The Best Electric Guitars Under $500

Are you ready for the best electric guitars under $500?

When it comes to buying an electric guitar, you may be confused by all of your options.

As a result, we’ve broken this up into different sections, for different types of guitarists.

In each section, you’ll find the best electric guitar under $500 in each category.

The Best Electric Guitars Under $500: Best Overall

ESP LTD EC-256FM

With the ESP LTD EC-256FM, ESP offers you a guitar that’s geared towards all musical styles, and genres, at an affordable price.

The mahogany body has a flamed maple top, which looks great, and has cutouts that make it comfortable to play, as well as easy to reach the higher frets.

Additionally, the 3-piece neck is set-in ensuring stability and sustain. It’s also in a thin “U” shape with a fretboard radius of 13.7″ making it suitable for a lot of different playing styles.

The roasted jatoba fretboard has 22 extra-jumbo frets and ESP flag inlays giving it a cool look, while the Tune-O-Matic bridge with a stop tailpiece keeps you correctly intonated and enhances sustain.

The neck pickup is an ESP LH-150N, while the bridge pickup is an ESP LH-150B. They are controlled by 2 Volume knobs and 1 Tone knob that is wired to be push/pull coil tap.

This will give you access to full humbucker tones, as well as snappy single-coil sounds.

Like a Les Paul on steroids, the ESP LTD EC-256FM has appointments that are often associated with high-end guitars, like a flamed maple top, binding on the body, neck, and headstock, and set-neck construction.

If you’re interested in playing a Les Paul-style guitar that has modern improvements, then click here to get yours now.

The Best Electric Guitars Under $500: Best Budget

Squier by Fender Contemporary Active Jazzmaster HH

With the Squier Contemporary Active Jazzmaster HH, Squier reinvigorates the Jazzmaster for the modern-day, by taking some of the traditional features we love about the Jazzmaster and updating everything else.

The body is made of poplar, with a bolt-on maple neck in a “C” shape, and a matching headstock, making it easy to play, as well as giving it a modern look.

And the Indian laurel fretboard has 21 narrow-tall frets, and simple cream dot inlays, so it has an easy playing, vintage vibe.

A 6-Saddle Adjustable Bridge and a stop tailpiece ensure tuning stability and plenty of resonance.

Finally, the pickups in the neck and bridge position are Squier SQR Active Ceramic Humbuckers, meaning you can cut through a lot of distortion while keeping your notes clear. Plus, your clean tones will be full and sharp.

The Squier Contemporary Active Jazzmaster HH is what its name says: A Jazzmaster for the contemporary player.

It’s a straightforward design, and the lack of a tremolo makes this guitar ideal for players who don’t like the fiddly parts of playing a regular Jazzmaster.

Plus, the dark chrome hardware, matching headstock, and active pickups really give you a guitar that looks as good as it sounds.

Why wait another day? Click here and get yours now.

The Best Electric Guitars Under $500: Best Runner-Up

Ibanez Steve Vai Signature JEMJR

Have you ever wanted to own one of Steve Vai’s signature guitars? If so, the Ibanez Steve Vai Signature JEMJR is a great guitar to start with.

It’s got a very fast Wizard III-shaped neck made of maple because this guitar is designed for shredding.

The fretboard is made of jatoba and has the iconic Tree of life inlay, as well as 24 jumbo frets, so you’ll look and sound good playing squealies on the higher frets.

A double-locking tremolo with Vai’s Lion’s Claw routing will help keep you in tune after dive-bombing, and the Meranti body has Steve Vai’s signature monkey grip cutout.

In the neck and bridge position, you have Quantum humbucker pickups, while in the middle you have a single-coil Quantum pickup.

Finally, the pickups have an amazing sound, and give you a wide variety of tone choices, especially since the 5-way pickup selector is wired to split coil in 2 of the 5 positions.

The JEMJR is definitely geared towards Steve Vai fans who are looking for his style and sound.

But this guitar definitely won’t disappoint if you’re looking for a great-sounding, great-looking, all-around axe with a very fast playing neck then click here and get yours today.

The Best Electric Guitars Under $500: Best Vintage Style

Squier Classic Vibe 70’s Telecaster Custom

According to Fender, “The Classic Vibe ‘70s Telecaster Custom is a faithful nod to the 1970s evolution of the Tele.”

It has a poplar body, with a large 3-ply black pickguard and the neck is maple, in Fender’s “C” shape, with a skunk stripe, and a fretboard radius of 9.5″ giving you the vintage Telecaster playing experience.

The fretboard is maple with 21 narrow-tall frets, and a bone nut, so you’ll have a better sound, and a vintage playing feel.

With a 3-Saddle Vintage-Style String-Through-Body bridge that has chrome barrel saddles it has that vintage Tele sound, and resonance of a vintage guitar.

Vintage-style tuners and separate volume and tone controls for each pickup complete the throwback look.

Unlike a traditional Telecaster, the neck pickup is a Fender-designed Wide Range Humbucker, while the bridge is a Fender-designed Alnico single-coil pickup.

The neck pickup sounds full, and the bridge pickup has that Tele spank and bite, giving you plenty of tonal options.

If you’re into classic Fender guitars, and like the Telecaster looks, and sound, Squier Classic Vibe 70’s Telecaster Custom is for you.

You may feel like they missed an opportunity to enhance the tonal range of this guitar by not splitting the neck humbucker, but other than that, this is a great guitar for a guitarist looking for old-school Tele looks, feel, and sound.

See for yourself! Click here and get yours today.

The Best Electric Guitars Under $500: Best for Shredding

Ibanez Standard RG470MSP

Have you always liked the idea of playing a super Strat? Do you really want to stand out?

Then the Ibanez Standard RG470MSP in Turquoise Sparkle could be the guitar for you. Let’s look at the specs:

The body is Meranti, with a traditional super Strat bolt-on maple neck.
The neck is in Ibanez’s Wizard III shape, with a fretboard radius of 400mm, so it’s super flat and definitely meant for shredding.

The fretboard is maple, with black dot inlays, and 24 jumbo frets, so you’ll easily be able to bend your notes and reach the highest of squealies.
A double-locking tremolo means you can dive bomb, etc., and still keep in tune.

With Quantum Humbuckers in the neck and bridge positions and a Quantum single-coil pickup in the middle position, you’ve got a wide variety of tones available to you.

The 5-way pickup selector is wired to split coil the humbuckers in 2 positions, although you may agree it would have been better to do a simple push/pull knob wiring using the master volume and master tone knobs.

The Ibanez Standard RG470MSP is capable of satisfying guitarists looking for blues, jazz, and rock tones.

It looks cool, but with the matching headstock, you may feel like choosing a plain Jane maple fretboard was a miss.

If you’re digging the sparkly turquoise finish, you should definitely click here, and get yours today.

Best Electric Guitars Under $500: FAQ

• What other guitars can you recommend?
• Try these guitars and these.
• For $1000 recommendations, see this post

You’ve got your new guitar! Congratulations! Now what?

Change the Strings on Your New Guitar for Better Sound

The strings on your new guitar may be a year old, which means your guitar won’t sound its best. Changing the strings will improve your sound.

Only Adjust the Truss Rod After Letting the Guitar Acclimate

After receiving your guitar, give it at least 24 hours for the wood to fully reach the temperature of your home. Oftentimes, a guitar that has fret buzz, or dead spots hasn’t fully warmed/cooled from travel, and will “self adjust” once the wood has a chance to fully expand/contract.