Go play guitars. There is always the 'idea' of a guitar you want and then when you play it, it falls flat for you. As much as people love a Gibson Les Paul Custom, I hate playing Customs. A Les Paul Traditional with a 60's Slim Taper (Jeff looks at his avatar...), I love it. You'd think 'well, a Les Paul is a Les Paul'. It's not.

Point being is that you have to have the guitar in hand so that it can speak to you. If you've been playing at least for a little bit, you probably have a sense of what you like when you feel it.

When I used to hang out at a store in the 80's (per dudes that had to deal with me milling around), I tried lots of guitars. Lots of them. I was surprised at how some guitars that people loved, I did not.

So, if you have a decent store around you, good idea to go playing them. You sound like you have a good budget so that opens a lot of choices for you. Use that ability to try stuff out first.