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So, an old friend of mine wants to pick up the electric guitar. He's not half bad at the acoustic, being able to play quite a few songs, but as an electric guitarist myself I know electric is a different ballgame. Anyway, he's asking for recommendations for a good beginner guitar. One that doesn't cost too much, but is easy to play and sounds decent. He seems to be leaning towards classic rock, if it helps, so maybe stuff like Les Pauls? I don't really know.

(Btw, it'd be nice to get input from people who live in Australia, as my friend has moved there.)

Anything London City, if you can get a mk 1 or 2 comet (the telecaster model), perfect. Friend of mine picked up one of these for dirt cheap and it is one sweet axe.
They have dual-humbucker and stratmodels too, just look for london city.

For amp a blackstar fly or ht1 (or ht5) , line 6 spider or roland cube.

The thing with starterpack amps is that they sound okay-ish clean, but once you kick in the gain it just becomes flat and dead is my experience, and all of the above amps are readily available secondhand (half the world plays a line 6 spider is my experience) so you start off with a much better tone than you'd get for your 250 bucks starter pack deal.

Okay, so you might have to spend 300-400 bucks, but for the money, definitely worth it. Especially since he's already a player, so he already knows he'll keep on playing.

I know, I only suggested secondhand, but on a budget, it's definitely the way to fly.

I would suggest him to wait until he can afford a good guitar with a good quality that will remain to him for life, instead of picking up "just a decent guitar/starter guitar" that could have all those disturbing electronic problems and stuff ike this. eek

You're best off getting a kit, if that hasn't been said
With kit guitars you shouldn't expect anything glorious but for guitars that cost the same as a kit you should expect the same quality. If you get a kit then you'll have literally everything you need to get started and sometimes they give you a DVD to learn from.

Edit: Get a kid? That sounds a bit crazy to me!

Well, the OP was quite a bit ago but, if he's still looking, and for anyone else with this question;
Anything from the Squier Classic Vibe series and some sort of low watt (10-30) practice amp is what I would suggest. Something like a Roland Cube, Pignose, or Line 6 Spider. The Vintage Modified line of Squiers is also really good and features more of a range of options as far as pickups and such go.

That will get him one of the better setups for the money but, does come in at around 500-600 but, they'll last. Buying a starter pack (despite the better price) is not something I can really say I recommend. He'll need to upgrade from it pretty quickly if he really sticks with electric guitar. A CV or VM Squier and any of those amps will still be good even when he moves into the intermediate stages, and possibly even beyond that. There is a large subjective element so, I can't say entirely but, yeah.

If money is really tight though, (which is understandable) the packs do give you it all. Just know you get what you pay for most of the time.

Haha, that post was a pretty long time ago! I actually finally bought a G&L ASAT Classic S just recently. It's gorgeous (and a close up). The middle strat-ish pick up adds a lot of versatility and the wood binding just makes it. That fat G&L neck felt way weird at first but it grew on me quickly.

Thanks, though! Good suggestions. I actually have been wanting a Mustang too, regardless. The phase switch is really cool. Never thought about upping the string gauge. That's a good idea. Does it still keep the short scale tone?