Looking for maximum bang from your hard-earned bucks?  Dig the head-turning Holly Keyser ($695 street), which offers a hollow mahogany body, a 24 3/4" scale rosewood-on-mahogany neck, 24 medium frets, two ferrite/alnico humbuckers, chrome tuners, and a Tune-o-matic-style bridge.  The sharp looking, figured maple-ply arched top makes an immediate impression, and the well-rendered cream binding shows only a couple of tiny color-bleed imperfections.  The Keyser’s ultra-fast (not to mention ultra comfy) neck will have you speeding around the fretboard, and the large, nicely dressed frets offer superb playability.

The Keyser sounds equally comfortable dishing-out fat, chirping lead lines à la Larry Carlton, or simmering clean textures.  In fact, I found its keen clean tones to be among its coolest attributes, though the richly focused tones I obtained when running through a high-gain Hughes & Kettner combo were also impressive.  The Holly Keyser is a happening deal that not only has looks, but playability and tones to boot.