I decided to give away one one of my guitars

[neighbor664]

My grand-nephew just turned thirteen. I have decided to give him one of my guitars as a birthday gift.
He had expressed interest in guitar in the past, but I wasn't convinced he was serious enough to stick with it.
I'm still not 100%, but I figured he's worth it.

Thanks to Guitar Hero, his mom and his grandpa he likes like quite a bit of classic rock including Hendrix.
Since he is left handed I'd figured that I'd give him my white Strat and string it up lefty like Jimi.

I figured mentioning this might be a good jumping off point for a thread about either your first guitar or getting a first instrument for a kid or beginner.

My first electric guitar was a cheep-ass Harmony I'd bought myself from Montgomery Wards with newspaper route money when I was twelve.
I had been begging my family to get me an electric for a few years before that. I was told by my parents that they'd consider it but not until I'd learned to play the lame acoustic they bought me when I was five.That was never going to happen. For one I was convinced acoustic guitars where not real guitars. Ace Frehley didn't play an acoustic. And secondly I didn't have the heart to tell them I'd SMASHED the acoustic after seeing Paul Stanley do it a few times.

[Mr. Foxen]

Chec what guitars he thinks are cool. Strats are grandpa's guitars.

[neighbor664]

I was concerned about that, but he claims to not have a preference. Yet.
He has admired one of my other Strats before and likes a few Fender player.
He sounded stoked when I told him my plan.

[Jake]

Awesome idea, man. Paying it forward feels good. I imagine he's be pretty stoked on a "Jimi-style" Strat for sure.

[mutantcolors]

There is nothing grandpa about a fucking Strat. Rescind your comments or forever burn in the pits of hell.

[RAGER]

I have bought 2 nephews strat style guitars with distortion pedals and amps and neither has done anything with them.  dammit.  i am the only one besides my Grandma on my dads side that has any interest in music it seems.

What i  forgot to add is that I hope it works out better for you

[James1214]

Awesome gift !  I would have loved to have a "real" guitar when I was 13. Also playing on one set up properly should be a motivator as well.

[MichaelZodiac]

My brother-in-law gave me my first bass when I was 16. It had been collecting dust for a few years so he gave me his bass, a combo and a case. It was a cheap Yamaha model that I still have at my parents place.

Good luck on the mission, I'd be stoked if I would get that 

[I,Galactus]

I got my first electric at 13 and have been making godawful noise ever since.  Applauded for doing something like this.

[VOLVO)))]

You'se a good fella, neighba. Encouraging the gift of music is a noble thing. Thumbs up.

[RacerX]

Good on ya, neighbor!

At 12, this teenager sold me a 3/4 size Japanese electric for $10. He had bought a few years back off the back cover of a comic book. I started lessons at 13, & my teacher was aghast at this thing, so he lent me a guitar he'd made from a butcher block, LP body shape with a Strat neck & a Bigsby. I started saving $$ & I ended up getting a used Guild S-90 on payments. It was $150.

That guitar served me well for years:

[BrianDamage]

My first guitar was a Ventura that my dad got me for my 7th bday. He was a musician and wanted to pass it on to me. Plus I had already decided I was gonna be in Kiss when I grew up lol. My first instrument I had for playing in the rock bands was an Ibanez jazz bass copy. I still have it and it is a pretty damn fine bass.

I just gave my niece a SX j/p bass (white with a black pickguard because she wanted one that looked like Sid Vicious') and a little amp for her 10th birthday a couple of weeks ago and she is well on her way to learning the fretboard. She has already memorized all the notes. For a 10 yr old she has killer taste in music. Alice Cooper, The Sex Pistols, Kiss, Sabbath but her favorite band is Motley Crue. I can overlook that since she digs other cooler stuff lol.

[eyeprod]

That's cool. A first guitar is a big deal to some kids.

[Chovie D]

my first guitar was rented...my parents were convinced id quit after a week. First lessons were atken at teh YMCA..some hippie taught us sloop j b and beatles an shit.actually very good beginner lessons now tht I think about it.

after a few months playing that rented acoustic..my parents finally gave in and bought me a Hondo II LP copy that wouldnt stay in tune. I saved up and bought a ross distortion pedal and ross compressor(wish I had that back, they go for $400 now!).
Ross ws the only effects brand avaiable at the only guitar store in town at the time. amp was a 5 watt solid state no name.

I was riding home from a jam one day on my bike and had that amp in the front basket. I hit a big crack n the sidewal or something and flipped over the handlebars and landed right on top of that amp...busting it cabinet and all into a hundred peices n the sidewalk...

our "band" was called Neon Knights!...we played Iron Man and smoke on the Water.

[spookstrickland]

Pick out the ones you would like to give him, then let him play them and when he finds one he likes gift it to him later.  I he will be so stoked!

[Demon Lung]

My first guitar was a red and white squire. It was a piece of shit

[clockwork green]

I think more of us should give away stuff we're not using, either to friends that can't afford it or charity groups.  I have a guitar and bass I'm not using that I'm going to set up and give to the Girls Rock Camp as well as some pedals and cables.  If it's not something you need selling it really doesn't get you much, then you might as well do some good with it.  I think more young musicians should grow up realizing that this is a different sort of community and then folks should help each outer out when they can because it's about the art of music not about financial rewards.  /hippie rant

[Ranbat]

My first guitar was a Harmony acoustic my grandfather gave me. It was super impossible to play, but looked damn cool with a Dyn-O-Mite! sticker on it.
My first playable electric came from a girlfriend. It was a Lotus Strat copy with an Eddie Van Halen sorta paint job and a Kahler copy trem.

[VOLVO)))]

The accutune?!  Worst trem in history next to the BENDMASTER FT.

I would pick a tiesco bigsby clone over that shit.

[Pissy]

I've given two away to kids.  One (a sunburst Univox Hi-Flyer)  I gave to my good friends 14 year old, and he loves it.  They moved to Ireland and he took it with them and he's learning how to play it.  The other was a Jazz bass copy that went to my nephew.  I built it myself and didn't particularly like it so I gave it to him for Christmas.  He's now in a band with his buddies in Richmond, and believe it or not opened up the Gwar-B-Q back in August since all those kids parents are tight in that scene.  Pretty cool.

[neighbor664]

I've flipped the nut and the strings over to lefty, but still need to set it up. It's a trip trying to play it right handed (Albert King style) with the bass strings towards the floor.
I consider my-self fairly ambidextrous, but trying to play guitar lefty when you are a righty is tough; even tougher still on a righty Stratocaster.
I now have an even greater respect for Jimi, for not only playing as well as he did, but for doing it in spite of the knobs, switch and jack almost always in the way.
I am having concerns about if this guitar is going to be right for dude.