![Steve Lukather: Father Sacrificed a New Car to Purchase His First Quality Guitar]](https://backingtracksfullcollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Steve-Lukather-Father-Sacrificed-a-New-Car-to-Purchase-His-758x426.jpg "Steve Lukather: Father Sacrificed a New Car to Purchase His First Quality Guitar] 1")
Steve Lukather had been playing guitar for six or seven years before his parents relented to his begging for a top-quality instrument, and his retelling of the story has brought him to tears.
Like countless other young players who grew up in the 1960s, the Toto and session-playing hitmaker says George Harrison, whom he first saw perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, was “the reason why I play.”
Lukather received his first guitar at age seven, but as he told the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum in 2020, it was a “broken thrift-store guitar, which ironically, people now covet.”
“It was a crappy guitar,” Lukather says with a laugh. “One of my idiot friends knocked it over and broke the neck — not off, but it screwed up the headstock to the point where it wouldn’t tune up very well.”
Despite the damage, he was stuck with the instrument.
“I had to play it because my dad would say, ‘You broke it, you’re not getting a new one.’”
Lukather devised a way to get his hands on nice guitars.
“Instead of going to the toy store, I’d go down to Guitar Center in Hollywood every couple of weeks,” he says.
Unfortunately, those electrics were beyond his means.
One day, however, things played out a little differently when his dad agreed to drive him down to the store and added, “Maybe we’ll buy an amp.”
“I didn’t wanna push it, man,” he says, “my dad worked hard. He knew how much I loved it. When I’d get into trouble, they didn’t punish me, they’d take music stuff away. A stereo or whatever.
“Anyway, I wanted to try out an Ampeg VT22, the one Keith [Richards] used on Exile on Main St. So they put me in a practice room, and I grabbed a Les Paul Deluxe. I crank the amp, and I’m ripping on it. People are looking, going, ‘Who’s that playing?’ and it’s just a little kid. I guess I was quite good for my age.”
His dad had left him to his own devices until eventually he came back to collect his son and take him home.
“He goes, ‘All right, let’s get out of here. Let’s get this stuff in the car.’ And I go, ‘What do you mean?’”
His father’s words stunned him.
“‘The amp and the guitar. It’s yours.’”
It’s at this point he starts tearing up, calling it a “huge moment” in his life, while revealing that the outlay saw his dad give up on getting the new car he wanted.
“I love my parents so much,” Lukather continues. “My dad sacrificed that for me. I got this great guitar, I man. I woke up in the middle of the night to polish it. And the smell of the case. It changed my life.”
![Toto - Rosanna, Africa, Hold The Line & Stop Loving You (live) [2024] - YouTube](https://backingtracksfullcollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/1776859836_461_maxresdefault.jpg "Steve Lukather: Father Sacrificed a New Car to Purchase His First Quality Guitar] 3")
His dad’s caveat was that, now that he had pro gear, he needed to take lessons and honor his craft with the weight it deserves. As the five-time Grammy winner continues to work on a new Van Halen album with Alex Van Halen – they’re currently searching for a singer after a big-name turned them down – suffice to say the investment paid off.
He’s since clarified his role in the record after the story of their collaboration blew up. Jimmy Page, meanwhile, has explained what sets Lukather apart from his peers, and the Toto man has named his best guitar in a chat with GP.
