Thank you everyone for the advice. It seems everyone I talk with has a different recommendation on the brand. What I've learned is that I need to play them and decide what works for me. The challenge is my local guitar shops have a limited selection in my price range. I think I'm going to have to take a leap of faith, based on customer reviews and friends recommendations and just order one online.

My biggest question is the difference between the all solid wood and laminate guitars. It seems that in the $600 price range you have options for both.

Slipin Lizard, you said, "Real wood is nice, but be wary of "real wood" guitars that are super cheap. They might be real wood, but the construction may be pretty poor and components like the nuts that keep the strings in tune may be crappy."

How do I determine if they are using poor components?

For example, what about the:

Guild GAD Series D-140

(solid spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides. Other premium features include a slim and smooth-playing satin-finish mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard and bridge, ivoroid binding and mother-of pearl rosette and inlays)

Epiphone Masterbilt DR-500MCE

(It features a solid Sitka spruce top, hand-scalloped Sitka spruce braces, mahogany kerfing, a 25-1/2"-scale rosewood fingerboard, and a rosewood bridge. Handcrafted dovetail neck joint and hide-glue construction. The Epiphone DR-500MCE guitar has a solid mahogany back and sides, as well as a 20-fret, hand-shaped mahogany neck that joins the body at the 14th fret, which is adorned with carefully cut, split-diamond pearl fretboard inlays. As with all Masterbilts, the Epiphone electric guitar features a vintage-style offset headstock with a stickpin inlay.)