This probably should be on the Great Debates board…I’m in the market for a new six-string electric guitar. What do you folks think is better and way to go: A Fender (Tele, Strat, Mustang) or a Gibson? (Les Paul, ES300, SG)
My fate keeps getting in the way of my destiny.
I’m strictly bass; I can’t think of a Gibson that would threaten my Fender Precision’s place in my life.
Fender Strat, without a doubt.
Strat, I always have one handy, but I love my custom made Music Man.
If at first you don’t succeed you’re about average.
it really depends on what you like , tone wise.
fenders are made of different wood , and they have a lighter , brighter sound.
Les Paul’s are heavier and they give a fuller, fatter tone…
i prefer the Les Paul myself…
what kind of music you play also should be considered, what you do like?
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Fender Jazzmaster. All I know is Thurston Moore uses one. That’s enough for me.
A big difference is in the necks, the fingerboard radius, width and the profile of the back. Fenders tend to have more curve which some people fine easier to play but a flatter radius as on a Les Paul tends to have less fret buzz when bending strings. Play both and see what feels best to you for the music you play.
Les Paul for that fat sound.
I met Les Paul a few years ago; he plays in little clubs in New York city occasionally. It was extremely cool. He’s in his eighties, bony, has arthritis, had his elbow fused from a car accident many years ago, and still plays way better than I can ever hope to.
But I digress…
Be different–National Reso-lectric. Way cool. Big guitar show in Dallas 3/25-26, BTW.
“Did you ever wake up,
Bullfrogs on your mind?”
If you like to bend and you like that thick sound and you’re fairly strong… go with the Gibson Les Paul.
If you like to whammy and you like a brighter sound and you want a lighter guitar… go with the Fender Stratocaster.
If you like the best of both worlds… Check out Ibanez RG or Jem…
I have to say, in an electric guitar the wood makes absolutely no difference to the tone, it is simply the pickup quality, type, and the strings. The wood is only cosmetic. That being said, Gibson pickups typically couple several humbuckers around on their guitars thus have a fatter, heavier tone than the typical Fender. Fender guitars typically have a humbucker and two singles that you can switch between but overall have a brighter sound. Neither is bad, it is just a preference. Buying an acoustic/classical guitar is completely different. (There is a definate difference between the three guitars: acoustic, classical, and electric)
Anyway, when buying an electric guitar there are several things that you should do. If it is a new guitar, you will need to test it out and make sure that it fits your hand and body. If it doesn’t then you will know that it is not the guitar for you. The same is true for an acoustic/classical guitar. If it is a used guitar, you want to check for fret wear. To do this you will need to play upon every fret on every string and make sure that you can hear the different notes between each playing. If the fret has worn you will hear a nasty buzzing sound (sometimes) or there will be no note differntiation between one fret and the next. If the guitar does have fret ware and you still desparately want it, you can have it refretted…typically costs around $200. You also want to make sure the neck isn’t warped. If it is you may as well just toss it.
Those are some basic tips that should be applicable in buying any guitar. I would suggest buying a used guitar and going through the basic steps. Pawn shops and used instrument stores get many guitars in from youths who are either too lazy to learn to play or need money for drugs (or something) and sell their instruments when they are still relatively new. Always test it out before you buy. In doing this you will feel that you get a significantly better deal. But beware, pawnshops are notorious for not pricing things competitively. (They are more expensive sometimes than retail.)
HUGS!
Sqrl
A lot of it is in the pickups. Gibson has those humbuckin pickups that give a fatter fuzzier sound then the "clean " sound of the fenders.
Yours truly,
aha
Sqrl, I can’t totally agree with you that pickups are the only difference in electric guitars. A pair of small humbuckers in a Strat do not a Les Paul Deluxe make. The specific type of wood won’t make as much difference as acoustic but there are subtle differences in tone and big differences in sustain. The weight and construction of a Les Paul or ES series give it a lot more sustain than the light body and bolt on neck of a Fender. No, it’s not like an acoustic where even I can tell the difference in tone between a mahogany Martin D-18 and a Rosewood D-35.
BTW I won’t respond to your do not respond post our of respect and decorum but *I am the king of the dead end post. 
In an electric guitar it really is only the pickups. It was said that there is a difference between a Les Paul or an ES series guitar. The two pickups for a Les Paul are 490R Alnico magnet humbucker 498T Alnico magnet humbucker respectively according to http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/LesPaul/Standard.html compared to an ES-series guitars Two P-100 stacked humbuckers according to http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/Classic/ES-135.html. A price comparison doesn’t show much information as the information that follows shows. The 490R and 498T pickups start at $116.95 and go up to $189.95 with most of them being around $136. The P-100 pickups start at &110.95 and range up to $121.95. You can also get Gibson original pickups which are even more expensive on average.
With that said, http://www.gibson.com/web_store/ws400CS.cgi?store=pickups shows that there is a definate difference between the the varying style of pickups.
The strings you use also have a lot to do with the tone of the instrument. The guage of the string makes a very large impact upon the instrument. A heavier string will have a mellower sound and a lighter guage string will have a brighter sound. It has something to do with the vibrations and how the magnets in the pickups process the sound. This assumes that you use the strings in the appropriate order (10 guage typically for the high e string). You could of course replace the strings with ever smaller guages and get a very thin sounding guitar or with thicker guages and make a very meaty guitar.
Did I leave anything out?
HUGS!
Sqrl
SqrlCub writes:
Count me in the group that disagrees with this assertion. If you were a little less ‘absolute’ and didn’t use the word ‘only’ then I might be more supportive, since the pickups and their configuration are a large part of it. I’ve heard the same pickups and the same strings on different instruments and can attest that the body and construction do have some effects. A semi hollow body has a different tone than a solid wood body which has a different tone than a solid aluminum body (yeah, these exist). Also the difference between a bolt-on neck versus a through-the-body neck has an impact on tone (and sustain).
Also, on buying a guitar from a pawn shop, I recommend extreme caution. Many times people sell guitars to pawn shops because they’ve got some damage that makes them unsaleable though a quality musical store. I can’t tell you how many guitars I’ve seen with cracked or warped necks or other damage that may cost a lot to put right.
A hollow body electric guitar has a completely different setup than a solid body wood guitar. I have never heard of wood constricting pickups or anything like that.
Joey, would you give me some specific, proovable (sp?) examples? I would be interested in seeing them for educational purposes. I would propose that the majority of the instruments that you find with a hollow body have a completely different acoustical/pick up orientation than a solid body guitar. If you have the basic instrument… with the same string to length ratio, the guitar should sound the same from the electrical basis. The wood on a solid bodied electrical guitar does not produce enough internal resonance to effect the electronics in the pick up. The point of the pick up is to discern the vibrating body of the STRINGS not the WOOD.
Acoustic/electric guitars (acoustic guitars with electrical components) have a pickup that is more akin to a microphone than the magnetic coil used in the traditional electric guitar. If it does not have that, then it won’t necessarily pick up the strings vibrations.
From someone who actually has a degree in classical guitar, there is not really much to argue on the acoustical standpoint. As I said earlier, I would really like to see the information that identical pickups and strings on a different bodied guitar played through an identical amp with identical settings produces a vastly different tone than the one that you are suggesting.
HUGS!
Sqrl
If at first you don’t succeed you’re about average.
I’m gonna chime in here, as an electric guitarist (and drummer) who knows from comparative experience that the guitar’s body does impact sustain and to a lesser degree, tone.
I just got finished outfitting my girlfriend’s $150 Kramer with Gibson SG pickups, .012 heavy gauge strings and mid-priced tuning pegs (pretty much everything on a standard SG I used to play) and let me tell you, it was a pale shadow of the Gibson (even after I improved the action, adjusted the neck and tweaked the bridge). It has a light, pine body, and no matter how hard I try I can’t reproduce that sustain and beefy tone the maple/mahogony gives the notes. Most people might not notice the difference (especially live over the general noise), but to a trained ear it’s a big difference.
To drollman - Gibsons (non-Epiphone) and Fenders (non-Mexican/Japanese) are great, but there are a lot of other good guitars out there. Hamer, PRS, Jackson, Dean, etc. Get a good neck-thru hardwood body (with a styling you like and are comfortable playing standing AND sitting). Make sure the pickup selectors/pot works properly and the bridge pickup has good tone (humbucking pickups are often used to cancel pickup hum).
Oh, yeah, and make them throw in a hardcase, cord, strap and a handfull of picks.
Yet to be reconciled with the reality of the dark for a moment, I go on wandering from dream to dream.
I’m gonna chime in here, as an electric guitarist (and drummer) who knows from comparative experience that the guitar’s body does impact sustain and to a lesser degree, tone.
I just got finished outfitting my girlfriend’s $150 Kramer with Gibson SG pickups, .012 heavy gauge strings and mid-priced tuning pegs (pretty much everything on a standard SG I used to play) and let me tell you, it was a pale shadow of the Gibson (even after I improved the action, adjusted the neck and tweaked the bridge). It has a light, pine body, and no matter how hard I try I can’t reproduce that sustain and beefy tone the maple/mahogony gives the notes. Most people might not notice the difference (especially live over the general noise), but to a trained ear it’s a big difference.
To drollman - Gibsons (non-Epiphone) and Fenders (non-Mexican/Japanese) are great, but there are a lot of other good guitars out there. Hamer, PRS, Jackson, Dean, etc. Get a good neck-thru hardwood body (with a styling you like and are comfortable playing standing AND sitting). Make sure the pickup selectors/pot works properly and the bridge pickup has good tone (humbucking pickups are often used to cancel pickup hum).
Oh, yeah, and make them throw in a hardcase, cord, strap and a handfull of picks.
Yet to be reconciled with the reality of the dark for a moment, I go on wandering from dream to dream.
I’m gonna chime in here, as an electric guitarist (and drummer) who knows from comparative experience that the guitar’s body does impact sustain and to a lesser degree, tone.
I just got finished outfitting my girlfriend’s $150 Kramer with Gibson SG pickups, .012 heavy gauge strings and mid-priced tuning pegs (pretty much everything on a standard SG I used to play) and let me tell you, it was a pale shadow of the Gibson (even after I improved the action, adjusted the neck and tweaked the bridge). It has a light, pine body, and no matter how hard I try I can’t reproduce that sustain and beefy tone the maple/mahogony gives the notes. Most people might not notice the difference (especially live over the general noise), but to a trained ear it’s a big difference.
To drollman - Gibsons (non-Epiphone) and Fenders (non-Mexican/Japanese) are great, but there are a lot of other good guitars out there. Hamer, PRS, Jackson, Dean, etc. Get a good neck-thru hardwood body (with a styling you like and are comfortable playing standing AND sitting). Make sure the pickup selectors/pot works properly and the bridge pickup has good tone (humbucking pickups are often used to cancel pickup hum).
Oh, yeah, and make them throw in a hardcase, cord, strap and a handfull of picks.
Yet to be reconciled with the reality of the dark for a moment, I go on wandering from dream to dream.