Aria Pro II PE-450

According to the internet (the harbinger of truth), this guitar was made in Korea in the late 1970s, early 1980s. It's your basic Gibson knock off, made to look like a Les Paul. There's a bunch of these kind of guitars floating around there, and I think they are going up in price. I got mine at a pawn shop for $200 in 1995 and I probably got screwed.

The thing is pretty basic, with two knobs (tone and volume), a toggle switch and two sets of humbucker pickups.

This thing sounds pretty good. It's a solid, well made guitar for what it is. A couple of my frets rattle, but I don't mind that.

When I bought it I assumed the original pickups were in it but who knows. I actually had a pickup replaced with a used one for $40. It was the best investment I've ever made. It sounds 100 times better than the dull, bassy thing that was in there. In fact, I would suggest that everyone buy a cheap but solidly made guitar and put good pickups into it, unless you really want to pay hundreds of bucks for a brand name on the neck...

I really like the thing. I know it's not the best guitar out there, but it's done well for me with few problems and sounds pretty good while doing it.