In the old days, you could get a Gibson Les Paul Studio or American Standard Stratocaster/Telecaster for about $699 and $599 respectively and they were the best non-Ibanez solidbody guitars to go along with the Artist, Roadstar, or RGs that were popular in the Ibanez range. There weren't really any quality hollowbodies out there in any affordable range that I was able to find under $500 and not too many under a grand.

But with so many new quality instruments out there today in 2013, what do you consider the best non-Ibanez solidbody and hollowbody for under $500 dollars? And what are the best ones for under $1,000 dollars?

As for Ibanez I like what appears to be Iron Label S for under a grand and a regular RG for the under five hundred dollar categories for solidbodies. The Artstars at about a grand and many Artcores available at under $500 dollars rounds out what I like for hollowbodies.

But there's so many other things besides my favorite Ibanezes. Right now I seem to like the Fender American Special Stratocaster or Road Worn 1950s Telecaster for nice guitars under a grand and an ESP/LTD EC-256 or Viper 256 for something under $500 dollars. For non-Ibanez hollowbodies, the Hagstrom Viking or "inspired by John Lennon" Epiphone Casino looks to be the bomb under a grand, and the Epiphone ES-339 under $500 dollars.

Thoughts?

I don't know about under $500 but for under a grand Charvel Pro Mod or So-Cal. You can't beat them for the price and playability.

New or Used?? I rarely buy new guitars. Best bang for your buck is used every time.

geez, I guess it depends on what you like,,I can only go by what I have owned but..

My main guitar is a faded Gibson Explorer. I don't think these were over a grand when they came out.. probably 8-900??Maybe less. I bought mine used. I kept it all stock and it just fits me perfect. Its just a rock machine. I have a $1700 Explorer aslo but play the faded way more.
I also have a Fernandes Ravelle, ( I've owned 2 of them) and I think these are seriously underrated guitars. You can get them stock with a Sustainer in the neck in the Elite models. 8- 900 bucks. My Deluxe was only 450 used in mint cond. Came stock with a Duncan JB set.

As for Hollows I never play them... semi-hollows,, I guess a fender thinline tele

gets my vote

I've been doing some extensive research on this very subject the last two months. I've decided my next guitar will not be an Ibanez due to the last one I bought having such horrid QC (crap fretwork and the nut physically moves every time I use the bar no matter how hard I tighten it). The two brands I've found both fit the under $1000 category.

First one is Rasmus by Suhr guitars. They were only sold for two years, between 2010-2012, and were an attempt by Suhr to bring their quality to a lower price point. The bodies and necks are made in China and then are shipped over the USA where they are PLEK'd, which is a machine that does precise fretwork on a guitar neck, setup, and are made sure to be the same specs as Suhr guitars at the Suhr factory in the USA. They have USA made Suhr pickups and Japanese made Gotoh bridges. The only negatives I could find about these guitars is that the color choices are not too appealing and some remark that they look like starter guitars. They come in two models, the S which has a strat shaped body, and the Modern which is the same shape as the Suhr Modern guitars. They sell for about $999 and there a bunch still out there new but since they stopped producing them this year they probably will start becoming scarce.

The second one are Charvel San Dimas/So Cal guitars from 2010-2012. They were made in Japan and have a high quality setup and high quality parts. They come with Seymour Duncan or Dimarzio pickups in an assortment of color options. The fret work on the guitars is really high quality and they sell from $799 to $899 depending on model and color options. There are two negative aspects to the guitar though: they are meant to be and look like 80's shredder guitars, which is not appealing to every body, and some people who buy them find the QC to be hit or miss. They also only have 22 frets which is a preference thing.

Hope this helps you out.

Edit:

I think I should also mention Carvin guitars. A lot of people see Carvin as a high end high quality custom-type guitar maker and as such think of them as expensive, but if you build the guitar with a regular color paint job and keep the options limited you can easily achieve a sub $1000 guitar. You could also consider their build it yourself kit with some higher end options and it would be below $1000 but then you would (obviously) have to build it yourself. One negative about Carvin guitars is that their pickups are not very well known to be good, so a pickup replacement will have to be factored in.

You should definitly try the Charvel Pro mod Series, So cal or San dimas both are really awesome for the price

I agree ... but if we are talking new here then I believe that the best bang for your buck is Godin guitars...made in North America - not in Korea or China or Indonesia... Try to find a better solidbody guitar than this for under $500 http://www.guitarcenter.com/Godin-Re...35-i1454375.gc

That looks like a really great guitar and also made in Canada. They are so great yet so underrated. I wonder if this helps with the NAFTA thing and thus helps the US economy some versus if I bought a guitar made in Asia or Europe.

I like USA instruments but before that though I like Ibanez and Ibby is why we are all here.

Godin actually builds their guitars in 6 different locations - 5 locations in Canada (in Quebec) and 1 location in New Hampshire. So when you buy a Godin guitar not only are you getting a great guitar but you're also supporting jobs in Canada and the US, which is important to me. Some info from the Godin site:

We are a Canadian company with our head office located in Montreal and we build our guitars in several different locations, five in Quebec and one in New Hampshire. For those of you keeping score, that adds up to six factories spread out over about 1000 kilometers. So why not just have one giant guitar factory? Although there are some obvious inconveniences associated with spreading ourselves out this much, the up-side is that these smaller operations promote a more intimate working environment which gets everybody more involved and this is reflected in the instruments themselves.

Godin guitars are assembled in our Richmond, Quebec and Berlin, New Hampshire factories. The necks and bodies are all made in our original location in La Patrie, Quebec.

I have never seen a bad one.

They are among the companies that get little attention, also like Suhr, Yamaha, and to some degree, PRS. It's not all Ibby, Fender, and Gibson.

This Artist was $500 out the door with hard case. Best deal I've probably ever gotten:

I recently bought a Fender American Special Telecaster in Olympic white, with the help of a good setup and a little mod to remove the "Grease Bucket Circuit" it's an awesome guitar , not just for the money, but overall great guitar. I love it

I'll chime in with the obvious answer from my point of view.

www.reverendguitars.com

Check out the new Kingbolts & Bayonets.

+1 on the Charvels.
USA or Japan production, great value for the money.

Second hand guitars can be a great bargin, just be careful about who and where you buy them from. I got my Jackson KE3 Kelly with SD JB and SD Jazz for $350, where usually over here they retail for about $1500. Schecters are also decent guitars, many being under $100