Show Us You and Your Guitar from Long Ago

[howard lee]

Not long ago, I found and scanned a chrome of this vintage family photo of my cousin and me, with
my first guitar, a 1969 Guild M-20 (the scanner is consumer level and not very high-res). The guitar, which
I purchased in 1970, cost $80 with chipboard case. I am pretty sure this was at Bear Mountain Preserve
on a trip we took for my sister's sweet sixteen, in June 1971. A ferry ride up the Hudson got us there.

Do you have a photo to post of your early guitar days? Post it here.

Photograph by Bernard Gotfryd

[Dub]

I don’t think I have any from my earliest days but here’s one from sometime in the early 1970s.


That’s my 1970 Martin D-41. I think the photo was taken at a club in Evanston, IL. No idea who took the photo.

[TKennedy]

Do banjos count? Circa 1966 in Colorado.

[John B]

Here's one from 1992 with my L'arrivee.

[billhammond]

Aug 26, 2024 10:13:25 GMT -5 John B said:

Here's one from 1992 with my L'arrivee.

During your Ricky Nelson phase!

[Marshall]

1964 maybe

[drlj]

Maybe 1969-1970. Not my first guitar but I hadn’t had the J-45 more than a year. Note the Dunlop double elastic band capo. Looks like I was at someone’s house.
Loved my sideburns.

[Russell Letson]

Uncertain date, but the wedding ring says sometime not long after July 1970. A yard party at a grad-school classmate's place--I believe that's his leg just showing on the left margin. Somewhere in my midden-heap of an office there might be a photo from 1965 or so of me with the classical I bought in Barcelona the year before, but godknows where that is buried. (The photo, that is. The guitar is buried somewhere in the basement.)

The guitar here is the Guild '65 D-40 I bought in '67 and that is sitting on a stand in the living room e'en as I write this.

[dradtke]

Christmas party at my aunt Olga's house. Note the nifty sweater vest. The blonde kid with glasses is my cousin Mark, who grew up to be a professional bass player. I think he blames me.

Probably about 1970. White tights were big that year for young girls.

Attachments:

[james]

Tuning a friend's guitar in his bedsit. Mid to late '80s

[theevan]

Love these. Wish I had something.

[PaulKay]

This is me trying to play something from a book. I'm in the living room of the beach house I shared with 3 other sailors.  It was located along the north shore of Oahu. This is circa 1972-1973 so I was probably 20 or 21.
The Pioneer amp and AR15 speakers behind my head were mine.

[howard lee]

These photos are treasures, truly. It is so cool to see some of you way back when, especially those of us who have met much more recently. Everyone was so young and handsome. Now you're... older and handsome. 🤓

Please post more, if you have one to share, folks.

[millring]

This isn't very old -- probably mid to late eighties, just before I met any of you. Paul, Tam, and LJ all saw or played this Larrivee. It's possibly the oldest photo of me playing a guitar.



And this is the oldest photo of my Gibson (Geoff playing it) from the mid to late 60s. I'm in the photo -- the youngest in the portrait hanging behind Geoff.

[RickW]

Me playing my Gibson Ripper, which I still own. This would have been 1977/1978, and we were playing a dance in the Commodore, a venerable old club that still exists in Vancouver. Great place to play.

[Cosmic Wonder]

KT, me, and the strat, about 2003. We figure she is about 8 in this picture.



Mike

[Tamarack]

Jamming with Zack, 1991

The guitar is an Epiphone, bought as damaged goods from a guy with connections to Gibson when I lived in Kalamazoo. Had cracks in the finish from where it had been dropped (thick finish suitable for a bar top) and an overset neck. Had pretty good action with some careful finagling of the truss rod and saddle height.

[Cornflake]

These are all great. I don't have any photos of my first guitar but I wrote a song about buying it.

Back in 1968
Everything was looking bleak
They'd gunned down King and Bobby too
The endless war was at its peak

Meanwhile I was 17
Looking on in deep dismay
And wondering what I had to do
To win the heart of Sarah Gray

Sarah never said a lot
She had an air of mystery
She knew some secret I did not
Or so it seemed to me

Well Houston had a coffee house
Where I took Sarah on a date
And there was some guy playing blues
Not that bad but not that great

Sarah sat there rivetted
Hanging on each note he'd play
"This guy is really cool"
Said quiet, pretty Sarah Gray

So I bought a cheap guitar
With dreams of Sarah in my head
I hoped that thing might win her heart
But no, it led to this instead

That was back in '68
When guys were dying overseas
Before we learned our little lives
Weren't dramas, they were comedies

When I took a look around
I found I had to look away
And what I most liked looking at
Was quiet, pretty Sarah Gray

[coachdoc]

Can’t find any pics, but my first guitar was your basic Stella six string, (I also had a Stella 12 string on which I made some weak attempts at Leadbelly’s Rock Island Line.) That was between Junior year HS and collitch. Never got more than a little proficient, but had a whale of a fun time banging on that thing.

[Tamarack]

I think many, if not most of us had a Sarah Gray long ago.

Many if not most of us also had a Pamela Brown.