what guitars have these specs should I look out for

[friendship]

- two humbuckers
- medium sized neck, in the .83" - .87" (~ 21-22mm) range at 1st fret.
- 25 1/2" scale
- Definitely under $500. The cheaper the better; as cheap as possible.

The neck depth is crucial and what I'm having the hardest time finding alongside the other specs, mostly because that info is rarely provided. I'd just get a Reverend Jetstream HB, but they rarely come up used, and I definitely can't afford new. And even when they do, it's usually at a little past my budget, so I'm looking for alternatives. I'm willing to look at oddballs, out of production guitars, anything really.

[MechaGodzilla]

Modern Player JM?
HH Mexican Standard Strat?
Squier John5 Tele?

I think you might have to chop n' change to get the neck you want. I think the MIM 50s/60s Teles have a necks around those specs, you could get one of those and put HBs in it?

[gnomethrone]

yup
if you or a friend are handy with setups do a loaded body + custom neck off ebay / reverb. i put a super thick dc kunkle baritone neck on a tele modern player and i haven't picked up my other guitars in weeks. it's exactly what i wanted and i think it cost me like 350 all together, plus the case of beer for my friend to get it setup just right. otherwise fender / squier have made so many mutant variants of their axes the last decade there must be something that would work for ya.

[friendship]

Ah that's what I was afraid of. Well not afraid, I do like partsguitars and I can do my own setups & soldering. Maybe I just need to get a custom neck and slap it on a slab like you say. I have a Squier Cabronita I'd like to put a new neck on, maybe there's a Filtertron type with a rich midrange I can throw in there too, and forget about making a whole new guitar out of it.