Best electric guitars under $300: high quality at a low price

Three Epiphone Les Paul guitars, including the Epiphone AFD Les Paul Special II on a wooden floor leaning against a wall
(Image credit: Future)

If you’re looking to make the switch from a beginner acoustic guitar, or just add something to your arsenal that won’t cost the earth, you can get a lot of bang for your buck with the best electric guitars under $300. 

Despite this price range falling at the ‘beginner’ end of the guitar pricing spectrum, modern guitar building technology allows manufacturers to deliver incredible value for money. Here you’ll find a myriad of pickup types and configurations, hardtail bridges and tremolos, as well as a raft of beautiful finishes – so you certainly won’t be lacking for choice. To help you see the wood for the trees, we’ve picked out the best of the bunch for you.

You can trust Guitar World Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing guitar products so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

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Matt McCracken
Junior Deals Writer

Matt is a Junior Deals Writer here at Guitar World. He regularly tests and reviews music gear with a focus on guitars, amps, pedals, modelers, and pretty much anything else guitar-related. Matt worked in music retail for 5 years at Dawsons Music and Northwest Guitars and has written for various music sites including MusicRadar, Guitar Player, Guitar.com, Ultimate Guitar, and Thomann’s t.blog. A regularly gigging guitarist with over 20 years of experience playing live and writing and recording in bands, he's performed everything from jazz to djent, gigging all over the country in more dingy venues than you can shake a drop-tuned guitar at.