Leaderboard

They are big bastards to be sure! I gigged with my L5 copy once, it was actually OK. If you're looking at semi-acoustics, I'd like to suggest the Epiphone Casino, either the full size or coupé version (I have one of the latter and have owned the former in the past). They're crazy light and, once you've swapped out the pickups (I thoroughly recommend Artec P90s), sound great.

Thanks for watching!

I had an Epi ES175 which sounded lovely but I just found it a bit unwieldy. I daresay I’ll end up getting and selling an AR, then getting and selling an AS and then getting and selling an AM. There’s no end to my madness

Passion is more important than guitar course, especially for beginners because of the learning curve. Focus on learning how to play songs that you like first. There are plenty of youtube tutorials out there for well known ones. Pick a song with maybe three chords at most. I started with Happy Birthday for my daughter and then progressed onto other childrens' songs before I started getting into things like Give A Little Bit (Supertramp) or Say Somethin' (Justin Beiber and Chris Stapleton). Then I progressed onto a bit of Bon Jovi (Dead or Alive) and Chic (pretty much anything). For me it's like play, I get to see if I can play something like I hear it on the radio. Or practice singing and playing.

Yeah, certainly with the lower spec models, like the TE20. Some of their higher priced gear seems comparable with the likes of Squier, so definitely a loss leader or close to it.

Having spent ages poring over the Ibanez web site, the two contenders are currently the AS73 or the AR520. I know the AR played well but I’ll check out the AS before I pull the trigger. This is all assuming that I sell the two guitars I have in the marketplace, of course. And Harley’s have a great reputation - I assume that Thomann do them at close to cost just to get people through the virtual doors and into the habit of buying from them. Still amazing value though.

The AR520 in black looks fantastic. The AS series has some lovely instruments too (I may be biased though, owning an AS73 TCD). I need to stop looking at the Thomann website. This has caught my eye. Harley Benton TE-70RW Deluxe Series – Thomann UK How can they produce something like that for under £200?

AR series - cheap and cheerful up to mid-priced 335-a-likes. I had a go on an AR520 last week and was very impressed with it - especially for the price (about £600). This is the crazy thing - I keep buying hollow body guitars and then selling them after a year or so. As soon as I move them on, I decide I want another. I haven’t had a semi-hollow though so maybe that will scratch the itch properly… Synthchat? If Gearspace and Elektronauts is anything to go by, synthists are a contentious lot who love giving out a good trolling. I’m not sure I want to hang around with the likes o’ they.