After 3 and a half hours of doing the Zaino thing on my Brilliant Black, I had some extra (after covering a 3000GT also) and used it on my black Gibsor Les Paul six-string and my home-built solid mahogany electric. They really shine better than the picture would indicate. They look wet.

you went all out

that home made mahogany guitar looks good

Thanks. For the body shape, I put the bottom of a Les Paul with the top of a Fender Stratocaster. I don't have all the right tools so much of this was sanding and cutting by hand. 8 coats of laquer. The Zaino gave it a shine like a mirror, but there is still depth there to see the grain of the wood.

Way off topic, but les, your guitars look great. you ought to send sal zaino those pictures. he'd get a kick out of them.

off topic, i'll assume by your user name you are an accomplished guitarist. my son has been studying as a classic musician playing the viola. as his teen years have hit, he's decided he wants to take up the electric guitar. any suggestions as to what model of guitar and amp he should buy?

Thanks!

They type of electric guitar and amp is largely dictated by the type of music to be played and whether or not you are likely to stick with it. If he's not sure about guitar, Danelectro makes fine guitars for around $150 (Jimmy Page used it on the first Led Zeppelin LP). A small PigNose amp may run around $75 and you're ready to go. Can always upgrade later.

Single coil pick-ups on guitars give a more twangy, bell like tone (Mark Knoffler of Dire Straits). Humbucker pick-up (the wider ones) give a more full, rounded tone. The best single coil is the Fender Stratocaster or Telecaster (Fender Squire is an inexpensive version). The best humbuckers are on the Gibson Les Paul (although Epiphone makes Les Pauls that cost half as much and are fine guitars). PRS Paul Reed Smith (Carlos Santana), Ibanez, Jackson (some fancy designs) all make fine instruments.

Amps run from small 10 watt, mid-sized combos (amp and speaker in one case) at about 50 watts and then you can get 100 watt amp heads that attach to speaker cabinets (like the one in my picture, 100 watt Marshall with a speaker cabinet with four 12 inch speakers.....more than any normal person should need. It will knock pictures and clocks off your walls).

There are also lots of guitar processors that you plug your guitar into and adjust to give special sounds like echo, reverb, distortion, flange, etc. PodLine 6 makes some great ones.

I have a collection of thirteen guitars (plus a mandolin, banjo, 12 string, bass and a digital recording studio that is drapped in a Korean war parachute, to cut down on feedback. I call it the "Under the Parachute" studio, hence my avatar.)

There are tons of great guitars out there now. Check out www.musiciansfriend.com. I could go on for pages about this. It would be my pleasure to share any other information that you might find useful.