Hey! I am looking into buying a new electric guitar because I’m wanting to get back into playing. I would say I was an intermediate player back when I was in high school, but haven’t really played much in a few years. My budget is around AU$700-1100, so mid-range considering I’m still a bit of a newbie. I’ve been looking at some Sterlings and Squiers, but I’m not sure! Any advice or recommendations would be much appreciated!
I’m not familiar with Australian prices but you do mention mid-range. So I’ll assume that you have access to $500 Squiers and Epiphones and the like. They can be very good quality, especially with a setup to fine tune them a bit. At your price point, an SE model PRS is well worth the money. When I started to pick my guitars up again mid-pandemic, after ~20 years, I started by buying an SE Custom 24-08 and it’s been really comfortable and versatile.
Like others have said, for sure go into your local shops to try out a few models before dropping any cash.