# Please explain today's Gibson and Fender guitar lineup?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 14, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255 "2008-04-14T04:33:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/41 "2013-12-01T22:23:14Z")
Needed a punchy tone with some beef for a project I’m working on. My Strat was too thin, my 335 too thick and my archtop too fat and round. Plays like a tele but sounds like a PRS, especially when I set it for SRV style gauges/action (with 12’s though, 13s are a bit much) I’m very pleased thus far.
And now I gotta go start an alt-country band with Gatton-style tele heroics. Dammit. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/42 "2013-12-01T22:40:08Z")
I find it funny because - as a primarily acoustic player (and primarily a classical player at that), the number one with a bullet feature I want in an electric guitar is a complete and total absence of any trace of hum. Yet when I go to the electric section of any guitar store and plug anything in, the first thing I notice is “gzzzzzzzzzzzzzz”. Doesn’t seem to matter if it’s single coil or humbucker - some are better than others, none are perfect.
I even took my student’s Strat in because the hum was so bad - sadly, it was within the factory tolerance established by Fender. We need to pay out for new wiring and pickups.
First guitar they make that guarantees absolute silence - I’m grabbing it!
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/43 "2013-12-01T22:49:04Z")
Wow, weird to see my thread 5+ years later. I sure came around on Fender; I’ve bought 2 Fender guitars (Strat, Tele) and a Fender amp since then.
> [@mfarlow](#):
>
> Here’s one of the better explanations of the fender model line that I’ve read
>
> [Electric Guitars for sale | eBay](http://www.ebay.com/gds/Buying-a-Fender-Stratocaster-A-Guide-for-the-Novice-/10000000001650626/g.html)
Actually not a bad summary of Strat differences. I didn’t know EBay put up articles of that sort.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/44 "2013-12-01T22:49:07Z")
Might be a separate thread, **Le Ministre** - there’s plenty of “solutions” out there, with varying degrees of effectiveness and trade offs…
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/45 "2013-12-03T19:22:49Z")
> [@squeegee](#):
>
> … On the Les Paul side, the plethora of models is less severe, but still kind of nuts. Gibson seems to still relegate the \<$1000 range to Epiphone, but there are still like 20 models of Les Pauls, from just above $1k up to $6000. Les Paul has always been a prestige instrument, so I know some of this is intentional, but jeezus.
>
> What the hell is the difference? Are the number of models so numerous just to avoid comparison shopping and confuse buyers? Are there really quantifiable differences between the mid-range models? Is it mostly fit and finish and different paint jobs? Are there any usefulness or quality levels at all between the midrange models in each line, or is it just chaos marketing? Were there some rational steps in the improving the product line in the 80’s or 90’s that resulted in this many models, or is it all a matter of the manufacturers throwing a bunch of guitars out there and seeing what sticks?
Some (or a lot of it) is just marketing. Think about it. Gibson seems to have a “thing” about what they call “historics” and “reissues” now (R0 through R9). Every year they trot out yet another Les Paul, claiming to be the reincarnation of the old “classic”, the '50 LP Standard. Every year, they claim that THIS will be the most historically accurate. And increasingly, they are limitng the amount of “new origina copies”. Fender is doing the same thing with their “Custom Shop” offerings. They are appealing to the snob in all of us, and to the child who wanted but could not afford what his/her heroes were playing back then. And by limiting the quantites they are appealing to our greed… it’s not just an instrument, it’s now an investment (uh huh). Hell, Fender is even “reissuing” the old blackface amps now. “Instant classics”. Uh huh.
My advice is, go to a shop, try them all and pick the one that sounds and plays the best for **YOU** - marketing and “insvestment” be damned.
Now as to “ **laminated** tops” (plywood to us folks), that does not necessarily mean it’s bad. One of the best loved standard “go to” jazz boxes is and was and will always be, the **Gibson ES175**. It has a laminate (plywood) top. And plays like a dream. The plywood and smart use of bracing make it more resistant to feedback and gave it a warm pleasing timbre when ampilfied. It is, **the** sound of jazz guitar.
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2013, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/46 "2013-12-03T19:35:40Z")
> [@SteveG1](#):
>
> …the old “classic”, the '5 **0** LP Standard. …
Oops, my bad, I meant '5 **9** Standard (the almighty “burst”).
As far as Epiphone goes, I would have no problem getting a Casino or a Joe Pass model, they are both great and are unique to Epi (not an attempt to copy something else). But I would try **them out first**.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/47 "2013-12-03T19:53:05Z")
> [@SteveG1](#):
>
> Oops, my bad, I meant '5 **9** Standard (the almighty “burst”).
>
> As far as Epiphone goes, I would have no problem getting a Casino or a Joe Pass model, they are both great and are unique to Epi (not an attempt to copy something else). But I would try **them out first**.
Dude, just pointing out that you are commenting on a 5 year old thread - **squeegee** has already pulled the trigger…a few times. But I agree with most of what you’re saying…
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### Author:  [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/48 "2013-12-03T21:17:26Z")
Herp derp 😃
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/49 "2013-12-03T21:52:34Z")
Trigger has been pulled - gulp! - seven times since this thread was a youngin’.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2013, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/50 "2013-12-03T21:54:15Z")
> [@squeegee](#):
>
> Trigger has been pulled - gulp! - seven times since this thread was a youngin’.
There is a joke waiting to be told about GAS, or pulling on your trigger a whole lotta times…😉
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### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [December 3, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-todays-gibson-and-fender-guitar-lineup/445255/51 "2013-12-03T22:58:54Z")
Yeah, 1.4 guitars/year. I’m a little ahead, since I bought 2 this year 🙂
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