Twelve guitars under £500

Vintage V300, £109
This folk-sized acoustic offers excellent playability with a lot less bulk Photograph: Guardian

Washburn D10, £129
For those wanting to start with an acoustic, the ideal strummer's guitar Photograph: Guardian

Squier Stratocaster, £129
Fender's Stratocaster is the most mimicked of all electrics, so the company decided to create its own "affordable" copy under the Squier brand. Great quality and value: trusted name Photograph: Guardian

Epiphone Les Paul Standard, £389
Another great-value offering from Epiphone. This apes the look and tone of that most classic of rock and blues guitars, the Gibson Les Paul - favourite of Slash and Jimmy Page, to name but two Photograph: Guardian

Taylor 110E, £500
Taylor makes the 110E as a simply finished, unembellished guitar that allows those less well off to obtain the performance and tone for which this top US brand is legendary. Pushes the budget, but if you shop around you can find it for around £500 Photograph: Guardian

Fender 72 reissue Telecaster Custom, £500
The current indie-band favourite, this version is made in Fender's state-of-the-art Mexican facility, keeping costs down but quality way up Photograph: Guardian

Epiphone G400, £239
As Fender did with Squier, Gibson used its Epiphone brand to create versions of its own great models Photograph: Guardian

PRS Tremonti SE, £425
PRS makes use of some of the world's finest and most expensive electrics. This fine budget guitar is based around its Singlecut model and the ideas of US supergroup Alter Bridge's Mark Tremonti Photograph: Guardian

Yamaha Pacific 112, £199
This fine, original design breaks the budget-guitar mould by using quality timbers and components rather than the plywood and cheap electrics of some of its rivals Photograph: Guardian

Ibanez Artcore AG 75, £299
For those of a jazz persuasion, Ibanez has drawn on 30 years of experience, building guitars for George Benson to create this great looking and wonderfully affordable guitar Photograph: Guardian

Garrison GD20CE, £489
Built in Canada and constructed entirely from solid tonewoods, Garrison's 20CE has a warm-sounding cedar top, comes in a satin finish and boasts a built-in cutaway that offers superior access to the upper frets Photograph: Guardian

Yamaha APX 500, £199
Fantastic quality and value. Looks and sounds great Photograph: Guardian