UPDATE: Like the cool electrics under £300 update earlier this week, we've added two new humbucker-loaded models to this gallery of slightly more expensive axes. See them both on the next two slides of this gallery or, if it's your first time here, keep on scrolling for a selection of guitars to suit every player - all under £400...

If £300 is a ceiling price for beginners (a price range we've finely tooth-combed with the 21 best, and 22 alternative electrics), digging deeper for that extra ton is perhaps best left to improving players. While the tool will never maketh the guitarist, a better axe will do anything but hinder your developing technique.

Here then, hand-picked from the pages of Total Guitar, are 27 badass electric guitars under £400. We're still in affordable territory, but like the jump from £200 to £300, the upgrades in materials, pickups and finishes for an extra £100 are noticeable.

First up:Hamer Monaco XT