Best used electric guitars for under £500...?

[Kiwi]

What do you think?  Harley Benton?  Tanglewood?  Ibanez?  There are always trade offs, I know Ibanez do a good job of the woodwork but compromise on the hardware and electronics.  But that does make them good for upgrades so long as a better trem can fit.  I have a soft spot for Yamaha as well and some of the older Mexi Fender Strats (from the early noughties) have surprised me with how good the necks are.

 

Any others?

[Crusoe]

You can get a pretty good Ibanez new for that sort of money, so you should be able to get one of their higher spec models for the same price, second hand. hard to go wrong with a Yamaha too.

[ezbass]

So many brands to choose from, pretty much everyone has a good showing in that price range (if you include Squier and Epiphone as Fender and Gibson). Often overlooked are Gretsch, who have a good range of instruments in this range. There are even some rather nice PRS SEs too, but they go over the £500 mark pretty quickly.

[EdwardMarlowe]

About ten years ago I'd have said Fender MiM and PRS SE were good there, though increasingly their new price is pushing higher and pulling up the used price with them. 

 

The new Fender Standard series have been much-mocked by people keen to write them off as rebadged Squiers, but that's grossly unfair. The Guitar Geek did a video comparing one directly to a Squier CV Series Strat, and they are different beasts - different factories, different innards. Now whether somebody wants to pay the extra for them might be another matter, but.... They've clearly been introduced for a specific target market, that being players who can't stretch to the price of a Player Series (street price, I'm very rarely seeing those new for under £600 nowadays), but looks down on a Squier. I have a feeling these could be a sleeper that will be a great buy when they start to filter onto the used market. While made in the Far East, the specs are basically a rerun of the pre-2018 MiM Standard Strat that was replaced by the Player Series - poplar body, 21 frets, 9.5 radius, 42mm nut, slightly hotter pickups, full size pots. If they did a left hander I'd be seriously considering one of the 'Candy Cola' models with the maple board... as it is, if one came up used stupid cheap, I'd buy and Hendrix. I wish they would do one of these with a six-screw trem and a big headstock... then I'd *definitely* be looking for a Hendrix project. 

 

Harley Bentons I love.... but would be wary of buying used. I've seen one too many "optimistically priced" on eBay, at well over the new price. Those that do sell seem to go for so near the new price that unless it was a model that was out of production (like the 25th Anniversary limited edition Jazz Bass I really wanted, but lost the chance to buy when our then dog needed her tail docked after she bit the end off it, bless her), I don't think it's worth going used. 

 

Squier are always worth looking at used, especially the Classic Vibe series - which, yeah, I'll stick my neck out and say are Fender's purest realisation of Leo's concept of an affordable, giggable guitar that can be cheaply maintained and repaired. Not the very *best* *guitars* Fender have ever made, but in terms of VFM as a working player's tool.... 

 

I've seen very good deals on the 2xxx series Gretsches used. They tend to be just a *little* more generic in sound, a little less the distinctive Gretsch difference than a 5xxx or especially the Professional 6xxx series, but they are great guitars in their own right, and they have that very cool vibe going on - immediately different from yet another F or G style. 

JHS's Vintage brand tend to go surprisingly cheap used, and for the money are an excellent buy. If you like the Gibson styles, their earlier models tend to be just a little closer the "real" shapes, especially the SGs. Their SG style ones are a real hidden gem. Their Fenderalikes tend to look much more like the real thing in the body, though if you can try before you buy as the necks aren't for everyone. They tend to favour a US-style 43mm nut over a more vintage 42mm nut. Some folks find that matters, others don't. MiM quality, selling used for Squier money. The 'Icon' series can be a nice option if you like the relic look buy don't want to pay out the big money. Up close they're not the same as the Fender relics, but thy have the general look from a few feet away, and if you like the relic vibe, they're a bit of fun, affordably. As long as you're not left handed you're gold - they're as piss poor as Squier for lefty provision.