Re: $300 to burn....
A couple options...one is to throw in some extra cash yourself and pick up a PRS Tremonti SE. I think they go for about $450 new, you can probably pick up a used one on Ebay for less. I played one last week, and I was very impressed. I never would've guessed it was a Korean guitar if I hadn't already known.
Before you buy a cheap knock-off, take a look at some used Peavey T-60's on Ebay. You can pick one up in mint condition for less than $300. They are pretty unique sounding guitars, kind of like a cross between a Strat and a Les Paul. They were made in America in the late 70's and early 80's, and they were the first guitar to be built using CNC machines, which makes them an interesting piece of guitar history. They have two nice sounding humbuckers, and the guitar was built with coil split and phase switch controls. You'd get lots of different sounds from a T-60.
Ryan
