Finally!  It has taken forever to go through the lineups of the big guitar companies for this series of posts, but I’m onto the last price point.  It’s well beyond the self imposed Budget Guitarist limit of $500, but it’s not entirely impossible.  Perhaps a rich relative could give me a birthday present of a $1,000 gift card to Guitar Center.  Or some super rich fan of this site could send me one in the mail!  Email me at richard@budgetguitarist.com if you want to send me a huge gift card.

Anyway, let’s wrap this up.  Your $1,000 is going to get you a great guitar, and as usual, the value is going to be in the used selections.  On a personal note, I bought a PRS S2 Standard Satin 24 for $500 at the Orlando Guitar Convention in 2018 – that guitar sells brand new for $999, and might show up on this list.  Buy used, folks!

Used

  1. Gibson Les Paul Studio Deluxe.  One notch above the Tribute series, the Studio is a great guitar, and the Deluxe is the best Studio.  If you like Les Pauls.
  2. Gibson SG Standard.  It wasn’t too long ago that you could buy one of these new for around this price.  Those days are gone.  The SG is Gibson’s best selling guitar for a reason – it growls more than a Les Paul, and it doesn’t kill your back at gigs.
  3. PRS CE 22.  This one is a pretty big stretch, but you can sometimes steal one of these at this price point.  This is an American PRS with a bolt-on neck.  At this price point, it’ll likely be a 2000 or 2001, something really old and maybe needing a little work.
  4. Fender American Deluxe Strat or Tele.  Again, you might be able to find one at this price point.  You can find American Fenders at a grand all day long, or rather you could in 2018.

Have you noticed yet that I prefer Fender and Gibson?

New

OK, here we go…

  1. Charvel Limited Edition Super Stock Model 1888.  I think these are amazing guitars.  You can get a locking trem metal machine for less, but this guitar plays like a dream and looks badass.
  2. G&L Fullerton Standard Legacy (Stratocaster.)  I’m not going to call it a damn “S Type” guitar.  It’s a strat.  And it’s a better Strat than Fender’s current low end American instrument.  This is a killer Strat.
  3. PRS S2 Standard Satin 24.  Yup.  I love, love, love mine.  Here’s a secret – if you don’t like the stock pickups, which I didn’t, you can replace them.  And then you’ve really got something going.  This guitar plays great and sustains great and looks great and is light, so it won’t kill your shoulder.
  4. Reverend Double Agent.  I think that $999 is a little high for this guitar, but I also think it’s really cool.  P90 in the neck and humbucker in the bridge.  Plays great.

Thanks for following the series.  It was a lot more work than I thought it’d be!  But I’m glad it’s done.  And if someone wants to send me that gift card, I think I’d likely grab a used Gibson SG out of all of these choices.  🙂