I own an aria electric guitar and I've been thinking about upgrading some parts. I don't currently have the coin to buy a brand new guitar, I bought the aria about 18 months ago for $200 (AUD). I own a great acoustic guitar, so I don't feel its a priority to be spending a thousand bucks on a quality electric right now.

My guitar: http://www.oz-eguitars.com.au/catalog/ar...itar-p-671.html

It'd be great if you guys could recommend some brands which sell parts for a decent price. A new machine head is a must because it can barely stay in tune, the electronics are pretty crappy as well. Thanks in advance.

Try www.guitarfetish.com.... They've got some decent low priced tuners and pickups that will save you money instead of buying named brand stuff.
Even Sperzel type locking tuners are only $29.95. And the pickups are very decent. Run a google search on them and check out the reviews.

thanks for that link Ed some way cool options out there, I have been buying fralin pickups, got one harness from ebay for 200 and I also got one complete HSS setup from http://www.guitar-mod.com/rg_pw_3hss.html I'm really happy with the setup, I got the 11 way combo dial a tap with a pull inductor circuit and a neck on switch, it was a bit pricey but I got it loaded with fralin blues and an unbuckler humbucker, they stand behind their work too.

Oh yeah Fralin's are a great way to go. I'd love some myself. But for the price of a set of Fralin's this guy could buy another Aria Guitar.
There are a lot of nice inexpensive guitars out there but a lot of folks starting out fall into the trap of "If I have a more expensive guitar, I will play better" I'll check out the sight you gave the link on and check out prices etc. Thanks Rob

Hey Rob cool gear indeed. I love that JX5 harness for J-Bass. I hate dickering around with both volume controls all the time. That would be a nice option to not only have 1 volume control but a 5 way switch for parallel, in phase, out of phase etc. Only a hundred bucks too. That would make my little Squier Classic Vibe Jazz bass with Seymour Duncan Hot Jazz-2 pups really sweet.

Yeah those basses are really nice, I was thinking of getting one for a beater I have a Marcus Miller which is made in Japan. Check out this setup from John East - it is really sick I'm thinking of getting it for mine, it has the blender.

http://www.bestbassgear.com/j-retro-preamp.htm

http://www.bestbassgear.com/marcus-retro-preamp.htm

if you want me to be honest with you.... if you're into modifying guitars (i've only modded humbucker/ humbucker... i would recommend dean guitars... relatively in expensive and they adapt pretty well, given that they also have a decent amount of cavity space... i put push-pull knobs to do coil splitting and i love it! just a suggestion, good luck!