QUICK HIT: Best electric guitars under 700 dollars, focusing on the $500 to $700 price range.
The $700 price point is pretty specific, but it's an important one for potential electric guitar buyers.
Why is it important?
Because the $500 to $700 price range is the first such range that we'd describe as being outside the bounds of beginner electric guitar shopping. This is where you start to look at more serious instruments and more permanent options.
That's why we've set a floor and a ceiling:
- Floor: $500
- Ceiling: $700
We've chosen only the best electric guitars under 700 dollars, focusing on popular brands and models that we know and trust. We'll cover each electric guitar individually and then cover some FAQs at the end of the product roundup.
If you have questions, feel free to drop them in the comments section below.
Read more: Best electric guitars overall
Best Electric Guitars Under 700 Dollars (top 5 picks)
Guitars | DETAILS | Rating | Shop |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Gretsch G5622 Electromatic Center Block | n/a | |
 | Fender Player Mustang 90 | n/a | |
 | PRS SE Mark Tremonti Standard | n/a | |
 | Schecter Damien Platinum 6 | n/a | |
 | Epiphone Les Paul Modern | n/a |
1. Gretsch G5622 Electromatic Center Block
This Gretsch is great for clean tones, jazz, and Christian contemporary worship music. It uses a center block design to provide hollow-body tone without the feedback that can often be an issue with these guitars. Otherwise it's just everything we love about Gretsch without the high price tag.
Pickups are a lower-tier off what you would get on the more expensive Gretsch models, but they still produce a warm, inviting tone.
We don't love this guitar for heavier styles or big distortion, but on the more subtle end of the spectrum, it's one of the best value guitars under $700 that we could recommend.
Since Gretsch has started making affordable mid-tier guitars, the world has become a better place.
IDEAL FOR: Clean tones, blues, and jazz
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
The Pros
- Does a good job of preventing feedback
- Tone is warm and bluesy
- Great for cleans and subtle distortion
- Looks every bit like a real-deal Gretsch semi-hollow
The Cons
- Pickups are a bit of a compromise
- Volume and tone knob placement takes some getting used to
2. Fender Player Mustang 90
For those who didn't know, the Fender Mustang is the type of guitar that Kurt Cobain most often played back in the early '90s. Fender has recently rebooted their version of the Player Mustang, with P-90 pickups (stock Fender variety) and all the trimmings of the original Mustang.
If you're into vintage rock tones or more grunge (pre nu-metal) sounds, the Fender Player Mustang will give you a little more edge than the Gretsch, but without running you off a cliff.
It's a hard rocker with a seat belt.
Manufacturer page: Player Mustang 90
IDEAL FOR: Grunge, moderately heavy distortion, and heavier playing styles
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
THE PROS
- Looks awesome, just like the original
- Unique design and take on a Fender electric guitar
- Good with aggressive distortions and fuzz tones
- Versatile tone profile with the P-90 pickups
THE CONS
- It would be nice to see Seymour Duncan P-90s
- Not our favorite pickguard/color combination
3. PRS SE Mark Tremonti Standard
As we go we're getting progressively heavier.
The SE Mark Tremonti Standard is far cheaper than the mainline Tremonti signature model from PRS, but it captures a lot of the aesthetics and vibe of that guitar, all in a sub- $700 package.
PRS SE guitars are - in general - better for thick distortion tones, percussive playing styles and heavier rhythm.
While the SE Tremonti Standard is versatile, it's most at home in a heavier context.
IDEAL FOR: Heavier styles, rock, percussive playing, and modern tones
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
THE PROS
- Mirrors the mainline Tremonti signature
- Has the iconic "bird" inlays
- Dual tone/volume knobs
- Stock pickups sound decent
THE CONS
- "SE Humbuckers" are nothing to write home about
4. Schecter Damien Platinum 6
The Damien Platinum 6 is one of our favorites in this list because it is the first and only guitar that actually has pickups from a third party.
This particular model utilizes a dual humbucker setup with active EMG 85 and 81 humbuckers. On its own, this adds a tremendous amount of value to the guitar and makes it worth your purchase, especially if you're into metal and more modern hard rock styles.
Note that active pickups tend to be smoother and better for distortion than passive pickups, which is why metal-friendly guitars often utilize them.
If that's not your style, then this guitar probably isn't a great fit for you.
But if you're looking for heavy distortion, modern tones, and a a heavy hitting guitar, the combination of Schecter and EMG pickups is extremely hard to pass up.
IDEAL FOR: Metal, hard rock, recording, and heavier playing styles
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
THE PROS
- EMG 85 and 81 humbuckers are the real deal
- Great guitar for heavy distortion
- Love the fretboard inlays
- Aesthetics are all metal
THE CONS
- A more expensive version has a Floyd Rose tremolo system, but it's removed here to keep the price under $700
5. Epiphone Les Paul Modern
The Les Paul Modern is near the top of Epiphone's quality tier, which is about as nice as you can get before you start looking for a "Gibson" tag on the headstock.
Designed for rock and versatility, the Modern looks the part of a Gibson Les Paul Studio, but with some cost-cutting measures that help keep it under $700. As expected, one of those cost cutting measures involve going with Epiphone-brand humbuckers, which are the cheaper stock variety.
We'd love to see a pickup upgrade here, especially since Schecter managed to get us EMG pickups on a guitar without exceeding $700.
Still, the Epiphone Les Paul Modern has a lot of aesthetic appeal and a great tone profile. If you can get something that is even remotely close to a Gibson Les Paul, we can't complain too much about the pickups.
IDEAL FOR: Rock, classic rock, vintage styles, and versatility
TONE
n/a
EQ/CONTROL
n/a
BUILD/STRENGTH
n/a
COST/VALUE
n/a
THE PROS
- Hard to distinguish from the Gibson Les Paul Studio
- Plays and feels like a real Les Paul
- Tone is surprisingly good
- Mahogany body is same tonewood as the Gibson version
- Maple top makes an appearance
THE CONS
- Humbuckers are just stock
The Pickups Dilemma
The $700 price point is sort of right on the cusp of where you can start to expect manufacturers to include pickups from reputable third parties. You want to see pickups and humbuckers from the following manufacturers:
- Seymour Duncan
- DiMarzio
- EMG
- Fishman
These are the four big names in pickup building. If you don't see any of them included in an electric guitar, then it's likely that guitar is using some kind of cheap stock humbucker that they're slapping their name on.
As you can tell from our list, the stock humbuckers are a huge drag on this price range, with just a few exceptions (the Schecter Damien Platinum 6).
If you don't want to deal with stock pickups, up your price range a bit and try to go closer to $1000. At that point, you're likely to run into a lot more electric guitars that include nicer pickups and avoid the stock pickup dilemma.
Beginner or intermediate?
The $500 to $700 price point is critical, because it marks a shift from beginner to intermediate price range. As a result, you run into a lot of guitars that are kind of stuck midway between what you would expect for a beginner and what you would expect for an intermediate player.
If you want to go cheaper and get something that's more strictly for beginners, you can set $500 as your top limit and bump the floor to $300.
Read more: Best electric guitars under $500
On the other hand, you could consider spending higher to get something that's more firmly an intermediate or "pro-level" guitar.
Is $700 enough for a "pro-level" guitar?
There are some great deals that can get you a really nice guitar for this price. However, for pro guitar players or someone looking for a guitar to function in a more serious context, we typically recommend going over $1000. The guitars we've recommended in this price range are more firmly intermediate.
Which brands are best in the $700 price range?
Gretsch has a lot of great guitars in this price range, as well as Schecter and even Ibanez.
However, the best overall brands still win the day, even with this particular price range. They include Epiphone, PRS, and Fender. Those three manufacturers are consistently providing high value electric guitars, making them hard to beat in any price range.
Read more: Best electric guitar brands
Can I just change the pickups if I don't like them?
Yes. You can definitely do a pickup swap if you get one of these guitars with stock pickups.
Now, that's not to say this is always necessary.
Sometimes stock pickups sound decent and can be good fill-ins if you don't want to upgrade or if you don't want to spend more money on the guitar.
However, I would caution that it might be cheaper just to buy a nicer guitar instead of buying the $700 guitar and the pickups which could cost around $200 on their own, not to mention the cost of installation or the headache if you choose to do it yourself.
So while you can definitely change pickups on one of these guitars, make sure you do some cost/benefit analysis before going that route.
Also, it's worth mentioning that you can always just try the stock pickups if you go with one of these guitars, and see if you like them. If you do, there's no harm in sticking with them for the long term.
Conclusion
There's no doubt that $700 is a bit of an awkward price range. But the guitars we've listed here are great fits for somebody with that particular budget and will certainly give you a ton of value for what you pay.
Use them as guides and rough recommendations to help get you started.
Questions about the Best Electric Guitars Under 700
If you settle on something different or you have a question about a guitar that we didn't list, feel free to drop us a line in the comments section below and we'll chat about it.
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Written by Bobby on Electrics and Roundups
Written by Bobby on Electrics and Roundups
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