Two Plus Two Older Archives - Electric Guitar.

If you honestly want to get a good guitat, the best thing I can say is to make sure you have plenty of time and to fiddle around with different ones in the music store.

I taught guitar for 2 years, and I currently have 4 guitars:

Aria Pro MA-30
This is my personal favorite guitar. I replaced the factory humbucker in it with a Seymor Duncan Screamin' Demon. For me, it's the most versatile guitar I've ever had and the Demon brings out some good deep tones. I hung out with George Lynch about 9 years ago, and he signed it for me, so it has sentimental value as well. For the money (cost about $850 when I got it), this is the best value guitar I have ever had or played on.

Fender American Standard Stratocaster
This was my FIRST big-name guitar. I had the single coils in it replaced with the fender lace sensor pickups and wilkinson rolling nut. Not the smoothest playing guitar I own, but it does have a nice tone and a confortable feel. For what it's worth, this would be my second favorite guitar that I own.

Ibanez RG-450
The only guitar I have with a maple neck/fingerboard. Decent feel and playability, this is the guitar I use for rock and melodies/leads. The maple fingerboard, for me, is not as nice as rosewood, but it's still decent guitar. #3 on my list of guitars I own.

Aria Pro - Fullerton Series
OK... I don't know the model # of this one, and it was given to me buy the owner of the music store I used to teach at as a "retirement gift". I used to comment that I really liked the paint job on it, so when I went to college, he gave it to me. It's not a bad guitar, and would be a great starter guitar for most people, but compared to the others that I have, it's sorta like a sears tin-can special, although it DOES have a nice sound when you wnat something a little "thin".

As I said earlier, you want to get a guitar that feels good to you... it doesn't have to be a $3000 guitar or a "big name" six-string. That's why I advise you to spend a few hours in the music store trying different guitars with different amps.

Small adjustments can be made to the playability with fret-files and the truss rod (in the neck), but make sure the following are applicable for your guitar:

1 - Check the neck for straight-ness. Look down the neck of the guitar from the head. What you DON'T wnat to see is side to side warping or bending.... a little bit of bowing isn't that bad, and can be easily fixed via the truss rod, but warping from one side to another is a big problem.

2 - Make sure you don't have buzzing at any frets. If there should be some small bit of buzzing, a fret-file can easily resolve this, but if you have buzzing acrosse multiple strings at multiple frets, this can be a more serious problem.

3 - Ask a tech in the store to "set-up" the guitar for you BEFORE you pay for it. Most places I've been in will ask you a few questions and do this for no charge when buying a new guitar, but it can take a day or three to get the guitar while this is being done. After it's set-up, make sure you still are comfortable with it's playability. DO NOT BUY FROM A MUSIC STORE THAT WILL NOT ACCOMODATE YOU IN SETTING UP A GUITAR AND MAKING SURE YOU ARE HAPPY WITH IT!

4 - When you find a guitar you think you like..... play it WITHOUT an amp. Listen to the natural tones of the guitar. This will be a better indicator of what the instrument's natural sound is like. It can also help you to better choose an amplifier.

5 - Check the thickness of the neck. The Aria Pros that I have both have low-profile necks, which are better suited for someone with smaller hands. The Ibanez has a big fat neck, and may be unwieldy for players with smaller hands (I have big hands, so no biggie for me). Make sure you can access all playing areas of the guitar easily.

Hope this helps somewhat....

'Mez