First things first! When you want to play ANY instrument you must first understand it. Who What Where When Why How is a good rule to follow. Who plays guitar THAT YOU KNOW and why do they choose an instrument/ i.e. Stratocastor or Les Paul? What did they pay and why? When did they get this guitar? Why did they play electric and not acoustic? How did they decide this was the ONE main guitar for them? When you have answered all those questions for yourself you have done the first step. Now you second step is budget. What will be a Standard to go by? Well first let me say a guitar that stays in tune and looks good is better than one that is poorly built and goes out of tune all the time. And believe me dear reader there's loads of those! A cheap guitar is a waste of money. It will discourage creative spark, damage your hands and ultimately make a fine bit of kindling or a wall clock! Or just collect dust in the closet because the strings are too high off the fingerboard. Of course "the action" must be agreeable to being played. The action for Eric Claptons "Blackie" is the same at the 22nd fret as it is at the 2nd fret. Most electrics will not play perfectly out the box. Acoustics are set at the factory and generally are great right off the rack in the Guitar store and need no amp or effects pedals. You can get a good used guitar on eBay but you will need to have a competent Guitar tech set it up and set intonation and action for it to play properly in tune all the way up the neck. In USA I recommend John Caruthers Guitars in Venice, California. In Canada I recommend Rufus Guitar Shop in Victoria BC. Both these guys have 30 years in the business and do top notch setup and repair. On the East Coast there's Dan Erliwine in Ohio. I met him at the NAMM Show and found him to be very professional also. Now the money question: If you spend less than $300.00 dollars on a guitar in a Guitar Shop like Guitar Center you may be wasting your money. Why? It's less likely to be a pain in the neck if it's a 500 dollar guitar. So if you get a $300.00 guitar for $150.00 you might spend $200.00 to repair or replace worn frets and another $150.00 for setup. If your lucky and get a $500.00 guitar for 300.00 and it needs nothing then your better off! Knowing what a guitar is to going to ultimately cost you to be satisfactory and playable is an important consideration.Don't be lazy- educate yourself BEFORE you own it. A word about tuners: Sperzel make great locking tuners. I have them on my Fender Strat and they never fail! I replaced the crappy tuners that were on the guitar because I knew they were not professional grade. The guitar kept going out of tune. I also had the setup done by a great repair tech and replaced the nut with a graphite nut by Graphtech. This also helps to keep the guitar playing smoothly as the strings glide over the nut grooves instead of sticking and slipping. Floyd Rose Locking Tuners are generally considered superior at keeping the guitar in tune. They work very well and are popular for this reason. But it takes an experienced guitar tech to set it up right. Eddie Van Halen lives by them and he is obviously a musical genius. Need I say more? Having said that I can tell you I put Fender tuners ($30.00) from the Fender factory on my Telecaster guitar and they work just fine. Try out as many different guitars at the local Guitar store and read Will Rays eBay Strategies Column in Guitar Player magazine. Buy what you love to keep. You will enjoy it a long time and become a better player who plays more often. Then shop with confidence and of course happy bidding! You can build a nice collection of fine and unique instruments from anywhere in the world. Best Wishes, James Walsh