What is your budget and what music is your son interested in? These will be big factors in what you should be looking at.
Plenty of good advice already, so will just add my 2c.
Seriously look at Trademe for the bargains, there seems to be a few coming up at the moment (mate bought a decent Mexi Strat for $350 last week). If you saw something at the Rockshop that you liked but was out of your price range, chances are there will be one on TM.
Don't worry too much about where a guitar is made, even the big guys use Chinese factories to make the parts for their low-end models. My main guitar is Korean-made and plays fantastically. Cheaper brands, like Cort, Aria and the like are great beginners guitars and great value for money, but like all guitars, need a decent set-up to play at their best. Cheaper guitars rarely have the time put into them to make them play sweet, often it's out of the box and onto the rack, so if you buy from a shop, ask them to give it a fresh set-up before you take it home.
Ampwise, for a beginner, it's hard to go past the Roland Cube range. Has a good range of effects and some good tones, but at a price that's hard to ignore. They are very popular with guitar tutors as the amp for their students to use, for this reason.
Don't limit yourself to one music shop either, the Rock Shop and Music Works are big chains with sole distribution rights on a lot of brands, so each will have guitars that the other won't stock, so shop around and see what is out there.
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Originally Posted by Padmei
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