[snaredrum]

as someone who has owned MANY vintage brand guitars and now has MIJs, i can't totally agree with twang.

for the money V100s are excellent for playing live and modding; i learned all i know about soldering, pickups, pots and caps on my V100s for example, and while that isn't much knowledge, it was great fun doing so.

if you're a guy who plays out live every week and stuff, then yes a better guitar is better.

If you're a play at home guy who likes the noises guitars make and doesn't necessarily know much about them, a V100 is a great place to start, and the AFD is a GREAT looking guitar.

It has some problems, but NONE of the vintages i've owned had these rubber frets that twang speaks of.

also, pretty much every MIJ les paul in the £500 bracket is poly-coated, so the old wood thing doesn't really apply as it can't breathe to age properly.

basically, it's up to you man - you can get the parts changed and have a very good working guitar, or you can send it back, save up some more and have the same thing.