Unless you have an unlimited budget and know exactly what you want, it’s harder than ever to pick the right electric guitar. The major manufacturers have multiple quality tiers, and new brands are entering the market regularly.
This guide will help point you in the right direction when you are looking for the best electric guitars under $1000.
1. Gibson Les Paul Special Tribute P-90
It’s no coincidence that Gibson guitars are some of the most sought-after on the market and among the most expensive. Not only do they sound great, but the workmanship and overall quality is usually flawless.
Hence, there are no Gibson Les Paul models under $1,000 on the market – with this one exception. The Les Paul Special Tribute P-90 is a bare-bones Les Paul with dual P-90 single-coil pickups. It is nevertheless a great entry into the world of Gibson guitars.
The sound is versatile and the guitar will handle everything from crystal-clear notes to heavy rock. Its dual single-coil setup is however less suitable for metal.
2. Fender Player Stratocaster
If there’s one line of guitars that is just as legendary and iconic as the Gibson Les Paul series, it would be the Fender Stratocaster. Much like with the Les Pauls, there are few genuine Fender strats to be found for under $1,000.
Fortunately, the Fender Player Stratocaster is one such series. Needless to say, it’s very popular and offered in multiple varieties pickup configuration options. You can get it with the standard triple single-coil pickups, two single-coils and a bridge humbucker (HSS), or one single-coil and two humbuckers (HSH). There are also left-handed models as well as other configurations e.g. with Floyd Rose tremolo systems.
In other words, there’s a Player Stratocaster suitable for anything from country music to high-gain rock.
3. ESP LTD M-400
ESP is a major brand on the metal scene, made famous by James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Tom Araya, Frank Bello, and many others. LTD is ESP’s more affordable (but not necessarily cheap) guitar lineup, which includes a broad range of metal monsters as well as some more classic-inspired models.
The M-400 is, as ESP puts it, a shredding machine, equipped with the iconic EMG 85/EMG 81 active pickup combo and a Floyd Rose Special locking tremolo. It comes with a mahogany body and a matte black finish that will appeal to metal players.
Electronics are otherwise kept to a minimum with just a volume knob and pickup selector, which should be perfectly fine considering the intended audience.
4. Schecter Hellraiser C-1
As the name implies, the Schecter Hellraiser C-1 is another metal axe and a strong competitor to the aforementioned M-400. It’s one of the most highly rated guitars in the metal space and comes equipped with with a pair of high-end EMG humbuckers.
This setup consists of an EMG 81TW at the bridge and an EMG 89 in the neck position. The difference between the EMG 81 and the 81TW is that the latter The 81TW has a separate sing-coil pickup integrated into the same housing, which should add a slightly more pronounced low end.
Other features include Grover tuners and a Floyd-Rose Tremolo Bridge system, meaning that it will stay in tune despite heavy dive-bombing.
5. Ibanez Artstar AS113
Now for something completely different, namely a traditional hollow-body aimed primarily at jazz guitarist. The Ibanez Artstar AS113 offers some of the best value you can find under $1,000 in this space, including great playability and a pair of clear-sounding Super 58 humbuckers. A tri-sound switch enables three distinct voicings from the neck pickup.
The materials also leave little to be desired considering the price point. You get a spruce top and a maple back/sides, and for improved playability, a smooth ebony fingerboard with specially treated fret edges.
6. PRS SE Custom 24
The Custom 24 is PRS’s original design that was key to the company’s success. It is now available in myriad varieties with different finishes, features and pickups – and prices ranging from under $1,000 to well over $5,000. This is, of course, one of the more affordable models with SE branding.
That is not to say that the PRS SE Custom 24 is a result of cutting corners. Like other Custom 24 guitars, it sounds fantastic and its main strength is versatility. It’s the Swiss Army Knife of electric guitars and will handle practically any style from smooth jazz fusion to heavy rock with ease.
7. EVH Wolfgang Standard QM
Unsurprisingly, EVH Wolfgang guitars are more than a little reminiscent of the formidable (and still very expensive) Music Man Axis, which used to be Eddie Van Halen’s signature series. A Wolfgang Standard QM will however set you back significantly less than $1,000, while delivering on similar capabilities.
Much like the Axis, the Wolfgang offers excellent playability with its slender bolt-on neck from a single block of maple, which is reinforced with graphite rods. The solid basswood body and dual EVH pickups work to deliver the ample sustain that any rock legend needs, while a Floyd Rose tremolo is perfectly suited for dive-bombing and bending.
Last but not least, the available maple top finishes are quite extraordinary considering the price point.
8. Epiphone Slash Les Paul Standard
If you want an actual Slash-signature Les Paul with the classic design (almost), but would rather not shell out well over $3,000 for the Gibson version, the Epiphone Slash Les Paul Standard can be yours for less than $1,000.
That is arguably a lot of guitar for the money. The body and neck are mahogany, the top is flame-carved hard maple, while the fretboard is indian laurel. As you would expect, the Slash Les Paul also comes with a few features unique to the signature model, including a custom C-shaped neck and two ProBucker humbucking pickups.
The Slash Les Paul Standard comes in at $100 more than Epiphone’s current 1959 Les Paul Standard (another really popular guitar), which comes with Burstbucker pickups. Both are quite similar in terms of materials and sound, so you may want to try out both.
9. Ibanez Genesis Collection RG550
The Ibanez Genesis Collection RG550 is a reissue of a classic, Japan-made 1980s rock guitar with the same name. Since its (second) launch in 2017, it has become one of the top sellers in Ibanez’ huge assortment of guitars in all shapes and price ranges. And the R550 is once again made in Japan, by the way.
The RG550’s body is made of basswood – a fairly light material with an even frequency response across the register. While the basswood body is identical with the original, the ‘Super Wizard’ neck is now an improved, 5-piece laminated maple/walnut variety instead of a single-piece maple. However, the slender neck profile and its associated speed factor are still intact, and it’s still equipped with a maple fingerboard and jumbo frets.
At the bridge end you’ll find Ibanez’s classic Edge tremolo, which is considered by many to be one of the best locking tremolos on the market.
An even more important factor of the RG550’s success is however the versatile HSH pickup configuration, which has been updated with new V7 (neck) and V8 (bridge) humbuckers as well as a mid-mounted S1 single coil.
10. Fender Player Telecaster
We will round off this list for now with another classic, namely the Fender Telecaster – the world’s firs solid-body electric guitar to be mass-produced, originally launched in the early 1950s. It is, of course, still produced, and in larger volumes than ever, as its typical twang never seems run out of new fans and buyers.
Like the aforementioned Stratocaster, this Tele part of the comparatively affordable, Mexico-made Player series. This is a somewhat modernized take on the classic Telecaster that doesn’t compromise on the fundamentals. Playability has changed for the better courtesy of a modern C-shaped maple neck with a more generous 22 frets and a 9.5″-radius fingerboard (also maple).
The body material is alder and you can get it in one out of six different colors with a glossy finish. You also have a choice between dual humbuckers and dual single-coil pickups.
With the Alnico 2 humbucker Tele, you will have an option to coil-split into single-coil mode using a push-pull tone pot. The more traditional single-coil model features Player series Alnico V pickups that will do a more than decent job of reproducing the classic tele sound in anything from clean jazz to high-gain rock.
Both models also include a string-through Telecaster bridge, a synthetic bone nut and standard Fender tuners.
