the thing is, its getting cheaper and better all the time. if you are a gigging musician and you have around £500 to spend there are a lot of companies out there ready to oblige.

You have to bite the bullet, and make some effort. Go round the stores, a guitar fair, if you can - spend about another £30 on buying the guitar magazines for another couple of months - just checking out what is out there, because it changes very month or so.

above all talk to anybody who builds guitars and knows a hawk from a handsaw, when it comes to guitar constuction, and anybody you hear with the sort of sound you want.

when you're starting out - it should be fun, as you get older - its a pain in the arse. Every hundred quid or so you spend has to be paid for with a gig or possibly two.