Best Jazz Guitars Under $500
Jazz guitar traditionally uses a full or semi-hollow archtop with neck humbucker pickup, clean amplifier, and flatwound strings. Under £500, several guitars capture the essential jazz guitar character at an accessible price.
Best Jazz Guitars Under £500
Ibanez AS73 Artcore — £400 | Best Overall
Semi-hollow body (maple top, mahogany back/sides), bound fretboard, Classic Elite humbuckers (neck position warm, bridge position brighter), roller saddle bridge. The AS73 is Ibanez's most popular jazz guitar — balanced, warm, and genuinely suitable for jazz playing.
Setup for jazz: Add flatwound strings (D'Addario Chromes 11-52, £15) and set the tone control on the neck pickup to 7. Play through the neck pickup exclusively for traditional jazz.
Best for: Traditional jazz, bebop, chord melody, players new to jazz who want authentic jazz character.
Epiphone ES-335 — £350 | Best Price-to-Performance
Semi-hollow, ProBucker humbuckers, laminate maple body with maple centre block. At £350, this is the most affordable semi-hollow in this guide with genuine jazz-usable character.
vs Ibanez AS73: The Epiphone ES-335 is slightly thinner and the ProBuckers are a different character. The Ibanez is more traditionally jazz-voiced; the Epiphone is more versatile (blues, jazz, rock).
Best for: Players who want jazz + blues + indie rock versatility from one semi-hollow at under £400.
Epiphone ES-175 Premium — £350 | Best Traditional Single-Cutaway Jazz
Single-cutaway hollow body, two ProBucker humbuckers, laminated maple, floating tailpiece. The ES-175 is the shape most closely associated with traditional jazz — Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell, Jim Hall all played the Gibson ES-175.
Best for: Players who want the traditional jazz guitar aesthetic and single-cutaway ES-175 shape.
Squier Classic Vibe Jazzmaster — £300 | Budget Option
Offset body, three-way switching, Dynamic Vibrato system, single-coil pickups. Not a traditional jazz instrument — the Jazzmaster was designed for jazz but became an indie/alternative guitar. Relevant for players who want jazz-adjacent tone without the archtop aesthetic.
Flatwound Strings for Jazz
Jazz guitar tone is defined by flatwound strings — D'Addario Chromes (ECG24, 11-52, £15) or Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Swings (£25). Flatwounds eliminate finger squeak and the brightness of roundwound strings, producing the warm, dark tone associated with jazz.
Change immediately after purchasing any jazz guitar — the tonal improvement is dramatic.
The Amp Side of Jazz Tone
The guitar and strings get most of the attention, but amp choice matters just as much for authentic jazz tone. Jazz players traditionally favor a very clean, high-headroom amplifier with minimal breakup even at performance volume — the goal is transparency, letting the guitar's natural warmth (especially through the neck pickup with flatwounds) come through unshaped. A Fender-style clean amp (Deluxe Reverb, Twin Reverb, or a modern equivalent) with the gain kept low and the tone rolled slightly toward the warm side is the standard approach. High-gain or heavily overdriven amps work against everything a semi-hollow jazz guitar setup is built to achieve.
Common Mistakes
Skipping the flatwound string upgrade. As covered above, this is the single highest-impact change available — a jazz guitar strung with standard roundwounds sounds noticeably brighter and less "jazz" than the same guitar with flatwounds, regardless of how much was spent on the instrument itself.
Playing exclusively through the bridge pickup. Traditional jazz tone comes overwhelmingly from the neck pickup, which delivers the warm, rounded character associated with the genre — the bridge pickup's brighter voicing is used more sparingly, if at all, in traditional jazz contexts.
Choosing a solid body guitar and expecting full jazz character. As the FAQ below notes, a solid body can technically play jazz repertoire, but it lacks the acoustic resonance and air that a hollow or semi-hollow body contributes — this is a real, audible difference, not a minor preference.
Running a jazz guitar through a high-gain or heavily colored amp. As covered above, jazz tone depends on amp transparency — a boutique high-gain amp voiced for rock or blues will fight against, rather than complement, a semi-hollow guitar's natural character.
ToneStakr's Take
For players serious about developing traditional jazz tone rather than a jazz-adjacent sound, the Ibanez AS73 Artcore paired immediately with a set of flatwound strings is the strongest combination on this list — its Classic Elite neck humbucker is specifically warm and rounded in a way that suits chord-melody and single-note bebop lines alike. Players who want more genre flexibility beyond pure jazz (blues, indie, light rock) should lean toward the Epiphone ES-335 instead, accepting a slightly less traditional jazz voice in exchange for broader usefulness.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best jazz guitar under $500?
The Ibanez AS73 Artcore (£400) is the best overall choice — a semi-hollow body with warm Classic Elite humbuckers that deliver genuine jazz character at a realistic price point.
Do I need a hollow or semi-hollow guitar for jazz?
Strongly recommended, though not strictly mandatory — the resonant warmth of a hollow or semi-hollow body contributes significantly to traditional jazz tone. A solid body guitar can play jazz repertoire, but the tonal character is genuinely different and less traditional.
What strings should I use for jazz guitar?
Flatwound strings — D'Addario Chromes or Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Swings are the standard choices. Flatwounds eliminate much of the brightness and finger noise associated with roundwound strings, producing the warm, dark tone traditionally associated with jazz guitar.
What amp settings work best for jazz guitar?
Low gain, clean headroom, and a tone setting biased slightly warm rather than bright. The goal is amp transparency that lets the guitar and flatwound strings define the tone, rather than the amp adding its own character or breakup.
Is the Epiphone ES-175 worth choosing over the more popular Ibanez AS73?
If the traditional single-cutaway archtop aesthetic matters to you — the shape most associated with Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell, and Jim Hall — yes, it's a reasonable trade even if the AS73 is generally considered the more complete all-around option at this price.
Can I play jazz on an electric guitar not designed for jazz, like a Stratocaster?
Yes, functionally — the chords, scales, and technique of jazz guitar can be played on any electric guitar. However, without a hollow or semi-hollow body and without flatwound strings, the tonal result will sound noticeably different from traditional jazz guitar recordings, more akin to a "jazz-influenced" solid body tone than the classic archtop sound.