Cx,
If you wanna learn guitar, DO NOT BUY A BEGINNER PACK. Those beginner/starter guitar and amp combos are not the way to go. they are a hure waste of money. you spend like $199 on the set and when you either loose interst or wanna get a more decent guitar, the rig will be worthless. the day after you buy one of those rigs, they are already only worth like 30 bucks.
The wisest advise I've ever gotten was "buy the most expensive that you can afford."
but any hoo, you're in luck now a days. Guitars are gettin cheap as hell.
since you dont know much about guitars, I'm guessing that you arent going to do any giging any time soon. so you will only need an amp that powers though about 10 to 15 watts.
you will need a guitar in the $300 price range. those are decent beginner guitars.
I would stay away from 'Ibanez' guitars though, as they depreciate faster then other guitars tend to.
Fender, and Gibson guitars almost have no depreciation, so If you can afford a Gibson or an American made Fender, go for those. if you pay $800 for it, you will generally always be able to get $800 for it, should you decide to get rid of it.
I would also buy used gear. 'Playability' is far more important than being in 'Mint' condition. Usually minior scratches, dings and pick rash do not affect the value of an instrument.
I would also buy used gear because of the depreciation value of guitars. In most cases the second that you own a new guitar, It becomes 'Used'. So in many cases there are guitars on ebay that are 'bedroom guitars', you can peck off one of these for all of the discount and none of the wear and tear on the instrument.
ohh, by the way, to get back on topic:
'87 American made Squier II strat. (thats right, AMERICAN made)
'00 Ibanez s470 (my bedroom guitar, bought it new 600, now its worth shit)
PRS Tremonti SE ( SE, made in Korea, abolutely great guitar, Koreans are gettin good)
Squier Bullet (my first guitar, now its basicly a wall ornament)
Edited by Drano, 03 June 2004 - 06:37 PM.