Electric guitar suggestions for beginner.

Given what he wants to play (Seger, CCR, etc…), that’s exactly what I’d get if I were him, but he doesn’t seem to keen on that idea. I offered to let him try my new Yamaha I recently purchased but he declined.

Should I give him the “You deserve a Les Paul…” bit. You know that’s a deal clincher if I do! Of course, that kind of power must be used responsibly, and with caution, else unintended circumstances may ensue.

Also fill him in on the challenges of playing an electric guitar around the campfire.

Hijacking to say this is a trend I'm seeing with newer players. When I was learning to play (early/mid '90s) kids knew the major guitar models and which ones their heroes played before they learned an E chord, and after playing away on a cheap guitar for a while DEFINITELY knew what kind of guitar they wanted. I love that playing is much less gear-centric for kids learning now. Marketing departments need to notice this, because they're still building for people who are obsessed with details, specs, features, mods, and who have the mental energy to keep track of dozens of product lines and buzzwords that change every six months.

I think I know the Kramer of which you speak. The shop I work alongside had some cheap ones, but with a single pickup and a floyd. They were SO rough that the owner literally paid me more to get it playable than he did purchasing the instrument so he could get them out the door without returns and be done with them. A questionable business decision, but gives you an idea.

The decades old advice is to make sure whatever he gets has a good setup. This is nothing new, but I think it applies more today than ever. I've been helping with new guitar setups since a co-worker had hand surgery (and then complications from the hand surgery) and it used to be that setups on newer guitars were at least in the ballpark, even if there was room for improvement. Today, guitars are literally unplayable out of the box very often. It isn't rare for me to find a guitar where the neck isn't even bolted on all the way, and I have to pull it off, adjust the holes, wax the screws, and so on. I've been joking that I'm not even setting them up, I'm finishing the assembly.

My vote is to give him some sort of easy way to make a choice himself, or at least narrow down the choices. If there's a place he can spend an hour and play four or five different guitars, one might help him hit a real "a ha!" It is too hard to guess what someone will like. Some people will hate Les Pauls and love Strats and vice versa. If there isn't a place he can go, maybe among the guitars you use to give the lessons, he has an obvious favorite?

Tagjita is a new cheap import brand. They “look” nice. In a wall-hanger sort of way.

Exactly!