Yeah, I've seen them eBay a few times and just checked out their site from your link. Great price is right! $89.95 for a '57 "Strat". On the other end of the price spectrum is Nash Guitars. Also, (mostly) Fender copies, but heavily relic'd. The music shop near me sells them and I'm always tempted to pull the trigger, but they're up in the $1500 price range.

i've looked into them in the past. i've also heard good things from people who actually own them but i've never tried one myself. nice to see they updated their page though. quite a few new models since the last time i checked too. not really seeing anything that really grabs me this time around though.

which one are you checking out?

another brand to check out if you're into knock offs is Eastwood™ Guitars

My studio engineer bought a couple of guitars from Rondo and loves them... I'm not into knock offs but if these play close to the original and cost substantially less I would consider it.

I'm looking into a nice strat type model and a gibson les paul model.

i wouldn't expect any $400 LP style guitar to be the equivalent of an actual gibson. likely on the same level as the epiphone les pauls but a little cheaper.

basically rondo instruments strikes me like a great spot for intermediate players. people who are looking for their first decent guitar after learning how to play on a cheap beater but not ready to drop $1000 on a new guitar just yet. which, incidentally, is pretty much what they say about their company on their 'about us' page.

if you're going to get a rondo at least get one made in korea as opposed to china or taiwan.

Yeah, I'm going to have to research it a bit... I don't want to end up with a sub par instrument... got enough of those.

it's all relative, what may be sub par to one person might be amazing to another. just what is it you're looking for in a new instrument? why are you looking for a new guitar?

variety I suppose, different sounds for different songs.

so basically, just for poops and giggles? ;)

yeah.

I actually want to learn how to set up an electric and acoustic before I do anything... my instruments aren't sounding too great and I'm thinking if I can learn how to make them sound great I can save a lot of money.

Anyone know of any setup tool kits out there to get me started?

I do want a really nice fender strat (in the near future) though... for poops and giggles as you said. Guess I'll have to skip Rondo for now.

if you want a really nice fender strat save up for a real deal fender strat or the ones that are known to be steps up from the run of the mill made in the USA strats, like the higher end G&L models or Tom Anderson guitars. the TA guitars are pricey but i've yet to hear or read a single bad thing about them.

as for setting up a guitar the only tools you really need is a good set of hex (allen) keys, and possibly a level if you don't trust your eyes. a good setup will improve the playability of an instrument and help reduce fret buzz but it's not going to drastically improve a piece of crap into gold.

first thing that gets checked in a setup is the bow of the neck using your eyes or a simple bubble level. the bow is controlled by the truss rod which is a metal rod that runs about part way through the neck of most guitars (you'll notice a small hole at the top of fender style guitars or under the little face plate with the model name on gibson styles. use a regular hex key to tighten the rod, which will straighten out the neck. unless the rod feels really loose do NOT turn more than 1/4 or 1/2 rotation before checking the neck again. you CAN mess up the neck if you're not careful.

once that's done you can check the actual action of the strings. the action on electrics is measured by pressing down on the first fret, the 12th fret, and the 24th (or highest) fret on the same string. either use a capo on the 1st or a big stretch with your right hand to nail the 12th and highest. you'll want to check the distance between the string and the fretboard around the 5th to 7th frets. ideally you want to be able to slip a piece of paper or a business card between the string and the fretboard depending on whether or not you want high or low action.

if you notice that the space between the string and fretboard isn't to your liking you can use smaller hex keys to raise or lower the saddle of the string on the bridge. you don't have to worry when adjusting the saddle as compared to the truss rod so long as you're only moving it up and down as opposed to front and back.

there's one advanced part about setting up a guitar that does require a specialized tool though. the intonation. it's basically making sure that a note played 12 frets higher on the neck is still the same note. it's measured by tuning the harmonic of the string in relation of the regular note. you need a special tuner that can measure the harmonics in order to do this properly (or have super ears) newer guitars have compensated nuts (like earvana or the buzz feiten system) that are supposed to alleviate intonation issues. the intonation is adjusted by changing the position of the saddle within the bridge.

having said all that i'm NOT a tech. i'm remembering an article from guitar world magazine from years ago about simple maintenance guitar players could do on their own. quite frankly, intonation is not something that i've ever concerned myself with. fret buzz was always a much more significant issue. i have one guitar with an earvana nut and i can't really tell if it makes a difference or not.

acoustics don't have as many adjustable parts. if i remember correctly the only thing you can really adjust is the truss rod, and you only need to press down on the 1st and 12th frets to check the action on an acoustic.