My first guitar was a rental. No one in my family had any musical inclination, though my middle sister played flute through high school in the marching band. Alto Music in Monsey, NY, rented me a Fender Jaguar and a little Peavey practice amp for about $25 a month, I think. After a few months and with me sticking to it, my parents were willing to let me spend some money on something. I wound up buying my cousin’s beat up Aria Pro 2 explorer body guitar. I really wish I’d kept it, but I think I traded it in? I don’t recall. Back at Alto a couple years later, I bought an Ibanez PL1660 – their offset V/Rhoads knockoff. I wish I’d kept that one too. I bought an old Sunn tube amp from a newspaper add, and started collecting pedals. Around 1990 I bought a Fender M-80 half stack and my black RG550. In 1991 came the red Ibanez 540R Custom and a Roland GP-16 multi-effect unit. That was the core of my tone until I started playing again in 2009.
