If you are just starting out with guitar, you probably don’t want to spend too much money. But, of course, there are hundreds of electric guitars from which to choose. That said, many of these electric guitars are ridiculously expensive. Again, if you’re a beginner, you probably don’t want to spend a fortune.
However, finding an electric guitar for a reasonable price is easier said than done, but to help you do this, we’ve taken a look at the five top contenders under $1000 on the market. So, let’s get to it.
Best Electric Guitar Under $1,000: Reviews
Traveler Guitar 6 String Travelcaster Deluxe Electric Guitar
If you’re looking for a travel-friendly guitar with excellent sound, this one from Traveler Guitar is an ideal model to consider.
Review
One standout feature is that this guitar is 14% shorter than a regular model, measuring 33.75 inches. On that same note, it weighs 35% less than a standard electric guitar. For this reason, it is very travel friendly. Moreover, this makes it ideal for kids to learn.
Although the guitar is compact, the scale is full size, measuring 25.5 inches long; it’s a compact guitar with a full-size and fully functional scale. So you can play this electric guitar just like you would any other.
The Traveler Guitar 6 String Travelcaster Deluxe Electric Guitar is made of high-quality materials. It features a solid poplar body with a bone nut fretboard and a maple neck. These are high-quality woods. Not only are they durable, but they produce great sound.
This model also comes with a 2-point fulcrum tremolo with steel saddles. The tremolo is fully functional, and the steel saddles are about as durable as it gets. The fully adjustable bridge with bent steel saddles provides an excellent tremolo response. It also offers excellent tuning stability.
In addition, you get chrome tuning machines that provide highly accurate and precise tuning while also remaining very durable. Furthermore, the tuning machines feature a 14:1 gear ratio.
The Traveler Guitar 6 String Travelcaster Deluxe Electric Guitar has standard single-coil pickups. Moreover, it also comes with a 5-way switch and onboard V/T/T controls. You also get a gig bag included with your purchase.
Pros
- High-quality wood is used for the body, neck, and fretboard
- Extremely compact, lightweight, and portable
- User-friendly onboard controls
- 5-way pickup selector
- Gig bag included
- Full-size and fully functional scale
Cons
- Pickups may be slightly suboptimal
- Nut not glued to the fretboard
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Fender Player Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar
This Fender Player Stratocaster electric guitar is beautiful and durable, full size, and fully functional. At its reasonable price, it’s more than anybody could ask for. In addition, the glossy finish is appealing to the eye.
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If you like the traditional Fender tone and sound, this Fender Player Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar is a model you should consider. First, it comes with the Player Series humbucking bridge pickup, with a really big, warm, and rich tone. It’s got a great growl and harmonics for aggressive music.
At the same time, the Player Series single-coil Stratocaster neck and middle pickups are designed for articulate and crisp tones. It might not be an expensive electric guitar, but the sounds it produces are up there with the best.
Next, the Fender Player Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar features an alder wood body. This is a very durable wood that produces resonant, balanced, and bright tones; there’s a pronounced upper mid-range, along with sharp attack and excellent sustain.
The modern C-shaped neck comes with a 9.5” radius fingerboard. The neck is made of solid maple, beautiful and durable. Moreover, the smooth finish and comfortable contours make playing any style easy and comfortable. In addition, this model comes with a 22nd medium jumbo fret.
If you are looking for a guitar that has those classic bell-soundings highs, robust lows, and punchy mids, this Fender Player Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar is an excellent option. In addition, this model also has a 2-point tremolo bridge and bent-steel saddles.
Pros
- Great tonal range
- Crisp and articulate sound
- Warm and rich
- Has that classic Fender sound
- Durable and good looking wooden construction
- High-quality components all around
- Reasonable price
Cons
Soft guitar case not included as indicated
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LyxPro 39” Electric Telecaster Guitar
The LyxPro 39” Electric Telecaster Guitar is a classical or vintage-style guitar. It combines an old-school aesthetic with modern technology to produce great sound, user-friendliness, and more. We really like the smooth and glossy polish accentuating the great-looking wood grain finish.
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The main body of this guitar is made with Paulownia wood, which is solid and warp-resistant but also fairly lightweight. It also has an extra-thick construction for added durability and scratch resistance.
Next, the back of this guitar is made with natural maple, as is the fretboard and the top. The combination of wood creates a vibrant, rich, and warm sound and excellent durability. Finally, the C-shaped neck features a comfortable oval profile.
This is a standard full-size 39” electric guitar with 22 frets and a full-size scale. It’s made for adults and pros alike.
The vintage metal ashtray bridge looks really nice and functions as it should. This three-saddle ashtray bridge is ideal for producing accurate intonation and excellent sound quality.
The design offers an enhanced and consistent sound. It comes with simple tone and volume control adjustment dials so you can enjoy the lower and bass-like vibrations, as well as bright, sharp, and high notes.
The LyxPro 39” Electric Telecaster Guitar has a simple 3-way pickup switch that allows for some really great sound combinations. But, then, you also get a thick black 3-ply pickguard.
In addition, there are sealed gear-style tuning pegs for great tuning precision. How they are designed helps prevent dust and dirt from building up.
Pros
- Great durability
- Looks very nice
- Durable yet lightweight
- Full functionality
- Great pickups
- Ashtray style bridge
- Great tonal range
- Precision tuning
Cons
- Neck heel and neck pocket size don’t match
- Pickup leads are soldered directly to the copper winding wire
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CNBLUE 3/4 Size Beginner Electric Guitar
If you’re a beginner in need of an excellent electric guitar to practice on, this CNBLUE 3/4 Size Beginner Electric Guitar is worth a closer look. However, keep in mind that it’s 3/4 size, so it’s also ideal for children and relatively small people.
Review
This is one of the most affordable electric guitars on our list, but despite that, it’s made with very high-quality wood. In addition, the CNBLUE 3/4 Size Beginner Electric Guitar weighs under 10 pounds, making it lightweight and ideal for children.
The body of the CNBLUE 3/4 Size Beginner Electric Guitar is natural poplar. The fingerboard is very high-grade technical wood, and the neck is solid maple. For the low price, the materials used are more than satisfactory. In addition, the materials provide great tone and resonance.
In addition, this model comes with onboard adjustment dials for user-friendliness. Moreover, there are high-quality 1v1T pickups.
The CNBLUE 3/4 Size Beginner Electric Guitar features tuners with sealed gear pins for accurate and precise tuning control. At the same time, being sealed protect against dirt and dust buildup.
Moreover, the dual-coil pickup and the fixed bridge allow for great all-around sound. As a result, this CNBLUE 3/4 Size Beginner Electric Guitar excels at playing heavy metal sounds.
Pros
- Durable build
- Great price
- Ideal for beginners
- Rich and warm sound
- Easy and accurate tuning
- Lightweight
- High-quality components
Cons
Not ideal for adults or pro players
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Coluber Cable 39 Inch Guitar and Amp Bundle Kit
This is another excellent option for a beginner. It comes with the guitar, an amp, a tuner, extra strings, picks, and a case. In addition, it comes at a fantastic price.
Review
This electric guitar comes in 6 colors – plus, you can get this guitar in both left- and right-handed models.
The Coluber Cable Electric Guitar is made of pretty solid materials. It features a high-quality wooden body, although the type of wood is not specified. It also comes with onboard V/T/T controls.
There’s a solid maple neck and an engineered wood fretboard. Unfortunately, the engineered wood is not the best, although it’s good enough for beginners and kids. There’s also a built-in pickguard.
The Coluber Cable 39 Inch Guitar features S-S-S pickups that allow this guitar to be used for various musical styles. There is also a smaller 30-inch model available that features Humbucker pickups.
In addition, the Coluber Cable 39 Inch Guitar features a tremolo bar. We like the high-quality sealed tuning pegs that make tuning easy, and the mechanism resists wear and tear.
Moreover, this guitar comes with a 20W amplifier with a 6.5” 4-ohm built-in speaker. It also has simple gain, bass, treble, grind equalization controls, and headphone jacks. The amp measures 11.6″ x 11.2″ x 4.1″.
Pros
- Complete set with many components
- Relatively high-quality build, for the price
- Great price
- High-quality neck and body
- Easy and accurate tuning
- Fully functional
- Left- and right-handed models
- Many colors to choose from
Cons
- Input jack not always properly attached
- Strings are not the highest quality
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Buyer’s Guide
Before you shop for an electric guitar, there are a few essential considerations to keep in mind. Let’s go over everything you need to know to choose the best electric guitar for you.
Guitar Body Type
The first thing you want to consider is the type of body the guitar comes with. There are three main body types. The first is a solid body, the most common body type for electric guitars. These are made with solid pieces of wood, making it a very versatile body type. This type also tends to be more affordable.
Next, come the hollow-body guitars. Instead of being solid, these are hollow, like an acoustic guitar; this type produces more resonance. However, they are also more prone to feedback. That said, they do have intense and responsive bass sounds.
Finally, the semi-hollow body electric guitar features less resonance than a hollow body but more than a solid body. Semi-hollow guitars are built with a solid center wood block to add sustain and stability. This also helps reduce feedback. So as you can see, you have a choice to make.
Tonewood Materials
Pay attention to what the guitar is made of because many types of wood can be used. Before choosing any electric guitar, we recommend researching the various types of wood.
- Mahogany is a solid and dense wood used for most guitar parts except for fretboards and bridges. This wood is ideal for emphasizing bass and midrange frequencies. It is a very resonant wood that helps enhance sustain. Maple also produces a bright tone. When maple is used for fretboards, it adds a lot of definition to the sound.
- Rosewood is commonly used for electric guitar fretboards. It’s a hard, dense, and good-looking wood that can be used for guitar bodies, although it is very heavy.
- Ashwood is used for solid-body guitars. It’s harder than mahogany, yet still very resonant. It also creates bright tones with well-defined mid ranges.
- Alder is not very costly but also has excellent tonal qualities.
Neck Construction
Also, pay attention to the neck’s construction, profile, and width. Again, this affects comfort and fretting when you’re playing. Most models will have either a C or a U-shaped neck. If you have small hands, a narrow neck is best.
You also need to know that there are three types of guitar necks.
- The bolt-on guitar neck is bolted onto the body. This is the most cost-effective option. It’s not the highest performing, but it is the most cost-effective.
- The neck of the set-neck guitar is glued in place and then clamped to the body. This provides excellent resonance and sustain, although it makes repairs challenging.
- Neck-through guitars have necks that extend through the entire length of the body, with the wings glued to the sides of the body. This provides great tone, resonance, and sustain, although making repairs is costly and difficult.
Scale Length
Next, look at the length of the scale, which is how long the guitar strings are. Generally speaking, if you like a tighter string tension, a well-defined low end, and a bright shimmer, a longer scale length is ideal.
However, a shorter scale is best for easy string bending, a guitar for small hands, and a warmer tone.
Pickups
Other features are the pickups and electronics, which significantly affect how the guitar sounds. The most common and cost-effective type is the single-coil pickup which produces crisp and bright sounds.
Then, there are humbucker pickups, also known as dual-coil pickups or double-single coil pickups. The benefit of this type of pickup is that it helps control hum.
Finally, there are piezo guitar pickups, which are ideal for simulating acoustic guitar sounds.
FAQ
Do You Need An Amp For An Electric Guitar?
Although you can strum an electric guitar without an amp, you need one to project your sound.
How Much Does an Electric Guitar Cost?
The average electric guitar will cost around $500. However, you can find beginner models that cost between $100 to $400.
What Is the Best Wood For Beginner Electric Guitars?
Generally speaking, alder, mahogany, and basswood are all ideal for beginner electric guitars. They all sound nice, yet are also cost-effective.
The Bottom Line
The best electric guitar under $1,000 on our list is the Fender Player Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar. Fender makes some fantastic guitars, and they haven’t failed to do that with the Stratocaster HSS.
