Upgrading from Oldie LTD, looking for a decent, less-than-$1000 new guitar. Suggestions?

are you looking for humbuckers, single coils, p90, semi hollow, etc and what music do you play, the most versatile guitar ever made imo is the hss strat and an american standard can be found used for under 1000, but versatile means different things to different people

ESP LTD H3-1000. New for the year. Tried one out at the local Sam Ash and it's pretty smooth, has Seymour Duncan Custom 5/Jazz combo, and a coil-tap stock for some versatility. It's $900 new. Also check out the PRS SE Custom 24 (with or without Floyd), used American Strats, and so forth. You got soooo many options.

are you looking for humbuckers, single coils, p90, semi hollow, etc and what music do you play, the most versatile guitar ever made imo is the hss strat and an american standard can be found used for under 1000, but versatile means different things to different people

"Versatility" means to me the ability to pull off multiple different sounds and still do something unique. For that reason, I elect the Fender Mustang with P90s. It pulls off a great humbucking tone (if not 100% as thick) and a pretty warm, convincing single coil.

Something like a LTD EC-401 or a Schecter Solo would be good choices for a nice chunky Les Paul rhythm guitar, an Epiphone 1984 Explorer would be another solid choice too. They're all under $1000 and come with third party pickups like EMG.

Yahmaha Rev star, they have a whole range, but the Korean-made one with buckers that goes for around 700 is the best made sub-1k guitar I've played. So nice I bought one. It doesn'te ven need to be modded.

You know what, that is a GREAT shout. The Revstars are some of my favorite guitars, they really are.