I've been playing guitar for about four years now on a Fender James Burton Standard Telecaster and my little ol' Squire Strat. My problem is I like playing my cheap Squire moreso than my Tele. The tone is actually more to my liking... but it also seems actually easier to play. Maybe it's because it has a rosewood fretboard as opposed to the Tele's maple fretboard. Any way, lately I have been thinking of selling my Tele and buying a new guitar. My deal is... I have no idea what guitar I am looking for. I realize that most of you are going to say that it is merely a choice of personal ear, but give me a little more help here. :)

I need something that is extremely versatile. I need a guitar that will allow me to play slow soulful blues as well as shred some insane metal riffs. I am not looking for a single tone unfortunately, as I consistently listen to everything from Van Halen to Clapton, from The Beatles to punk, from Cat Stevens (who I know plays acoustic :)) to the Deftones. Maybe I could modify the pickups on the new guitar to make this work a little better. I know no one guitar will have that diverse a tone but... a man can always hope. I'm definitely guitar market/gear illiterate... but I can play pretty good. :)

If I can sell my Fender James Burton Standard Tele for $400 (please tell me if it's worth more than that! :P), my price range would have to be somewhere around $700 or less.

Thank you for reading this and please reply.
-Nick Shifley