My First Guitar And Amp

13 years old, dad rents an office space somewhere downtown and finds an old Sears Silvertone 12 electric guitar and Sears Silvertone amp.  The guitar has 6 strings on it, and they are so high off the fingerboard that it's unplayable - especially for a kid who has only spent a few months playing the ukulele.  Didn't know it was possible to adjust the neck and string action, so I thought it had to go.  I also don't know how to turn the amp on, much less what all those knobs are for.  I call a friend, he calls his big brother, shows me how to use it.  The amp was one of those piggy back things - probably 60 tube watts or so, and a 212 cabinet.  Both the guitar and amp are ratty looking.  Well, being that they weren't shiny and new, I did some trading around, and ended up with a Watkins Rapier guitar and some awful electronics store guitar amp - probably 30 watts and 3 10s - I would have been so much better off with the Silvertone, but well, I was an American kid who thought that shiny and new was better than old and worn - all that western society crap, ya know.

I used that shiny red Watkins thing and the no name amp for a couple of years - playing at 8th and 9th grade school dances - till the other guys in the band got sick of me, my uncool fingers, and my Creedence :D .  I also played a few little drinking parties in Palolo Housing (the projects) with a guitar playing uncle who took a liking to me for some reason - I didn't drink, I just played.  I seemed to get banished to my room a lot of the time by my parents back then - mostly for things I didn't do, but it got me to spend a lot of time with my guitar.  I ruined most of my Creedence records, and my little portable record player, learning one note at a time.  I always waited till everybody was out of the house before I plugged in a played, but step mom said I was a showoff.

So, that was my initial learning time.  When I was about 17, after my summer job that year, I went to Harry's Music Store and bought a classical guitar - it was their house brand, Kahala, and I paid $89.95 for it.  Carried that thing around with me to San Diego, Georgia, back to Hawaii, L.A., and back to San Diego again.  I finally had to get rid of it because the bridge had torn off of it, I bolted it back on with 3/8" nuts & bolts, then it became unplayable.  Didn't touch a guitar again until about 1979 - which started a whole 'nother musical era for me.

More later.