Been playing acoustic guitar for a while now, want to spice things up a bit and get myself a electric guitar and amp. Have been looking for a second hand guitar to get me started. I have found an aria pro for 180 and a encore les Paul copy plus a epiphone les Paul copy. Has anyone used these guitars to learn on, reviews and advice please.

Oh yeah, the other option is to get a good steel string semi electric acoustic. I use an irig and plug into my iPad then feed out my speakers and you would swear I was playing a strat using the irig application.

I had an Epi Les Paul - it was ok although I preferred my Ibanez strat copy. Now I just have a Squire strat copy, only cost about $170 new, has a great action, no idea how they produce something so good for so little. I think guitars are a bit like mattresses - don't focus on the price just find one that you are happy with.

i haven't come across a guitar yet that hasn't performed substantially better after a setup from a pro. regardless of how much the guitar cost and what name is written on it. (it's not just about the action)

pretty much every off the shelf pro level guitar i've used has had the action sorted nad the nut upgraded as a minimum. some have had custom bridges installed to get around string height issues.

intonation is easy to do yourself. you should do that after every new set of strings and especially after changing gauge of strings.

the main difference between cheap and expensive guitars is the quality of the wood, the pickups and the hardware. but more than often then not it is just the name written on the guitar.

that said, lots of cheaper excellent guitars around. the 1970/1980's japanese imports are pretty good. eventually if you stick with it you can upgreade the pickups. brands like tokai, aria, greco, guyatone, tiesco etc. check out your local second hand shops. play it acoustically and see how it feels and listen to the sustain of the strings.

i'm currently using a godin radiator, it's sounds is a cross between a telecaster and a ric. i can't speak highly enough of it. they are outside your budget second hand. but not too far outside.

as far as amps go the lunchbox amps are great value for money. the big mistake most electric guitar players make is they think high watt equates to better tone. that just isn't the case. high watt is only really ever necessary when you need to cut through the band in a live situation or playing large venues.

if you want american/fender sounds check out big white monkey, for brit sounds there is blackheart. these are all tube amps. 1-5 watt. $150 max gets you there second hand.

there are lots of other options, every amp maker has small watt versions. some better than others. if you've got more money tiny terrors rock. depends what tone you are going for.

if you need contacts for someone in brisbane to setup your guitar once you've bought it i can put you in touch with the best.

Hey lee1972
I bought a new epiphone les Paul std copy. Cost about $750 new. Also bought a vox vt40 amp. So with the amp have lots of different and vintage sounds without lots of pedals. You might like the pedal to go with it to swap between settings. Only drama with the pedal is it sets to a preset volume. Which is sort of small venue loud. Otherwise I can play with the valve fully working and various crunch levels and have a low volume so I don't upset everyone in a 100m radius.

The guitar is great. Its a heavier guitar than others but thats why its got such good sustain. I would like say a fender tele as well and lots of others for different sounds and styles. The les paul does most of it depending on your settings, bit of palm muting and strum style.

nice,

one of the sweetest guitars i have played. occasionally i use a gretsch hotrod that has been modified with tv jones classic pickups and custom aluminium bridge and graphite nut. it was owned by the guitar tech my mate uses. he traded an epiphone nighthawk and gibson firebird we weren't using for the gretsch.

the tv jones pickups are the setzer pickups. they have a growl and twang that is glorius on a hollowbody guitar. they are excellent. i also like the simple electronics on these type of guitars. a volume pot per pickup.

i've been pretty keen to pick up and old japanese hollowbody or eastwood hollowbody and put some tv jones in it for myself.

for beginers they are a little tough as the bridge is floating and makes intonation setup a must when changing strings. you can fix the bridge with double sided tape to simplifiy things.

the gibson style semi hollowbodies es335 probably suit beginners more as the bridge is fixed. both ibanez and epiphone make a semi hollowbody also.

Rock on my man!

try Guitartoolkit App for an iphone or ipad, has a tuner in it plus a small drum machine as a metronome plus lots of chords and scales.

new set of strings and a setup you should be fine. i was amazed at what the metal dude did at the local music store to my acoustic. new strings and readjusted the bend in the neck for $25