After a decent (but cheapish) guitar - any recommendations?

[KatieWatie]

I am in the market for a new guitar and wondered if any musos (or otherwise) out there can recommend anything?

It has to be new - too many bad experiences with 2nd hand musical instruments!, electro-acoustic, and my budget is up to £250.

I am willing to buy on the internet and would prefer not to go into a music shop (too intimidated by 17-year-old youths testing angular guitars ), I know I should try before I buy but I'm far too shy. I live in South-West England.

I've played guitar for years - had a Spanish classical which had bad woodworm and finally got binned, but I'm missing it :(

If anyone has any ideas or experiences I would be grateful to hear them

I bought myself a Samick Greg Bennett OM5CE recently. Nice body size, solid spruce top and has an inbuilt tuner to go with the pickup and preamp. The neck was nice and straighht, frets were level and all I had to do was drop the saddle height a smidge. They retail for AUD$550 here in Oz so that should fit your budget.

And before someone tells me Samick are crap (a) I build solidbody instruments so I know crap when I see it, and (b) Samick are the biggest manufacturer of guitars in the world so they must be doing something right.

What did you buy, just out of interest? I am also about to buy.