Your first vintage.

[howdo3313]

My first vintage guitar was actually my first electric, bought for me by my mom back in the early 80's. It was a Vox Spitfire. Probably a '66 with a vintage Pignose amp.

I didn't really appreciate the guitar very much at the time. It was sort of good enough to learn on, but not really what I wanted. I modified it to the point that by the time I got rid of it, it probably would have been really great in the "Why did you do it? Why did you do this thing to me?" thread.

I hadn't even thought about the Vox until recently. I still have the Pignose amp, but both the Vox and my mom are long gone and I miss both of them dearly.

To all the parents who ever got us gear... ...and respect.

[oliver9419]

My first and only vintage is my amazing '65 Jaguar. It was a gift from my dad when he retired.
I was looking around for a custom shop Strat at the time but this came up out of the blue and straight away i knew i had to get it. It's one of the prettiest Jaguars I've ever seen (in my opinion), i just love the wear on it.
It's not my best playing or even best sounding (My Squier J Mascis Jazzmaster feels nicer) but it's my favourite by far and wouldn't trade it for anything.
The guitar was original when i bought it but came with a repro case. I have since replaced the tuners with vintage repro ones and also swapped the bridge for a mastery.

[Marc]

My Dad's Harmony Sovereign he bought new in '63 - he worked all summer laying loft insulation on a building site.

My first real vintage was a '66 Jag - stripped to natural with white guard and a crappy repro decal when they were still awful (so was probably Candy Red at a guess - no sign of original paint in cavities to tell.

I'd been looking for a Jazzmaster for ages but none around in central England in the mid-eighties although there was one of the 'end of run' '82 Jazzmasters sitting in a shop in Coventry new but I couldn't afford it. A lot of people don't know about these and think production stopped in 1980 but Fender cobbled together the last of the parts and presumably, Strat necks, added binding and did a final run. It was Sunburst over ash, very heavy, black guard, black pup covers and black strat knobs. Big thick headstock and jumbo logo. It was £450 new and was still in the shop in '84. Everyone was into Kahlers and Floyds and dumbukka pickups in that era.

I got the Jag through chance - a not very close friend was a musician and I had done a couple of swaps with him - I got an OSCar synth from him (uber rare and expensive now - wish I'd kept it). He offered me a 909 as well but I didn't take it (fool).

Anyway... he had a friend who was a bit of an idiot and he overheard me saying I wanted either a Jag or JM and he said I have a Jag I can sell you. I got it for either £170 or £270 cannot remember exactly. It needed a refret and the strings were flat on the neck. The sonic blue refin, refret and sorting the wiring out cost £250 but was totally worth it. Was a great sounding guitar which I eventually traded for an original Candy Apple Red, green nitrate guard early 1965 Jaguar. Was very worn and very cool - belonged to a guy in a band in Bristol called The Electric Guitars who had 5 mins of minor fame during The Pop Group era.

Just found a link to one of their tracks and you can hear my old Jag on it and sounds cool as... I think out of all the vintage guitars I've owned that is the one I by far regret letting go of... especially hearing it here. It's never shown up on the used market either - I'd try and buy it back if it reappeared.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxH95WgeVgA

That's my story....

[Mechanical Birds]

I wish all the time that I could stumble onto an old mustang or something in a garage sale. Maybe one day

[fuzzjunkie]

My first vintage guitar was a sunburst JM. I bought it at a pawnshop for $350. I only had it for 9 months, maybe a bit less. I don't know the year, but probably a '63-64. I traded it for a Fender amp after I found a '61 Telecaster at a garage sale for $250. I didn't stick with the girlfriend that drug me around to garage sales every weekend; she had a vintage clothing shop, but I did stick with that guitar!

[torchindy]

Mine was an accident. I wandered into my local guitar place and they had a 1969 competition blue Mustang on the wall for $999, I'd never seen one before and it looked really cool to me. I bought it on financing, the most expensive guitar I had ever bought at the time, and took it home. The back pickup had weak magnets and even wound right to the strings had a really low output. This fact combined with the apprehension of paying monthly for a $1000 guitar and all the old players I knew telling me it wasn't worth it and that it was a student guitar led me to return it to the store shortly after. I saw the same year and color guitar for sale for $2k a few months later and felt like an asshole.

Since then I've had a 1964 jaguar and still have a 1961 jazzmaster and a 1966 super reverb but I still kick myself every time I think about that Mustang.

Apologies for the instagram filters.

[i love sharin foo]

I THINK my first vintage guitar was a '62 Jazzmaster. It was refinished in Dakota red and had replaced tuners, knobs, and the bridge pickup. It looked fantastic though and sounded real nice. It was one of the later slab boards, too (May '62). I parted with it a few years ago and still miss it every now and again. Mainly the looks. I have become more of a Jaguar player these days.

[Skeeze]

Hi!
My real first vintage guitar was quite an adventure, and I have to talk about my life.
I learned guitar quite late, being maybe 15. I bought a cheap aria pro 2 in a store, my first guitar.
Soon after, as I graduated, I made new friends and heavily dive into psychedelia and garage stuff. Was sixteen. My life changed forever.
A friend borrowed me a strat, but I needed a guitar from the period you know, I had to.
So I worked and saved a lot during holidays. I am eighteen, I pass the driving license. I asked my father “can I take the car for three days?”. It was pre-internet times. You could not find anything, except what was near you on the ad papers. I made phone calls, bought specialized press, etc etc. And finally found what I needed.

From where I lived (south of France) up to the guitar (north of England) it took me 3 days on my dad’s car - where I slept, ate and all - a trip on the boat, no showers, no nothing, 3.000 kilometers, by a newbie like me - and in England they drive on the other lane - oh my god I nearly crashed quite a few times. I went there solo, alone.

But I had it. I was Brian Jones.





It’s a rare one. “Made in England” - not an Italian.

So. That was the story of my first vintage guitar. Still have it, of course !!

[PJazzmaster]

↑↑↑ Great guitar, and it's a really really nice story!

[Chiediazanna]

It was a bass. A long scale EB4l by gibson from 1974. Ten years ago. I had it throught ebay. Stripped down and badly spratyed with furniture lacquer. All the hardware was original. I upgraded it with hipshot bridge and a Dimarzio dp120 (wired on their 3 way switch). Is the only instument I miss.