Instrumental - strings at the beginning with a great guitar solo in the middle.

This has been driving me crazy - I've tried Musipedia and other sites to identify the melody without success - fully instrumental - was a popular hit maybe from the 1970's/1980's - begins with strings, builds to a fantastic lead guitar solo in the middle and finishes with the guitar line tapering and the strings returning - any suggestions as I have no idea of the name or artist.

Need more information. Was it fast or slow? Was the guitar electric or acoustic? Was the guitar distorted or clean? Was there an identifiable style, like surf music or progressive rock or classical? Were there any unusual scales, repetitive licks, or identifiable guitar effects like echo or harmonizer? When you say strings, do you mean just chords, or were there solo lines with melodies? Were there any other prominent instruments like piano or synthesizer?

Without more information the best I can advise offhand is to try songs by Jeff Beck (e.g., "Diamond Dust"), Eric Johnson (e.g., "Ah Via Musicom / Cliffs of Dover"), Yngwie Malmsteen, Santana, Pink Floyd, or the various Miami Vice themes. Maybe "Classical Gas" from 1968? Google something like guitar instrumentals to get a lot of lists of such songs.

Thanks for the response - medium speed song - electric lead guitar really clean- the string section sounded like violins playing the melody - I would describe the song as easy listening but when the electric guitar enters it almost takes you by surprise - not expected considering soft violins to start - I've tried the guitar instrumental lists with no success but I know this was a very popular song when it was released.

Try "Samba Pa Ti" or "Europa" by Santana.