Best Intermediate Electric Guitar (between roughly $1000 and $2000)
The PRS SE Custom 24 (Floyd or regular)
The best intermediate electric guitar (the highest-value option) is the PRS SE Custom 24, my favorite of the SE series. PRS made this series as an economy line to their Maryland (core) models, and they're excellent guitars. Even for advanced players, they're a solid option. Note that the regular Custom 24 has two additional variations: The Floyd (Floyd Rose tremolo system) and the 24-08 (additional switching options).
Once you get past the early stages of playing guitar you come into the intermediate level where you're honing in on your own style and becoming more creative. Along with this creativity, you're likely due for an instrument upgrade that will move you away from your beginner guitar, typically above a $1000 investment.
Read more: Best electric guitars overall
If you're an electric guitar player - or if you've been learning on an acoustic guitar and you're looking to upgrade - an intermediate electric guitar is the next step. But what exactly is that? You can read more or skip to our list of the best intermediate electric guitars below.
There are no de facto intermediate electric guitars, but there are guitars that fall in a mid-level price point that can help you as you expand your creativity.
Here's how I would classify them:
- Given to a particular musical genre or playing style
- More longevity than beginner instruments
- Usually marked by a greater commitment to playing/learning guitar
- Usually marked by reputable brands
- Nicer pickups, often from third-party manufacturers
- Usually between $500 and $1000 retail
These are the markers we'll use to highlight some of the best intermediate electric guitars available.
If you have questions about our review process hit the comments section below and we'll help out.
Best Intermediate Electric Guitars (comparison table)
For those wanting a quicker answer, here are the guitars we're recommending, up front. All these guitars typically retail between $1000 and $2000 in most markets. Of course, pricing can always fluctuate.
GUitar | Name | Rate | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
 | PRS Se Custom 24 | 91.0 | |
 | PRS SE Mark Holcomb Signature | 90.0 | |
 | Ibanez Iron Label Series | 89.3 | |
 | Epiphone Les Paul Custom (honorable mention) | 88.1 | |
 | Epiphone Les Paul Standard '50s (honorable mention) | 86.6 | |
 | Fender Player Telecaster (honorable mention) | 85.3 |
Yep. I actually play guitar and use these things. No ghost writing here.
1. PRS SE Mark Holcomb Signature
Best for intermediate metal and speed styles
BEST FOR: Speedsters and versatile playing styles, perhaps with a lean towards progressive rock.
TONE
90
VERSATILITY
87
PICKUPS
90
COST/VALUE
93
- Seymour Duncan humbucker set sounds awesome
- Aesthetics are fantastic
- Comes in a six and seven string version
- PRS SE body design is quite good
- At the higher end of our price range
Mark Holcomb's signature SE comes with Seymour Duncan Alpha and Omega humbuckers, getting you a branded high-quality pickup arrangement.
It's also designed specifically to Mark Holcomb's specifications for his work with Periphery, giving you a good context of genre and playing style. This is a good option for speedsters or those who are into more progressive rock styles that also want a versatile guitar. Falling under $1000 keeps it within our established price range as well.
Mark Holcomb's SE is a fantastic upgrade guitar. Seymour Duncan pickups always do it for me.
2. Iron Label Series
Best for modern rock and speed (again)
BEST FOR: Lower tunings, rock, and metal
TONE
88
VERSATILITY
80
PICKUPS
95
COST/VALUE
94
- Active EMG pickups sound great
- Comes in a six and seven string version
- Plays fast
- Baritone neck makes it a good fit for lower tunings
- No Edge Zero?
The Iron Label series by Ibanez encompasses several guitars, though most of them fall around $1000-$1500, giving us a comfy price point and a few different models to work with.
The RGIB21 is the model we linked to which ships with EMG pickups and a fast-playing nitro baritone neck. This makes it a great option for those that play in lower tunings or focus on faster playing styles, yet it doesn't really have a default genre. It's certainly a heavier rock or metal instrument, but potential appeal to a wide range of musicians.
3. PRS SE Custom 24 (including Floyd and 24-08)
Best intermediate electric guitar overall
BEST FOR: Versatility, distortion, rhythmic/percussive styles, and those who aren't sure what kind of music they want to get into.
TONE
92
VERSATILITY
95
PICKUPS
82
COST/VALUE
95
- Floyd Bridge is an awesome add-on
- Tone quality in the SE series is solid
- Good balance for playing lead and rhythm
- Neck shape is easy to play on
- Pricey
- For the price, we'd like to see a pickup upgrade
The SE Custom 24 has a version with a Floyd Rose locking tremolo installed. This type of tremolo locks at two positions, allowing you to fine-tune the strings from the bridge itself.
Obviously the non-Floyd SE Custom is a great option as well, but we like the added flexibility of the Floyd Rose system, especially if you're on the lead side of the guitar playing spectrum. The 24-08 version I mentioned earlier adds two coil-tap mini-switches giving you eight total tone combinations. All three of these guitars are an excellent value.
The SE Custom 24 is just an excellent guitar. My favorite recommendation for intermediate players.
Honorable Mentions
- Epiphone Les Paul Custom
- Fender Player Telecaster SS
- Epiphone Les Paul Standard '50s
Features to Watch for
In this section, I'll highlight some of the features that are good to keep an eye on, if and when you go shopping for an intermediate electric guitar.
Pickups
Pickups are one of the most important features to watch in this price range. Sometimes you get a nice set and sometimes you get stock.
As you've seen, most of the guitars we recommend have a branded pickup installed from a third party company. Those companies should be one of the following:
- Seymour Duncan
- Fishman
- DiMarzio
- EMG
The alternative is a stock pickup, which marks a significant downgrade in quality. That doesn't mean we never recommend a guitar with stock pickups (we do in this article), but it does mean you're better off with something from a company that specializes in pickup building.
Brand
Brand loyalty can certainly play a part in a guitar purchase once you hit the intermediate stages, but just make sure that brand is reputable. Stay away from brands like Squier or the low-end Jackson guitars that are marketed to beginners. They're not bad, but they're definitely not what you want when upping your skill level. Instead, target the following:
- Fender
- Epiphone (mid to upper series)
- PRS
- ESP LTD (mid to upper series)
- Gibson
- Ibanez (mid to upper series)
As an intermediate guitar player, these are the brands you should try to stick to as they make the best guitars in our allotted price range.
Tone and sound quality
This is harder to measure when you're just reading about guitars, and actually requires you to go out and play a few or at least listen to some YouTube demos. We always recommend doing this, partly because we do it ourselves before writing a post like this one.
Take note of tone and sound quality, even if it's just from a personal preference standpoint.
Do you like how it sounds?
Does it sound rich and full to you?
How about clean and distorted? Do you like the tone it's putting out with those settings engaged?
This is a simple way to vet a guitar's tone and to see if it's worth your time, especially if you're going to commit to the instrument long-term.
Price
Obviously price is going to play a role in this process. And while we've marked out a price range for you, you've still got to find something that works for your budget and situation. Just know that there's an expected or "conventional" price range for someone looking to get an intermediate electric guitar. Again, this is going to be between $1000 and $2000, but likely closer to the $1000 mark in most cases.
Best Places to Buy Electric Guitars
In terms of buying electric guitars, we've had a great experience with Sweetwater over the years, which is why we partner with them (per the comparison table above). They tend to keep really tight relationships with builders and manufacturers, selling only the best and including - of course - all the brands we've mentioned here.
For buying new electric guitars, we recommend Sweetwater.
For buying new, they're our top recommendation. If you want to buy used, we'd advise going with Reverb. They have a ton of used inventory and are quickly becoming one of our favorite places to troll around for deals.
For used electric guitars, we'd recommend Reverb.
Reverb works through third-party sellers which are mostly small guitar shops. It's a great way to keep those shops relevant in the online space and get a lot of awesome used deals in front of you.
Should I just upgrade my old guitar?
If you have a guitar from your beginner days, would it be better just to upgrade? All of that depends on what you consider a "beginner" guitar. Should it hail from one of the reputable brands mentioned earlier, then I'd recommend something like a pickup upgrade and perhaps swapping out the bridge hardware for something nicer.
But it all just depends on the quality of the guitar and how attached you are to it. If it's an old Squier or some other cheap guitar that you don't really care for, I'd recommend going with something new and starting fresh.
How long do these guitars last?
Most of the guitars in this price range should have the potential to be with you for life. They're professional grade at this point, giving you enough quality to warrant keeping them around for as long as humanly possible. Again, you might upgrade pickups or swap out a few parts - especially if electronics go bad. But these guitars last decades and should be bought with that view in mind. I still have the PRS SE I bought when I was 16 years old (over 20 years ago).
More questions?
Do you have additional questions about finding the best intermediate electric guitars? We try to cover as much as possible in these articles, but your situation is unique with its own questions. If there's something more we can help with or another question we can answer, don't hesitate to get in touch via the comments section below and we'll chat.
More Electric Guitar Roundups
Written by Bobby Kittleberger on Guitars & Roundups
Written by Bobby Kittleberger on Guitars & Roundups
We link to products on Sweetwater that help support our site and keep the lights on. If you click through our orange buttons, we might earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you all for your generous support over the years! ~ Bobby and Danielle
Our disclosure↬
Good post! Very useful for a starter.
Thanks, Aries. Much appreciated.