1) I've started playing guitar again and trying to learn new songs.
Dusted off the cob webs and attempting The Living End's - Closing In...(finding it tough/fun)

2) Giving me a genuine interest in guitars again. I now want a new amp, a new guitar, and upgraded pickups.
Hmmmmm....need $$$$

3) meeting cool people

4) Discovering there actually IS acoustic/electric strings out there with a plain G string.....thanks Vic.
They're on my acoustic-Alvarez right now and i love em!

5) RATT, thanks to Vic/Ric. Detonator and Infestation do the rounds constantly in the car and recently purchased Infestation. Haven't bought a CD in yrs and never been so excited over a CD in yrs aswell !

6) Giving me something to do on a nightshift (and dayshift when no one's looking)

7) thanks to Wolfi, i now have somewhere to stay for a few weeks next time i'm in Germany
....just kidding Wolf, just 1 week

8 ) Discovering that a full cutom guitar is actually within the budget!

9) Discovering a Kiss cover band nearby

Damn!
i thought i was only gunna get to 4!
This place rox !

Cool stuff Jase, glad you like it!! I hope Vinnie likes it too!

The only Living End song I can play is Prisoner of Society. I'm not too familiar with their stuff but have covered that one. I do my own bunch of fast stuff in the solo until near the end where I do the fast descending riff.

Ratt are awesome hey? I'm happy to have my Reach For The Sky shirt from Pete in Bulgaria, love to wear it out and about.

When you are ready to look into guitars and amps just give us a yell. At the moment there is a bargain Red Charvel with case. It's under $900 from memory, if you are cool with a hot rodded Strat type guitar.

I actually know very little about guitar gear to the point i've only just looked up what an EMG81 actually is !
EMG81's and Seamour Duncan seem to be the way to go but only cause you guys talk about em all the time.
I'm just a bedroom hacker but would love for it to sound better of course.

I just need something to stay in tune when doing a few dice bombs on ye olde wammy too.

My Peavey Bandit just died too and looking to replace with something similar off ebay.
I would have bought this if i had the cash but baby 2 is sucking up every bit of ding dings available and it's not even here yet!
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Marshall-Valvest ... 3a655b5b7a

But i aint complaining, babies are more fun

If you want to jam and play in the house/bedroom then what is cool these days is something from the Roland Cube series or Vox modelling amplifiers. The small ones are a lot of fun with great sounds.

For staying in tune when dive bombing you need a good Floyd unit, what sort of guitar do you have?

EMG's and SD pickups are not essential, a good amp helps a lot and I think you'll like one of the ones I mentioned above.

Here's a Cube 30 in top condition:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ROLAND-CUBE-30X- ... 23102b49cb