2026’s Top 10 Electric Guitars Under £500

Cheap guitars are cool! I love top-end, expensive museum pieces as much as the next guitarist, but there’s undoubtedly something great about a low-cost electric that you can take into the trenches and really blast on that deeply appeals to me. Judging by how many guitars in the sub-£500 category sell throughout the year, I’m making a safe bet here and thinking you might feel the same way, right?

Good. We are aligned in our vision! And it’s not just us, either: more and more professional guitarists are touring with what we’d consider relatively low-cost guitars, thanks to increased manufacturer competition upping the quality levels across the board. You get more for your money with guitars than ever before. This is a great thing!

The world of affordable electric guitars can be a fast-moving one, with new models constantly introduced throughout the year. I feel like it might be helpful to round up a curated selection of some of the best sub-£500 guitars that are around today. I’ve included classic axes, contemporary designs, headless wonders and maybe even a signature model. 

It’s all here, so dive in with me and check out what can be had for a very reasonable outlay.

Let us begin with the world’s most famous electric guitar. It’s a worthwhile point to start out on: the very fact that in 2026, you can buy a Fender-branded real-deal Stratocaster for under £500. That may well change in the future, but at time of writing (October 2026), these are available for £499 and I think that’s pretty excellent.

Some Squier models cost more than that, okay?

The Fender Standard Series Stratocaster is made in Indonesia, a popular modern location for affordable guitar building. The build quality is good here, and considering that this is the lowest-priced ‘F’ branded Strat on the market, it punches well above its weight. It’s also available with a bridge humbucker, for those who tend to rock slightly harder. Aces!

Epiphone Les Pauls are a real cornerstone of the guitar market. Everybody wants a Gibson Les Paul, but they are expensive, and Epiphone’s official replica models capture a good dose of the Gibbo magic for a fraction of the cost.

In order to get a fully featured Les Paul Standard from Epiphone, you’ll need to break our £500 price ceiling, but I think you’ll be pretty happy with this Epiphone Les Paul Tribute Plus model. It has a delicious looking flame maple veneer (a thinner slice of timber than a ‘maple top’, for economic reasons) and plenty of the binding and inlay work that gives the Les Paul its undoubted beauty. The major difference here is a bolted-on neck, which does make for a slightly different feel and sound, but also a very solid and road-worthy guitar.

Try this alongside the more expensive Les Paul Standard models and see how you feel: you may be surprised!

When this guitar was first released two or three years ago, I was so impressed by it that I wrote an entire blog on it. Click through to My Favourite PRS Guitars Costs Under £500 for the full story, but the short version is this: it’s a no-frills, bolt-on neck PRS guitar that is made in Indonesia. It’s not a version of a PRS, it’s a PRS. 

Without comparing them to the models that cost three and a half grand (which is decidedly unfair, not to mention pointless), the PRS SE CE24 Standard Satin is a tremendous deal for anybody who wants a good looking, good feeling and good sounding guitar that comes in at a fantastic price. With 24 frets and coil taps, along with a decent tremolo and a lovely Wide Thin neck profile, what’s not to love? It even has the Bird inlays!

How do you feel about Jaguar guitars? If you’re anything like me, then you’ll be approaching them from a sort of Sonic Youth, anti-shred, noise rock position. They seem to promote that type of attitude, and for that reason, I believe it makes a lot of sense to pay less and grab a fabulous Squier Classic Vibe Jaguar over a more spendy model.

Why? Well, these Classic Vibe capture the period details really well, and also provide pretty great value for money considering what’s involved in building a ‘proper’ Jag. This affordable model has the two circuits, the strangle switch, and even cool period-correct finishes and inlays. Because the whole appeal of Jaguars  (in my opinion) is about deconstructing standard guitar styles, then less expensive guitars are maybe more appropriate to go crazy on, right? 

The world’s favourite beginner guitar is in fact a good deal more than that. For not much outlay at all, you’ll get a fully capable axe with a pleasing selection of sounds, a sturdy build and a feel that transcends the price. There’s no style this Pacifica 112J can’t handle, and nothing that’ll get in the way of you playing, expressing and having fun.

Yamaha understandably want their Pacifica guitars to be known as more than just great beginner guitars, and I quite agree: everybody can enjoy these. They are the perfect backup guitar, and an excellent primary instrument for when funds simply don’t allow for more upmarket purchases. 

It’s a modern classic for a reason!

In the past, 7-string guitars were prohibitively expensive, presumably due to the set-up costs of re-jigging the manufacturing tools for that extra low B string. Nowadays? 7-strings are so popular that they are almost considered normal, particularly for metal players. Cheap 7-strings are abundantly available, but in my personal experience, they aren’t all equally reliable.

One which is very much worth your time is the Jackson JS22 DKA, based on the famous Jackson Dinky model. A Jackson of any description is worth writing about, frankly, and you’ll find plenty of choice in the JS range, but I wanted to offer up at least one extended-range instrument in this rundown.

Jackson are generous with this guitar: it has a 26.5” scale length, perfect for even A standard tuning. There’s a decent set of ceramic humbuckers here that may not move mountains in terms of their clean tones, but they perform admirably when liberally dipped in distortion. Plus, there is the sleek matte black look, complete with a headstock that simply says ‘Jackson’, without any additional ‘budget qualifiers’, and that’s something I really respect.

Buying this super-affordable take on Mr Vai’s famous white JEM will pointedly NOT make you suddenly play like the man himself. With that noted, the Ibanez JEM Jr will, however, give you the best sub-£500 platform to explore the outer extremities of shred guitar. 

All of the main JEM attractions are included, from the Tree of Life inlay to the famous Monkey Grip handle in the body, plus it’s available in a number of colours. If you love the idea of some ‘performance’ guitar wizardry but are on a tight budget, the JEM Jr is the magic wand you need.

Gretsch always produce reliably idiosyncratic looking guitars with style to spare. What’s not always immediately obvious until you physically handle one is just how playable and comfy they are. Such is the case with this Gretsch Streamliner CVT, which is based on a historic model but doesn’t try to lean too hard on any particular part of Gretsch’s considerable heritage. It’s simply a very cool solid body electric guitar that looks awesome, sounds very cool and is massive amounts of fun to play. Don’t overthink it: just plug it in and have fun!

Cort are one of those brands you’ve probably played without even knowing, They build instruments for lots of other famous brands, and also put out quality guitars with their own name on the headstock.

Well, I say ‘headstock’, but this Cort Space G6TR has no such thing. Headless guitars are back in a fairly significant way. Instead of being a cultural phenomenon which dated quickly (as they were in the 80s), headless guitars are now an accepted niche amongst modern playing circles. Prog, fusion, djent and ambient players all love the ergonomic benefits of headless guitars, and now you can too with a guitar that is as versatile as it gets. H-S-S pickup layout, a custom tremolo and stainless steel frets all put this Cort into the premier league, without having to spend too much at all.

If there is ever an opportunity to include a pointy heavy metal V guitar in a blog, then by the twisted beard of Odin, I’ll do it! In this instance, I’ve chosen my weapon of metal from Solar’s sub brand, S by Solar. The VB4.6W is the guitar my inner 14 year old self would buy, which, if I’m being honest, is pretty much in line with my fully adult self too. 

This is just such a cool choice for a low-priced mosher guitar! The ‘White Matte’ finish is metal in an ‘early Max Cavalera’ way, and the custom ceramic humbuckers put out a rabid bark that’s perfectly suited to chug riffs and wildly tasteless shred solos.

What does it sound like played clean? Do you think I even bothered to check? Who cares! This is an amazing slice of metal for far under our designated price cut-off, so there’s plenty of budget left for cut-off combats and beard oil.

Right now, there are so many amazing choices out there for us in this price range. Whichever styles you play, shapes you prefer and sounds you want to hear, it seems that you’ll be covered well by what’s currently available. You do not have to be well-heeled in order to enjoy a good electric guitar in a style that suits you.

I tried to cover a wide variety of guitars here to illustrate the breadth of the market, but the choices are vast. You’d obviously be able to add Teles, SGs, Revstars, Kellys, Explorers and loads more to this list of highlights, so as usual, take these as my personal recommendations, and use them to inspire your own investigations. Have fun!