Take Two

I’ve bought a new electric guitar. It sounds fantastic and is beautiful—even Nadia fell for it. It’s an LAG Roxane Standard 200 and looks like this (this picture shows a brown one though; mine is dark cherry):

I also bought a Fender FM25 DSP amp. It sounds great—at least at low volumes (I haven’t tried anything else yet; I don’t fancy becoming “the loud guy”). It’s got several built-in effects too; enough to keep me from running around buying pedals and effect boxes any time soon.

I’ve never actually heard of LAG guitars before today. I just went down to Denmark Street to browse while Nadia was busy doing something else. In the second shop I was handed the guitar/amp combo above and when I mentioned I’m a bit shy I was promptly given a pair of headphones. Armed with those I could play without inhibitions and quickly fell in love.

Not wanting to just buy the first guitar I found I went to Andy’s Guitar Centre and tried out a second-hand (but mint condition) red Epiphone SG (not certain that link shows the exact model but it looks very similar). It was around the same price as the LAG, and its fret-board felt a little nicer, but it was very top-heavy and felt out of balance. It was also nowhere as nice looking.

After bothering Nadia on the phone I went back to try the LAG again. It was hanging there—in all its gorgeous glory—just waiting for me. It only took me a few minutes to reach the conclusion that I had to take it home. Playing it quite a lot today I realise that I’ve fallen head-over-heals for it; once or twice I’ve even heard Nadia snicker when she’s caught me talking to it…