Ashton AP-000

Bought this as my first electric - I have played classical for about 10 years.
I tried out the usual others in this sort of price range (peavey, Squire etc) and managed to get this cheap - which settled the choice for me, especially as I knew that I would get another (better) when I got better!

Indonesian - dont know when made -had been in the shop for a while, my guess is early 2000.
24 fret.
Solid top - 3 piece body with maple carved top (or it could be a transfer!?).
Set neck.
Volume, Tone (pull for coil tap) & 3-way switch (bridge, bridge+neck,neck).
Pickups - bridge & neck humbuckers. 'Ashton' made, open coil type with height-adjustment.
Can;t tell on wood types - web site claims Agathis (?) w/ Tiger Maple Top Body, Rosewood Fingerboard (yes), Mahogany Neck. All with a good thick paint+laquer finish!
Dual cutaway design.
Bridge - Gotoh Wilkinson.
Tuners - don't know brand, sealed type - seem ok.
Reasonably thin neck, 24.5in scale
No accessories

From what I can tell it seems OK. You can get sounds ranging from piercing for solo/melodic work to quite mellow for easy backings.
Using it with a Peavey Blazer - gives a good range of sounds (there are a enough combinations! - between the amp & pickup ...) - although the somewhat sterile clean channel of the blazer does not work well with this guitar (I only tend to use clean with the neck HB) for the rest I use the pregain up a small amount. I dont play heavy/grunge etc. so can't comment.
6 because it is a budget instrument and just doesnt compare to other 800AUD instruments I have played.
Using some Dean Markely cyrogenic strings (they sounded cool to buy in the store!) and I find that there is quite a difference between the treble and bass (wound) strings with the treble being a bit 'quacky' - especially the g. This might be the strings or the guitar. Can't say I am expecting too much given what I payed for it though!.
The guitar has a pretty good sound unplugged (a good sign!) with quite even tone/volume between strings and up/down the fingerboard. Trying the same for each of the pickups/settings shows that with the right setup - it is fairly competant. The sound into the amp is quite sensitive to the pickup volume control.

Guitar was set-up for shit. Sorted out the HB height, string height, intonation, soldered up one or two loose solder joints - it now has a reasonably low action (have not adjusted neck relief yet) with no buzz.

Looking at the inside of the guitar! The routing for the bridge looks OK with just some of the finishg paint being rough. Open up the pot/switch section (behind the switches) and it looks like it was finshed by using a rat to gnaw out the timber! Nothings come loose (after I tightened it all) yet - this just shows some of the cut-price.
The neck joint seems quite good with clean finish around all the joint running under the fingerboard/body area.
The plastic nut (of course!) is going to be replaced - as will the pots/switches.
I hav'nt opened up any other cheap guitars (squier, peavy etc. to see how they compare.
Overall, nothing was *broken* and it all seems to be hanging together well.
5 because I am pissed off at the finish around the electronics - otherwise I would give it about a 7.

Live -playing!? I'm alive, I play... oh you mean on a gig! - No. It would probably be really good to smash into an amp - couldn't set it on fire (all the laquer would take a flame thrower to ignite).
No, seriously, this is a student instument - it's really quite solid, just not up to road life.

Have not dealt with the company -however, it is such a straighforward instrument that short of the neck falling off (unlikely) anything could be fixed by me.

Played classical for about 10 years (about 10 years ago)
Lost/Stolen - I would certainly go for something else - somewhat dearer. Not a criticism of a 300AUD axe, but I had to buy something first to find out what I wanted.
If you are looking for a reasonable student guitar get one - especiallly if you can knock the price down!