Theres more than a few opinions your going to get. I can think of a few ways to think of this Corn;
If he's likely to stay with it for the long haul, then spend the $ required to get a good tone, easy to play, stays in tune and has good sustain guitar. To me thats a fixed bridge guitar $900-$1300. Hoever if he like stuff like Van Halen then hes going to need a good locking nut floating whammy bar/bridge system. My Ibanez RG here cost me 1000 though I am not sure of the model.
You can't go wrong with American made guitars like Gibson, Fender(Stratocaster and Telecaster). Gibson Les Paul studio
If he's not dedicated or you dont want to spend the cash for a good guitar, then a decent guitar will do. It will not have all the above factors that I look for in an electric but you CAN find really good cheap ones - he will have to play them and judge by feel of the fretboard. Does it fit him well, is it comfortable, can he easily make chords and play lead on it or not.
Decent guitars are in the 250-550 range from my experience, others will most certainly have differnent experiences and may tell you different.
Either way he needs to play the guitar in the store to see if its easy to play, had tone hes happy with etc. I picked up Steve Via's Gem 777 by Ibanez when it came out in the 80's and I thought it was Blah. Didnt feel right, tone was crap, etc. But those are expensive guitars and even high quality guitars can have a turd show up now and again. The same goes for cheap guitars - while they are not as good, every now an again you find a great playing/sounding axe that is a hell of a find.
Have the store do a setup and get the action as low as possible with no or very little string buzz when he freets notes(check all frets on all 6 strings.
I have found most stores will work with your price range and the guitarist to help find a good match.
If there's anything specific you want to know about post back here. If I don't know it, Daterminatah will! I also defer to his experience so if he says anything contrary to what I said then I'd give his credentials alot more weight
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Gib
-- Thu Apr 28, 2011 4:08 pm --
btw, my view is this
Gibson Les Paul - classic rock, blues, hard rock
Fender Telecaster - blues and country, rock
Fender Stratocaster - Blues, Rock. Clapton and SRV used these!
Any guitar with a good floating point whammy bar system for modern rock also Van Halen, Vai, Satriani, etc. Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.
