Well-priced expectations
Especially if you’ve got your budget up high to $1,000, that puts you in the woods for some pretty amazing guitars. So, when we say you should set and keep your expectations pretty high, we’re not trying to sell you short!
Raising your budget up to $1,000 means that you’re in the market for some quality wood, components, design, and even hardware parts that make up the instrument.
Each of these features can be a factor in its own right to making a decision on which guitar you should be. Normally, if your guitar is designed with basswood and adler, it will mean that it is made of relatively affordable wood. However, you may come to find these woods in high-quality pieces like the ones on this guide.
All of the guitars on this market are compatible with various types of music—from jazz to metal to soft rock. Especially with the price range, there are plenty of high-quality guitars available. From retro to modern to vintage styles and designs, there are various types for what you’re looking for.
Let’s take care of your electric guitar
Before you buy, make sure you know what you’re going to be getting yourself into when it comes to maintenance. Certain electric guitars require much more care and attention than others.
Here are some tips to caring for an electric guitar:
Especially when you’re learning guitar chords, you’ll need to care for your guitar so it sounds just right—learning on an un-tuned guitar can certainly set you up for a tune-less guitar future.
Oils coming from your fingers might cause problems for you with your guitar in the near future—especially if it isn’t well maintained.
The dust, oil, and dirt from your fingers will have a negative effect on your strings. This may lead later on to stress cracking in the finish, especially if it isn’t properly cleaned on a regular basis.
Maintenance also isn’t just about cleaning—you’ll need to change the strings for maintenance, clean the neck and clean the body. Make sure you are getting the right strings for your guitar, though!
Choosing the Right Strings for Your Guitar: The type of strings of your guitar will depend on not only your guitar model but also the type of music you want to play and your personal playing preference.
Clean Your Strings and Change Regularly: Depending on how often you play, cleaning and changing can make a difference in the sound and lifetime of your guitar.
You can easily clean your strings using soft microfiber cleaning cloths. If you have the extra time, try and wipe the strings after every single time you play to help extend the lifetime of your strings (and even keep them in tune).
Clean The Neck and Body: Using the same cloth you just used for cleaning the strings, you can clean the body. For particular wood like rosewood or mahogany fretboard in the neck, you can use steel wool for the frets and in between them.
No matter which type of electric guitar you’re cleaning, you’ll definitely want to make sure that you are staying away from the pickups or electronic hardware with liquid. The electronics of the guitar are particularly delicate and can be destroyed with contact with any liquids.
Tips on choosing an electric guitar
To help you decide which electric guitar you want, here are some tips:
- You should familiarize yourself with the various components of a guitar.
- Decide the body style that works for you, between solid bodies, hollow bodies, semi-hollow bodies, and electric-acoustic guitars.
- Make sure the neck and different features of the guitars are up to not only your standard but also quite comfortable in your hands.
- You should also make sure that the rest of your gear is up to standard and compatible with other guitars, like an amplifier, cables, pedals, etc.
Consider the following features to choose the best electric guitar under $1000
Before you buy, we mentioned that it is clever if you should familiarize yourself with the various features often associated with electric guitars. Here is the section in our guide where we will help give a little insight into what there is to know when it comes to guitars:
Body style and shape
There are three different types of electric guitars when it comes to the body: Solid body, hollow body, and semi-hollow body.
These different bodies have one significant characteristic that sets them apart: the sound resonance that comes out from them.
A solid body is best if you’re looking to play fast and heavy music like metal, rock or punk. These particular types of music work best with this guitar because of the sustenance of the sound and the loud sound. Most beginners should use a solid body guitar, like the Yamaha RevStar.
A semi-hollow or hollow body are best for jazz players or someone looking to play a softer style like jazz, soft rock, pop, country or even the blues. These guitars are full and rich with sound.
The importance of the shape of the guitar on the other hand also lies not only on looks but also the style of how it fits in with your genre and how comfortable it feels in your hands.
Scale length and neck
Another feature that is important when choosing a guitar to suit your style and taste is the scale length and neck. The length is produced by the string that vibrates. It is normally measured in inches, from the length of the nut to the bridge.
When that number of the scale length is longer, that means the tension in the strings of the guitar will be much tighter, meaning you have to give more effort to pluck them. The sound of these particular strings will be much brighter and with a well-defined tone.
If the scale length is shorter, that means it will be much easier to play—especially for softer, weaker or smaller hands and less-advanced players.
The neck of the guitar extends out from the body and is used to show and display the frets. With most guitars on the market, the metal truss rod will help prevent the neck from bowing and twisting.
How wide the neck is and the type of wood the neck is designed with will make a difference in comfort, especially when interchanging the position of your hands on the neck.
Most necks found on the guitars of this guide will be either “C”- or “U”-shaped. However, if you have smaller hands, you’ll want a narrower neck to be able to fiddle with the frets and notes much easier.
There are three different ways that necks are set:
Pickups
The pickups of the guitar are the metal pieces that lie beneath the strings of your guitar. These can be made of plastic or metal.
These pieces of the guitar give the guitar its tone. The string vibrations are sent electronically to sound distribution through the two different types of pickups: single-coil and humbuckers.
Single-coil tend to be bright and twangy, like the Fender Standard Stratocaster.
Humbuckers are considered to be thick and warm, like the Oscar Schmidt OE30.
Inspect for the tonewood
As we mentioned before, the tonewood, the wood that the guitars are made of will make a huge difference when it comes to sound. This interaction between the strings, the magnets, and the wood is an extremely important component that defines the guitar’s sound.
The type of wood will influence the resonance of the guitar’s sound. It will influence how long the strings will vibrate for and the motion’s shape.
Bridges and tailpieces change the game
The bridges and the tailpieces of the guitar can also make a huge difference in the sound of its tone and your decision in choosing a particular kind.
You can have a tremolo bridge, like the Schecter 430 C-6, or an Adjusto-Matic bridge like the Gretsch G5420T.
The tailpiece of the guitar can also be bolted on or synced on.
Fretboard and frets
Ever seen lead guitarists running their hands back and forth in a blur to jam in their music? The fretboards and frets of the guitar are those thin metal bars that run down the neck. They are note separators that help beginners find the perfect finger placement and experts play to their heart’s content.
In our guide, the guitars displayed here normally have 22 frets, like the Oscar Schmidt OE30. However, if you want to play rock or metal music, you’ll want to aim for 24 frets, like the ESP LTD D-5.
Warranty
A warranty on an investment like an electric guitar is something that you definitely need to consider before you buy. Some guitars will have a 1-year limited warranty, like the Yamaha RevStar while others will have a lifetime limited warranty, like the Oscar Schmidt OE30.