I’ve played majority of guitars you’ll ever see in a guitar center, and though I don’t call myself “professional” others seem to think so of my opinions, so take this how you want.
I find that my favorite guitars in the beginner price range ($100-$250) is the Ibanez “atrists” ARC or ART series guitars. Mohogany body, REAL maple top (not just veneer), set neck, tune-o-matic bridge, slim profile neck and overall GOOD build quality. It’s basically a cheap thinline Les Paul. At the price point I’m sure ibanez is making them out of multi-piece bodies, but who cares? Glued bodies have very little sonic difference from a solid piece of wood, and a starter guitarist won’t hope to know the difference in their first 2 years of playing anyways. There’s 3k+ guitars made out of bonded bodies. It’s more about how it’s done that changes the quality of sound, so don’t just write off any guitar that’s a 3+ piece body.
The hardware is amazing for the price. The pickups are way better than any of the other cheap ibbys i’ve played and offer a hot sound that’s still nice and round for good open clean sounds.
Every time I’m at a guitar center THAT is the guitar I pickup to play through various amps. Seriously. And then when someone says something like “man, that sounds really good” I show them the price tag… People say tone is in the hands, and I don’t see how these ibanez guitars would stop any player from conveying their own tone on an instrument. Sure it’s not pro quality, but man do I wish I’d started on something that nice.
========================
That being said… There’s lots of options out there. The G&L Tribute series are amazing for the price as they’re almost every bit as good as their american made counterparts but for so much less. There’s also been some great suggestions in this thread that I don’t see anything wrong with.
I’d deinfately stay away from a floating bridge. Even if a beginner CAN get used to it, there’s a chance they might not grow into a player that wants it. I personally prefer a solid tail guitar myself. I like the feel and I like the resonance. Even better if it’s a string through. Floating bridges have never given me the tone of feel I like in a guitar. I also HATE bending one string to the pitch of one bellow only to have the stationary string go down in pitch because of the pressure increase from the other string. grrrrr. They’re nice for certain application, but many players are like me and can’t stand a floating trem for a main axe.
