Yo Riznich, welcome to the board! OK, basic guitar. First, electric guitar. These are less expensive, as a rule, than usable acoustics. The need for an amp equals that out. Electrics basically are solid body, hollow body, and semi-hollowbody. Most folks would recommend you start with a solid body, because there are more models available, and usable ones tend to be less expensive. There are 2 basic types of electric guitar pickups- single coil, and double coil, also known as humbuckers. Originally, single coils were the basic Fender sound, and humbuckers were the basic Gibson sound, the yin and yang of electric guitar. Because of fierce competition, both camps began to compromise with the other. Gibson developed their version of the single coil pickup, the P-90. It comes in the soapbar and dog-eared version. Fender began installing double coil pickups on the bridge of some versions, resulting in the "fat strat" or "hybrid" stratocaster, and even installed a pair of humbuckers on some guitars, such as the deluxe telecaster.
Later, the "coil splitter" was developed, allowing you to switch a pickup back and forth, but that didn't produce quite the double coil sound that Gibson fans were looking for. Of course, many after market companies began developing their own versions of the 2 basic pickups, especially ones designed to drop into the other guy's guitar.
What does all this mean? It means you need to know what kind of electric guitar sound you are looking for. Now- everything beynd that is opinion, and no matter what I say, someone will disagree, and it doesn't mean they are wrong. People will tell you that the humbucker produces a better distorted rock sound. On the other hand, Jimi Hendrix used a stratocaster with single coil pickups plugged into a bunch of Marshall stacks, and I wouldn't call that folk music, exactly. I think the suggestion of a guitar with one or two single coil pickups in the neck and middle position, and a humbucker on the bridge is a good one, for a starter guitar. It will give you a little bit of both worlds.
As a matter of personal taste, I disagree with the concept of a Squier strat, or *any* other guitar made in China. Note this, though. The cheaper a guitar is, the more of them you have to play to find one that is basically OK.
I suggest that you go to the biggest guitar store you can find with a friend who really knows guitars, and let him play *a lot* of cheap guitars before you settle on one. Rather than a Squier, I would look at Mexican Fender Strats, which are more expensive, with good reason, than the Chinese Squiers. I have played a couple of Yamaha Pacificas which wern't too bad, which is a fat strat clone for less money than the Mexi-strat. Just my opinion.
amps/modelers- For many years, studio standard amps were Marshall, Fender, and Vox. Marshall was used for hard rock, Fender for blues and country, and Vox for clean British invasion sound. Then many "boutique" amps arrived, Dumble, Soldano, etc. Mesa got added to the list of hard rock amps, and lots of cheap alternatives appeared, by Carvin, Kustom, Behringer, everybody.
Then Line6 took the forefront in an emerging technology- amp modeling. This uses digital technology to shape guitar tone into a model or copy of the sound of a particular amp, with adjustible parameters. This resulted in POD, the first practical, affordable amp modeler. Now multiple others exist, such as Behringer VAMP and Vox Tonelab.
Amp modeling is a box of worms, because some people really, really hate it, and others are using it, and making usable sound with it. I think one of the big problems with it is how people use it. They think it's a box for direct injection, so they plug it into a recorder, engage a cabinet model, and go. Part of the problem is, over 50 years or so, we have gotten used to the sound of an amp moving air *at a microphone*, and modelers don't do that. Myself, I use modeling frequently, but in almost all cases, I jack the modeler into a power amplifier, and the power amp into a cab. Then I mic the cab like any other amp. It isn't any cheaper or quieter than a guitar amp, but it gives me a wide variety of amp sounds.
Of course, if you are working late at night, you can just jack the modeler into the recorder and put on some headphones. It's quiet, and useful, but does not sound the same as a mic'd up cab. I recommend a cheap modeler to start, like Behringer VAMP II, and save money for the kickass amp that will give you whatever sound you want. If you're a rock guy, buy a big Marshall or Mesa with lots of tubes. If you like country, buy a Fender.
OK- acoustics. This is a bitch, because wooden guitars are made by humans, and wood is not a uniform substance. It is a lot harder to find a good cheap acoustic than a good cheap electric. See above statement about taking a friend to a store and playing a lot of guitars. The best cheap acoustics I've played were Yamaha, Epiphone, and Washburns (the last two, and maybe all three, were made by Samick in Korea). The brand isn't important. What's important is that that one guitar was made well by dumb luck. Play a shit load of acoustics, and don't buy any guitar you haven't played.
Bass- Everything I said about electrics applies to bass. The cheap brands are Squier, Ibanez, and Yamaha. The bass amps are dominated by Fender, SWR, and Gallien-Kruger. Of course, there are Bass amp modelers as well. The big difference is that really good bass sound often is achieved by going direct, unlike guitars, and an inexpensive direct box, such as a Sansamp, can often be used with good results. Many mic preamps have high-z instrument inputs that can work OK for bass. Also, some cheap Chinese bass guitars (such as Squier) don't totally suck.
Hope that was a useful overview. The key part is- take a friend who really knows his guitars, and the less you are going to spend, the more guitars you have to play.- Richie
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