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.
"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 :laughing:) - 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.
.
"ye shall be visited by spirits three, one being a necro-thread from 2002" :confused: :biglaugh:
mine was a brand new '74 tobacco sunburst Stratocaster with a maple neck, I was 16 years old and had been playing a couple years. I was so proud of that shiny hunk o'shite that I turned down a trade for a battered old Fender Telecaster with no name on the headstock and yes, I knew it was a Nocaster. At the time it was just an old guitar.
The sales guy must have seen me coming a mile away and sold me that turd to get it out of his store. The frets were so gooped with poly that it was like trying to play on flypaper. I thought the awful tone was due to my abysmal playing skills. When I sold that guitar to pay medical bills in 1978 the buyer had to get a new neck and 2 new pickups to make it playable. I was like "You can do that?". Seriously, I didn't know you could change parts or even buy them separately.
so yeah, I don't buy into the cache of '70s Fenders worth a sou. Thanks to that piece of crap I stayed away from maple fingerboards for more than 30 years.
My first Fender bass was a righty 70s Telecaster bass. Sounded great, but as a lefty, I had a hell of a time with the cutaway and the controls.
My first Fender guitar was an early 90s MIJ 68 reissue Strat. Beautiful guitar, but when you played one note on certain parts of the neck, two or more dissonant notes sounded. After carrying it to a couple of luthiers, I knew it was either a new neck or a flip. I traded it for a MIJ 62 reissue Tele. Great guitar but not quite the Tele sound I was going for.
Welcome to the forum!Quote:
Originally Posted by BAT340
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hornchurch
Hey, mate! Good to see you back here!
As for me, I bought a strat shaped object back when I was 16 but it was no Fender. Played acoustics and Gibson-like guitars until 2014, when I first bought myself a real Fender strat, US made.
'Quote:
Originally Posted by Sérgio
Many thanks for the welcome back Serge', it's much appreciated mate !!!!!
Don't post much thesedays, BUT, I do still read the board & with much interest - ( hence my passion, bottom of Page.5 )
Am still surprised (& pleased), that there ARE a few other 'Southpaw-Lefties' on the board, such as mah good self :laughing:
Incidentally, my very FIRST Electric-Guitar (NOT FENDER), was a nice-looking, but lousy-playing 'K' as in Korean 'Kay' 1975 job.
Having read your last post, ya got me curious to know now - What type (Body, Neck, Colour Model etc) Strat "Did you buy" then, in 2014 ?
.
Her name is Jessica. Late American Standard model, came with the "custom shop" fat 50s. Bought her new and have been gigging with it ever since... Great strat, covers a lot of ground with its "modern classic" specs and electronics...Quote:
Originally Posted by Hornchurch
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Hee, hee, hee! I didn't get my first Fender until I was 65! For the past 40 years or so, I made do with a Framus 12-string I bought new in 1971, and a 1957 Gibson ES-225 I got in a trade for some stereo equipment in the early 1980s.
Then, I went on a guitar acquisition spree starting in 2016. I now own seven Fender guitars: Four Strats and three Teles!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OldStrummer
Yeah, I was a late bloomer myself too. Only got my first real Fender when I was well past 35.
The strat copy I got back when I was a teenager was a real cheapo piece of whatever wood they had, with bolts and plastics on and some junk for electronics, but I loved it. It was sparkling gold like Dick Dale's strat and had a dark, Rosewood-like fretboard.
I was 26 in 1986. Bought a '57 and '62 reissue Stratocaster. This is the '62.
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[QUOTE=candy86;639602]I was 26 in 1986. Bought a '57 and '62 reissue Stratocaster. This is the '62.
That's a beautiful guitar. Do you still own it?
[QUOTE=ch willie;639603]Thank You. Yes I do. I just took that pic. I still have the black '57 also.Quote:
Originally Posted by candy86
Very nice guitars. I played a lot of gigs with them in the late 80's early 90's.
My first Fender? I was 17 and it was on a 1967 Mustang. Man, I loved that car!
21. Always a Gibson guy but traded a much modified 69 LP Custom on a '63 Strat. Sold it a few years later for a wedding ring. Much later I bought a custom shop relic that looked EXACTLY the same. Wish I had the original, but this will have to do.
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First Fender amp at 38. A Mustang II V1 1x12" 40W
That's it so far. I've had it for about 2 weeks now.
hah, didn't think to include amps. I had my Princeton Reverb for a good while before that '74 strat so now I can say for sure it was at the latest a '73 maybe even a '72 Princeton Reverb that I bought new. I kept that amp until '06.Quote:
Originally Posted by WoundUp
My first Fender I got as an almost-new, but on the used rack MIM Tele. I got it in late-1998, I think.
I hadn't been a Tele fan up till then, but this one played so good, and had great "body tone" - what I call playing unplugged.
Black with maple neck, it had been updated with a black MOP pickguard.
Grabbed it (this was when they were $300 new, used like $229, I worked there so I got it for maybe $175 or so.)
Changed out the stock pickups to Custom Shop Texas Special Teles.
Made a big difference.
Last year I finally got around to doing the rest of the electronics with a 4-way switch and new pots etc. Man, talk about a night and day difference.
My strat I got in 2001, it's a 2000, the last of the older American Standard, before they switched to American Series.
Also black, with rosewood. That one is stock except for strings.
Don't remember exactly. With the help of my parents, bought a Mustang from Mel Bay. Maybe I was 14 or 15 at the time. That would make it 53 or 52 years ago.
Folks bought me a brand new 1969 Coronado II sunburst and a 1969 Bassman with 2x15" cab.
I was 18 yrs old.
My first piece of Fender gear was a 1979 Vibro Champ bought at Roy & Candy's Music in Tulsa, OK. I still have it but it now resides in a 2 x 10" cabinet I built a while back.
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A dimed Vibro Champ through a couple of large speakers (12's or 15's) sounds positively monstrous!
Same with a Princeton......
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I was 18.
A brand new 1972 Fender Telecaster Thinline, natural finish,with Wide Range Humbuckers. Never really bonded with it.
The neck was too skinny. The frets were too short. And it would take another 20 years for me to begin to understand the glory of the CuNiFe Wide Range Humbucker.
If any of you are familiar with "Telenator" pickups, that's me.
I just looked up the telenator pickups. Looks like they shut down the business about 6 years ago because the magnets were getting too expensive and hard to find.
I actually shut it down because we couldn't get enough CuNiFe to make it worthwhile.Quote:
Originally Posted by Michael Smith
If CuNiFe was more readily available, we could have brought the price way down.
I was also experiencing some medical issues that put a final end to the business.
For 10 years though, we were the only company in the world where you could get a true vintage replica of the 70's WRHB, and it was a blast to meet so many cool people and players through the business.
Made a few enemies too. Fools and doubters and people who were totally incensed by the fact that "we did it!" The haters are everywhere. LOL!
One of the coolest projects of my entire life. Even though it really didn't amount to much more than beer money in the end. Proud of it though.
I was 13 when I bought my first Fender, a new '65 sunburst Stratocaster (though my dad had given me a Fender Princeton to go with my Japanese 'Lindell' a few months before). I still have and play it, though the paint and plastic are no longer original (it's the LPB in my profile pic).
All dressed up for 8th Grade graduation -- with my brand new 'date'!
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59. I used my friends 69 strat, and had several other brands. Still playing it today.
Howdy all
In 2013, I was 17 when I bought my first Fender, a baja telecaster. Closely followed the same year by my very first bass, a cabronita precision. Two magnificent instruments that have greatly contributed to my progress.
Today I am the proud owner of 3 Fender Stratocaster Custom Shop , two 60 RI Relics and one Custom Classic. One Fender Jazz Bass V American Deluxe and one Fender Kingman Bass acoustic.
Thank you all and ROCK ON
Clément :ola
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welcome!Quote:
Originally Posted by Clément
Wow I don’t believe I ever posted to this thread. My 1st Fender was a 69 Tele. Got it used at age 18 in early 1983. Had previous bite marks from a Bigsby. Loved that guitar though it’s long gone.
I was 14. paid $275 for a 1972 Strat, in 1974. was my only guitar for 20 years. 3 years ago I surprised my daughter, giving it to her as a gift.
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My first Fender was a Lo wattage (I'm remembering 45 watts) Bandmaster Reverb Amp. I'm thinking maybe 1972 or73.
Not long after, picked up my 1963 Fender Musicmaster for $5.00 at a yard sale. Still have the guitar. Though it's in pieces right now.
I have played guitar since age 12 in 1964. My first Fender was a 1964 Fender Precision Bass I bought in 1974 at age 22. My first Fender American Strat age 72 when I purchased my Fender American Ultra II Strat a couple months ago. I am very happy with this guitar!