Your Real First Guitar - April Fools Day!

It’s April the first and I usually put together something silly, like making a Hello Kitty guitar out of a 1957 Stratocaster.

But this year I am sort of tardy. Actually I’ve been compiling a lot of real stories about real unique guitars, when I discovered it’s almost April Fools Day and I haven’t written a doggone thing.

So let’s take a look at your first guitar. I mean your real first guitar. The one you got when you were just a pup of three or four. We all started somewhere.

My first guitar came with a built-in backing track. Yep, it was a genuine Mickey Mouse guitar. You could strum it or finger the strings and turn the crank.

♫ Who’s the leader of the club, that’s made for you and me? ♪ ♫

By the time I was five I graduated to a Roy Roger guitar that was made out of finest-kind fiberboard. By then I knew I was going to learn to play guitar.

But there are so many more “first” guitars; and there is a different one for each era.

When I was a teen, the Emenee Toy Company had commercials for the Tiger Sunburst electric guitar with a real amplifier. I already had a Stratocaster and took a pass on that one.

The Mario Maccaferri Guitar, was modeled after the Selmer-Maccaferri “Gypsy” guitar that Django Rheinhardt made famous. This was designed by Mario Maccaferri and he made millions of dollars selling plastic ukuleles and this plastic guitar that actually sounds pretty darn good. It may have cost $29.95 back in the 1950’s, but vintage music dealers are selling these now for $500 and up.

Whatever was popular on television or in the movies seemed to be turned into a guitar.

What was your first guitar?