Alden XG-Junior

SG Junior copy in super-retro TV yellow with single Alden-designed P90-style pickup.
Wraparound bridge, and basic-looking tuners (although it's holding tune fine so far).
Basswood body, maple neck/rosewood board. Nice and light. Neck is fairly slim, and 24 3/4" scale has a nice feel.
Single volume and tone contol - both effective, and not noisy.
Not exactly packed with features, but that's why I like it.

Sounds just like an SG should in my opinion - bright, verging on raw. The pickup gives nice sparkly clean tones, but add in some crunchy overdrive (or a stupid amount) and it really starts cooking. Nice bluesy tone at lower levels, but can handle all sorts of riffing with more gain.
Not the most versatile guitar you'll find, but the volume and tone are responsive - it does all you could ask of it.

Really nicely set-up from the factory - low, fast, no buzz. The bridge doesn't allow individual string adjustments, but the intonation is fine over the whole neck. Frets are all well finished.
Electrics are all quiet.
Only minor flaw might be that the finish looks a little thin in places. But for the price I don't give a shit. It'll probably look better with a bit of wear&tear on the body.

I've not had it very long, but it seems pretty solid, and well put-together - I'd be happy to use it live, even without backup. I'm still reserving judgement on the tuners - I'm always suspicious on cheap guitars, although as i said, no problems so far.

No need so far. I got it from Cranes music on Ebay - I paid, they delivered, that's it.

Been playing 10 years plus, mainly blues, funk and classic rock. Other gear is Strat plus, various pedals, Epiphone Valve junior, Fender Blues Deluxe.
I think this is a brilliant guitar for the money - I used to have an Epiphone SG and this is just as good (if not better) and half the price. If anything happened to it, I'd certainly get another. Next time I've got some spare cash I'm planning to get an Alden Les Paul, just on the strength of this. Great guitar.

i assume made recently - bought from the only place i've found in the world that sells them - Crane's Music on Ebay. just type in Alden guitar and you'll find them.

it's an SG copy in mustard yellow, with a single E-90 (the guy who makes them is called Alan Lester David ENtwistle - geddit?) pickup. the finish is excellent - solid body, lovely basswood neck, tune-o-matic bridge, standard pegs, one volume pot, one tone pot.

i sold my Epiphone SG400 cos the neck was slightly too fat for my wee little arthritic fingers, but this neck is just lovely. 24.5in, 22 medium jumbo frets.

it'd get a ten, but the thingy next to ten says "tons of features" and by god this thing doesn't. but thats why i love it.

the pickup is also referred to as the "bad dog" and it's a very apt name. play soft and so will it, but hit it (even when clean) and it'll growl. superb bright tone, and more importantly the guitar is a very close imitator of the SG sound, which is great for me. i was playing along with Black Sabbath's first record, and it does a hell of an impression of Tommy on N.I.B. As mentioned above it has two pots, a volume and a tone. both of these are incredibly responsive. Usually i just leave my guitars trebled all the way up, but with this bad boy i actually modulate the tone while playing. i feel almost like a proper musician hehehehe

all i had to do was tune it and plug it in - the neck was fine. i might change the strings to 9s (purely for bending) but at the moment it sounds sweet.
The pickup is just screwed onto the body so the tone and sustain is awesome.
the finish is lovely - mustard yellow with slightly yellowed fretboard and pickup. looks retro as hell, and as rock and roll as you like.
no real flaws that i could see.

the box, and he stays in tune just fine. the pots have no sound or crackle, the strap buttons are just fine, and i would happily beat someone with it during a gig and play it straight after. The guitar wouldn't feel a thing. There's just not enough of it to go wrong in the first place...

I NEVER do gigs without backup guitars though. seen too many fools have to stop a gig early cos they only have one guitar. saps. :o)

not had to deal with them apart from paying for it over the phone, and the guy i spoke to was very friendly. Based on that and how quickly it was delivered, i give it a 9

i've been playing guitar for about 14 years now - i was a drummer as well but the arthritis i mentioned earlier put the dampers on that, so i took up guitar full time aged about 20 (i'm 27 now). I own, in no particular order

fender japanese reissue jaguar (say what you will about them, once you sort the bridge out it's an awesome guitar)

squier affinity Telecaster (cheap, bright, bombproof, and a lovely thin neck. perfect)

squier custom telecaster II (the one with two "seymour designed" P-90s. a bigger neck, but worth it cos it sounds incredible. you can keep your humbuckers!)

Squier affinity stratocaster (i NEVER use this except when in my bedroom living out my dirty little stratocaster fantasies - its the only strat i have ever or will ever own. i only have it cos it came FREE with the next one, which was a)

Epiphone Les Paul Special II (bought because a} i like the pickup sounds, b} it was cheap, and c} i got a free squier star with it)

Stagg White Falcon copy but without a trem (can't remember the codenumber - maybe the a300? - a great, cheap and dependable guitar for when you want to live out your eddie cochran/rockabilly fantasies. this is quite often, for me hehehehe)

Westfield les paul (cos it was in a shop window, it was wine red, i had an extra hundred pounds, and i wanted to be Slash, ok? the funny thing is, it actually SOUNDS like a Gibson les paul. strange...)

all the above played through

behringer TO800 --> boss turbo distortion --> danelectro beyond metal --> Zoom Player 3000 --> Hartke Piggyback 60w Tube ministack. (i'm kinda fussy about overdrive/distortion tones, ok?)

the best thing (well, things) about the XG are it's simple, it sounds awesome, the neck isn't too thick, it looks sweeeeeeet, and there's no toggleswitch to accidentaly knock when rocking out (in my band, The Rock Harders, this happens quite often). I bought it without ever even touching it, off ebay. it was VERY cheap, it looked cool. sorted.

if it was stolen, i'd IMMEDIATELY buy another. And i'm already interested in more Alden guitars. You HAVE to see them, they look so cool. and luckily sound it as well