1. some 40 years ago I was trying to learn some basic guitar technique and had a Gibson ES330TD and Fender Twin Reverb amp; at my very best I was a loud, but very mediocore player;

2. being a poor college student, I sold the guitar/amp combo (which in 40+ years of hindsight may have been a poor idea) because (a) I needed the $$ and (b) I was too lazy to work at getting better

3. now being more age enhanced and (hopefully) more mature on what is needed to get from mediocore to merely average, I am inclined to try again;

4. because of a lingering fear that the lazy gene will kick in, I am thinking I want to get a "good" guitar/amp combo so that (a) I give myself a better chance of being happy with my play; and (b) it might be easier to resell and bale from a good setup rather than one that is just cheap

5. my hands are normal sized, but with the Gibson I did have issues with some frets and string spacing;

6. I am leaning towards a Gibson Les Paul Studio and Fender Blues Jr. or Twin Reverb amp (I prefer the tone of a tube amp); or if not the Les Paul, then perhaps an American made Fender Strat.

From the guitar players here that are beyond the newbie level, what might be your suggestion given the parameters that (a) I don't mind spending something for quality, something that will hold resale decently...

A Fender Twin is still a classic and great amp. There's also the Vox AC30, or if you want something a bit more modern, a Mesa Express 5:50 (or even the Roadster, if you want to go even more expensive).

My lead guitarist plays a Mesa, but we tend toward current rock (read: lots of crunch). I love the sound of a straight-up Fender Twin, myself. Gotta admit, I'm not a Vox fan, but the AC30 is a classic.

You can't go wrong with either a Les Paul or a Strat; it's very much just a feel and sound preference. If you're getting a Strat and have the coin, DEFINITELY go American as you mentioned, not Mexi (the resale value alone is worth it). If you really want to treat yourself, you could buy a Paul Reed Smith...the real deal, not the SE line. G&L makes some nice instruments too (my guitarist is a G&L fan). Left to my own devices and someone else's money, I'd look seriously at the Paul Reed Smith. That's just MY ears talking, mind you.

-Mark

If your looking for a strat style I have a Behringer strat that sounds as good as a MM if you ask me and it's a $90 compared to $400 for a mm used. American strats get higher from there but are better quality for sure. Amps IMO are much more personal. Kind of a Peavey fan but not for any specific reason other than having had several.

If you want to check some out try craigslist and search for larry_flewelling I have quite a few for sale out there right now and a couple more not on the list. You are certainly welcome to give them each a try to check out the different sounds. If you decide any that I have might be what your looking for I guarantee what I sell so they are returnable. In amps I only have a 15 Fender left and then jump to a 400 amp Peavey. Should at least give you an idea of what's out there etc.

Larry

Have fun with that. Guitars are great.

There are lots of solid state modeling amps now that sound good and don't weigh so much. Having just unloaded my car from a gig I must say that as the years go by the size and weight of kit becomes a matter of increasing importance to me.

Another thing to consider is that the quality of some of the dirt cheap guitars is now surprisingly high. For, say, $500, you get more for your money than you did in the 1970s or 1980s, because the cheap Japanese manufacturers have figured out how to crank out guitars that are, well, pretty good.

In fact I have an acoustic guitar that cost under $200 new that I bought several years ago that is, while not fantastic, really quite playable.

Here are some cool guitars:

Are we allowed 30 round clip guitars here? NICE!!

If you've got the coin, you can't go wrong with the Strat or the Paul- classic axes both. It boils down to feel- Fender and Gibson use different scale lengths, so the guitars play a little differently. I switch between them all the time, though I'll admit to defaulting to my Strat.

As regards amps, the Twin and the Blues Jr. are both decent amps, with a nice sound. What I've been using for the last couple of years is an Epiphone Valve Jr. half-stack- it's the loudest 5 watts I've ever heard. The stock tone is decent, the amp is inexpensive, and there's several mod kits out for the Valve Jr. if you like to tinker (mine has a couple of mods by Bitmo in it).

Next time you're down in the cities, get ahold of me. I'll PM you my details.