THE Best Guitar Under £500. Based on 30 Years Constant Research

£500 is more than enough to spend if you are looking for an incredible quality guitar but finding the right advice is incredibly difficult.

However well meaning, most guitar advice is either from individuals with quite limited personal experience (even when highly experienced players - they may have only experienced a handful of guitars in their time playing guitar) and all too often guitar shops where you may expect to get quality advice are basing their recommendations on the easiest / fastest selling lines and what they make the most profit from - not what suits your personal needs.

At Richards Guitars our entire reputation is based on the depth and sincerity of our advice, thinking of you as a the player and ensuring you get the very best guitar for your budget which if its £500 - we will make sure you get the very best guitar for £500.

Click on the following links to get the best guitar under £500

Best Acoustic Guitar Under £500

Best Electro Acoustic Guitar Under £500

Best Electric Guitar Under £500

Best Travel Guitar Under £500

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5 star service

5 star service, I appreciate the care giving from order to delivery of my new guitar. I’m very happy with my purchase and will be sure to shop here again in the future. Thank you

Auden in Hungary

The customer service at Richard 's guitars couldn't be friendlier, quicker and kinder. Exchanging emails with Jake and Jon was like talking to them in a bar. 🙂🎸🎵🍷Arranging the shipping to Hungary wasn't easy - it took me some time to find the best way - but they were really patient, open and helpful, for which I am very thankful. The guitar, the Auden Emily Rose Neo is sweet, gorgeous and inspiring, both in looks and in sound! It is hard to put her down. 😊 I can't wait to record some songs playing her! Kind regards, Csaba

Excellent gig bag

Excellent gig bag. Fits my new Seagull Entourage very well

Worth the wait!!!

Although it took a little while to get the guitar in (not Richards Guitars fault - it was an importer problem), it was worth the wait.
I was able to book a showroom slot, the guitar had been set up for me according to my playing requirements, and I had a very pleasant hour or so trying the guitar - finger picking, strumming, different tunings, slide. No interruptions by staff - up to me when I had played enough. I was also given the option to play other guitars on display (I daren’t, otherwise I would have been there all day, and much poorer!).

I fully recommend Richards Guitars - the offer of 6-month and 12-month check-up for the guitar, with flexibility around timings for this service is great.

Extremely good service and helpful team throughout the process

Extremely good service and helpful team throughout the process. Thanks to Jon and Jake for answering all my queries.

One happy guitar player……

The staff at Richards Guitars gave me great service and Eastman make very good guitars.
The chaps at Richards sorted delivery of an Eastman E20 OM-MR-TC to their showroom to suit my travel timetable and arranged an appointment for me to check it out and to part exchange my E10. The E20 was perfectly set up by Chris ant Richards and I even got a discount because he noticed a slight cosmetic flaw on the guitar. All done painlessly. Many thanks.
I had my E10 OM as a working guitar for five years or so and was very pleased with it, but came to realise I prefer the sound of rosewood guitars to mahogany - neither is better or worse, it’s just personal taste. But this E20 is in another league - I don’t know if it’s the Madagascar rosewood or the torrefied Adironak top or something else, but it seems to have all the best features of rosewood and mahogany. It plays like a dream too. I have a forty year old Martin M36 and a 30 year old Gibson Advanced Jumbo and I can assure you this brand new Eastman is already playing in the same league.

The perfect guitar for songwriters

This was an unintentional purchase (honestly!) - originally I got it for a mate but he changed his mind when I showed it him online "too small for me" 🙄
Well - unfortunately for my finances! - I loved it from the moment I picked it up, even knowing that I was supposed to be handing it over to my mate. When he said he didn't want it, I then had to justify keeping it as it doesn't fit my business needs - I have a Little Jane LJ11-SR for overseas gigs, a Furch Red Deluxe GC-SR and Yellow OM-CR, and a Blue OM-MM for recording. I just don't NEED this Pioneer - where would I use it?
Well the answer is in the guitar itself - for pleasure; it is such an intimate instrument, having a huge presence and such a direct, focused tone, without being too midrangey like so many all-Mahogany guitars tend to be.
I lined it up against my other Furchs, and a couple of Taylors, and honestly, I prefer sitting on the sofa with the Pioneer.

The soundport really does appear to transmit the guitar's tone to the player, making it sound bigger than its physical size, and the neck width is just right - no silly scrawny typical 'travel guitar' thing here. When put up against my Blue OM-MM (the fairest comparison due to the woods used), it sounded pretty much as loud, and somehow having a pretty equal bass response. The OM is more complex, with more overtones, as one might expect, but in terms of projection, the Pioneer is quite remarkable. Up against the Red, it's just a different tone, but again, probably what I'd choose to pick up if I'm writing a song - and that's exactly what I did the morning after my mate decided he didn't want it. It's definitely fun, and let's face it, that's why most of us play guitar. I have been very business oriented in my choice of instruments, for more than 25 years, and whilst this Pioneer MMa wouldn't be my first choice for a big gig, that's only because I play with 3 guitars in different tunings, and I would find the change in body size between songs a bit weird. I'm playing at a festival in December, and often the venues are cramped and lugging big guitar cases is not very practicable, so I'll probably take the Pioneer along with my Little Jane.

I really should mention you wonderful guys at Richards Guitars! I needed this in a hurry to fit in with my mate's diary, and Chris fitted the LR Baggs Element VTC and set it up in a ridiculously short period of time. If you visit the store then make sure you say hello to Chris - he's a real gentleman, but often not seen as he is so busy. Jon and Jake are stars; this time Jon was in the limelight and he made the entire experience (especially as he knew the odd circumstances around me trying the Pioneer) a whole lot of fun - he had me howling with laughter during our email exchange after my mate rejected the guitar!

I am so impressed with Richards Guitars, with the ethos behind the business, the different instruments I might never have come across, and the people who really do make you feel like a friend, that I have put a link and a recommendation on my website www.markrobinsonmusic.com.

If you're considering a Pioneer, just do it - you won't regret it, and the only place I'd buy it is from Richards Guitars, where everything is about the customer, and providing the best experience and instruments you could possibly wish for.

Thank you, guys!

Gorgeous guitar and great customer service.

I love this gorgeous guitar. And Richards Guitars have many great guitars in the showroom. I tried others but couldn’t beat the Gatsby. It was perfectly set up before my arrival to give it a road test. I was given plenty of time to try it and Jon was really helpful in keeping it aside for me.