"My first guitar was nasty, old, and cheap. It didn’t have a name on it – they were too embarrassed to put it on, I think!” 7 electric guitar icons on the budget acoustics that shaped their early years

['Daryl Robertson', 'Senior Deals Writer', 'Social Links Navigation'] Latest from Guitar World 2025-09-22 15:38:18

But it’s their basic acoustic guitar that sparked the magic and kicked off their careers. In this feature, we’re diving into our print archives to spotlight the electrifying stories of musicians who launched their journeys with just an acoustic guitar in hand. “My first guitar was a nasty, old, and cheap – I think they call it a plectrum guitar [a four-string tenor-style guitar]. It was a Framus acoustic guitar – but we added a pickup to it later." “I had a Stella acoustic guitar that I played for two years.