My first electric guitar, affectionately referred to as "Rusty Red" is an early '80s shortscale Duo-Sonic clone obtained for under $100 w/hardcase.
Bought 2 years ago in a migration from sorta-playing-bass-sometimes.
It came with highly oxidized strings, that I use to this day.
They happen to sound very cool when played by lightly rolling a fingertip across them like a violin bow.
Especially the unwounds...and with a pick made of bone, stone, glass or terracotta etc they really howl.
Grit, sparkle and harmonically rich lofi or midfi tones are my preference when playing guitar.
Minimalist ringing melodies, sustained droning feedback and simple powerchord riffing and/or whatever sounds good to me in the moment.
Bending those old strings with Fuzz into a DMM set to short time/high feedback is
This guitar and a Selmer amp got me into exploring gear, wanting to hear how good I can make both unique and ubiquitous things sound.
Plus I'm self-taught by ear and don't read music; and have some old, dumb injuries to my fretting hand's index finger & thumb that kinda make me look/sound like I'm rusty no matter how much I've been playing.
So rather than struggling with *learning to play the right way* I've been having fun figuring out what works, by doing whatever.
It's fun and challenging to explore like this, and very satisfying when the results widen my eyes. It's like navigating a new video game without a strategy guide or walkthrough. Doing it this way has kept me interested and imaginative, and personal.
I would like to make a record that sounds good, while having fun and challenging myself and this is all just means to that end.