Many guitar playes either choose a Fender Stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul. We once again go back to the Virtual Musician who makes his statement and asks the question what guitar do you prefer to play and why? Check out his article Guitar Talk: Stratocaster vs. Les Paul .

[ September 22, 2001: Message edited by: OnlineRock ]

Strat. Because they sound better, Les Pauls are over priced, over rated and over weight.

In the article Strat vs Les Paul it was reported that Jimmy page used a les Paul to create his fat tones....but it is well known that he recorded those early records with a tele and used a Paul on stage. I have a myriad of guitars, and love my strats and pauls best. My favorite strat has Seymour Duncan humbuckers in it....so my best strat sounds like a les Paul....why not use the Paul and get all 22 frets? Strats are only 21, so this was my reasoning to move over to Gibson.....and I haven't looked back since. They sure feel different though.....so my conclusion is.....do what ever feels right for YOU.....you will play better if you are comfortable with your instrument....whatever it is. -Fabman

I've had my Strat for almost 20 years and don't plan on using anything else. Although there are some nice guitars out there right now. I've been playing a Godin through my GR-33 Guitar Synth that plays well.

I love them both... I can't choose. I had a lefthanded Les Paul custom when I first started playing but I was too ignorant to appreciate its tone. I ended up trading it in for another guitar and have missed it ever since. I love a strat for clean sounds and bluesy stuff but the Les Paul sound is classic too. When you record with a strat and a Les Paul on the same song they really work well together and don't step on each others sonic footprint. I'm actually using a Steinberger right now for direct recording thru a POD. That guitar sound kind of falls in between the strat and Les Paul sound. I hope to have a wide variety of instruments to suit my moods. They both rock!!!

Plug into your POSITIVE -N-R-G-

[ September 27, 2001: Message edited by: POSITIVE NRG ]

What about all of the other guitars out there? The world is not just limited to starts or pauls. I have an Ibenez that I wouldn't trade for the world and from what you guys say, It has qualities of both. More Guitars!!!

I've tried lots of guitars, and for me, it was an Ibanez... the JEM, in particular. I can't say why, but I like thin, flat necks. When I tried the strat, I found it kinda round. The Les Paul was like holding a baseball bat. As I said, it's presonal preference, but I'd never switch my JEM. And it sounds really big too.

It depends on what you want and what style you play. Most of the time I have a mood for a humbucker sound of a Les Paul, but sometimes I wanna feel a thinner and finer sound of Strat
Best wishes
DLed http://www.mp3.com/dled

I must admit that I have always stuck with Strats... I've played a few Pauls and an Explorer, but I've noticed that Gibsons have 'huge' necks... Also, my personal choice on sound is running my little single coil pickups on my Strat through a really great distortion pedal(i.e. BOSS Metal Zone) and getting all kinds of sounds that way... But, Strats aren't my fave guitars, they're just the ones I prefer to play since the necks are so thin and fast...

Ibanez is horrible, they're only good for one thing - metal and hard rock. it's easy to build a guitar built for that, and it's easy to get that sound with any guitar.

Gretche is a very good guitar too (brian setzer, george thorogood, Chet Atkins, George Harrison, others). They've been a high choice of many guitar players.

Strat vs. Les Paul: Surely an arguement that could go on for ages. I love the fat sound that you can get only from the Les Paul, yet I still haven't found a guitar with a better playing, more comfortable neck than the one on my 1988 Fender American Plus Stratocaster. I'll never give it up for anything, although people have tried.

1978 Strat-I can do anything-My...Tramp
1984 Les Paul-I can do more-My Bud
1994 Paul Reed Smith C10Top-I can do it all-My Lover
1986 B.C.Rich ST3-My abused spouse!

all i play are hand made charvels and jacksons...d.m.

Strat vs. Les Paul - this really isnt a valid comparison. The 2 are vastly different. I think it is important to remember that even players heavily associated with strats also spent plenty of time on gibsons. For example Jimi hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Jeff Beck all used Gibsons from time to time. Clapton's new strats are non traditional in the sense that they do not have vintage pickups/electronics. This allows his smoother gibson-esque sound that was mentioned earlier. Also adding humbuckers to a strat does NOT make it sound like a Paul, it does however create a cool new sound ala John Jorgenson - Hellecasters. With all that said - I prefer Strats over all electrics. They are custom contoured, light weight (unless you have a late 70s), very versatile, and easy to develop new sounds and textures with. But please if you can afford it - by the American versions, they are worth it!

The reason why these "great" players used Fenders is because Fenders were mass produced and packaged and sold like cans of fucking fruit. Many of these players mentioned have used all sorts of guitars. I would put the tone of my Gretsch against a fucking Strat or Les Paul any day of the week. I have a Strat, a Tele, and Gretsch 6120....the Gretsch eats my Strat and Tele for breakfast.

The internet...where any moron can call himself an "expert" - VIRTUAL moron that is.
Don't quit your day job....pal!

hmm...i don't see where anyone called themselves an expert.

Obviously not a well reasoned conclusion. If you want to sound like everyone else then, by all means, limit yourself to a Strat or LP. Both are good guitars, but to call others "no name brands" and jump to the conclusion the Virtual Moron (a real musician would know better) is just plain idiotic. Besides, just because you own a LP or Strat doesn't mean you can play like those guys. Here's a tip from writer to writer: Check your premises.

To the loon that wrote this:

You are nuts!

"Basically, I can dismiss all these other guitars because all the great guitar players (with a few notable exceptions) have already done so."


Spoken like a true ignoramus.
Thanks to the internet, every ignorant fool has a podium to preach from.

Get your IGNORANT CLASSIC-ROCK LOVING ASS to a record store...and maybe you'll Virtually become a musician someday.

Look you assholes. Fuck Les Pauls. Fuck Strats. When I bought my Gretsch 6120 I never played my Strat again. A Strat is just a piece of wood, with some holes carved out of it, and some guts put in it. A Gretsch is a nice, well made, quality, beautiful instrument. If all you bastards got on a stage with me and we all took turns jamming in front of a crowd, the only guitar people would fucking remember is that nice, big, orange Gretsch 6120 with the gold hardware and big-ass Bigsby tremelo arm.

Les Paul or Stratocaster? Posing such a question is to suggest there is nothing else available in the market place or otherwise. The industry at one point did have a limited choice of guitar makers, and this restricted the consumers options of what could be purchased.
Although, todays market is flooded with all types of makes & models, and if that doesn't suit you, you can have a guitar custom built, or do it yourself. My personal take is from an artistic perspective, I see guitars like unto tools that I paint with: each one has its own tone and color suitable for a particular application.

So, in my opinion its not the Paul or the Strat from which we choose, but rather, it is from all of the above. The best is what best suits you.

I'll stick to my Vox Mark III and Rickenbacker guitars thank you very much. I've owned and played many Gibson and Fenders and you can keep em' matey!

Actually I would love a Gretsch also but budget constraints are such...

Strats... Huh!! Strats are for losers. Their firewood! Cookie cutter design. Over rated. Junk bolt on necks. Plus they look just plain ugly. Reminds me of a 59 VW. I wouldn't give you 2 cents of Mexican money for anything Fender.
Ricks and Gretsches Rule.

I hate LP's and Strats!

How could that jerk dissmiss my dear Gretsch. He never heard me play it! And I get the most awesome tone out of it!

If someone dare say everything else is junk he is not a guitar lover and has no love for music!

Rickenbackers brittle?

Ricks hold up as well as any other guitar on the market. The tone they make sets them apart, not just the look.

I guess the beatles played rics because they were stupid?

Strats and LP's are great guitars, but different guitars do different things. Good msuicians use the tool that is right for the job.

Of course if you want to sound like everyone else, limit yourself to a strat or a LP

LP's and strats...yes at one time i think only those 2 existed when Strats were made hardcore now thier made shittier than ever and even more so expensive. this guy whoever he is that wrote this is possibly a bigger moron than the guys who continue to make shit strats. dont forget that when u walk into guitar center the PRS guitars are always wiped clean after use...just think about that, and remember the PRS custom 24's those guitars sit on top of LP's and strats. there is also gresche and jacksons and peavy and epiphone and BC rich and the famous Wolfgang by only deamed the BEST guitarist in the world. and as a finaly note its not the guitar its the player....i still LOVE my Squire strat and can probably outplay most guitarists on it. even if they do use American Strats. if ur good ur good and if the sound fits u then Amen. next time keep an open mind and remember LP's and strats arent the only axes u can use to slit heads.

Although Les Paul and Leo Fender invented fine instruments, there is other companies and other technologies whihc one can note. Sticking to Fenders and Gibsons is like buying only Fords or GMs. There are many notable half breed guitars like Ibanez. (half breeds employ both Fender and Gibson ideas).
For a plyer who wants just one stage guitar. THAT' S me! And who plays from jazz to metal to rockabilly to swing to country to southern rock, AND who wants a whammy bar on some stuff then who uses a Roland synth attachment I went with Ibanez and (close but not perfect) got close to both types of sounds IM STILL WORKING at it ..... but you variety players keep trying we can over come the duocity of bi polar Fender and Gibson world with attempts made at inviting new combinations of pick ups and tones ... both my Ibanez use Duncan pick ups and I CAN get Fat and Quack carry on soldiers ....

Sure, I'd like to own a big 'ol Gretsch hollow-body, but I like a guitar I can buy cheap, and do almost endless mods to. So, I choose the Stratocaster, but I seldom have a use for the version that Leo created. So I mod them to sound like semi-hollow-body guitars, by using a "swimming pool" rout, with a wood pickguard on top. I bet if I stuck a Filtertron pickup in my Strat, and did some recording with it, I could tell you I was using a Gretsch, and you'd believe it.
I can take my Strat apart and put it in a suitcase, which is another big plus.

Jimmy page used a Les Paul on stage, but in the recording studio, he used a Tele.

I guess "virtual" musician needs to inform Jimmy Page that Dan's are "pressboard" pieces of crap. Oh yeah, check out the Led Zeppelin DVD and watch "In My Time of Dying" and still tell me Dan's are crap. Rick's? Give me a Rick anyday. I own two Strats and a Paul, but I am also wanting an SG, a Epiphone Riviera, A FLying V (oh yeah) and someone might want to tell Santana not to waste his time with PRS guitars anymore, go back to Gibsons.

It is all mood and feel of the song. If I want crunching rock blues leads, I pick up the Paul. If I want clean texas SRV/Hendrix style blues, I pick up the Strat, and so on and so on. You have to just go with what works for you. There is no better choice, except to you.

Keep your nasty looking ORANGE Gretsch ( Sounds like your playing in a cave, semi hollow body ) No Jackson , No PRS ( with their dumb ass bridges that cannot set intonation? ) I'll keep my HCSB Les Paul Standard and my Fender American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster ( There are no two guitars better ) nuff said!
I played them all ,Jackson, B.C. Rich , Rick's , Ugly ass Gretsch's too ( I'd rather play a Gibson ES Model )Ibanez doesn't even belong in this conversation ( maybe to keep us warm with a nice fire ) Bravo on the Comparison of Strats and Paul's, I own both for a reason and i'v been playing for over 33 years. Nothing better than to hook up with a strat or a paul to a kick ass Marshall! --Fatal

there are huge differences between les pauls and strats, but if u want a combo of both, ive got 3 letters for ya...

P R S

yeah, thats right, i own a custom 22. i play in a jazz rock band and i have not found a better guitar yet, very versitile and overall awesome. i wanna know what all u guys think of PRS's

Strats. They sound great and you can mold it to get any sound you want from them. Les Pauls have a horrid sound and their appearances are just as bad.

Les Pauls have a Horrid sound? Alot of people made alot of $$$$ off that Horrid sound.

PRS guitars specialy the 22 model has a fixed bridge ( Actually it's the bridge and tail piece? ) I don't like that set up , due to the fact you cannot set your intonation , with out a saddled bridge. And there is no way a PRS can sound like both a strat and a Les Paul with Humbuckers? All of you who think the new stuff is better, have only to rethink your opinion .......Strats and pauls have been around 50 years for a good reason.....they work for along time.......Bet PRS isn't around in 50 years! Just my opinion All guitars are good , if ya take care of them!

fatal- what makes you say PRS wont be around in 50 years just because YOU dont like em'. and so what if PRS isnt old enough, that doesnt really matter. just because they thought of good ideas back then doesnt mean they cant think of new ones now, hard rock and metal are not the only things PRS's are good at, i mean hell, santana plays one and it sounds awesome in my mind, and what i was saying about the strat les paul combo is that its probly one of the best balances you can get with a guitar with humbuckers. it sounds really good. especially the mcarty hollowbody, its got god like tone, Paul Reed Smith knows his sh*t man. and about how you think new stuff sucks, you know there was a time when fender and gibson were both "new stuff", just a thought to think about

i just realized i was totally being hypocritical there. sry guys ive got ADD, i kinda blew off steam there i guess. i wanted to know what u guys thought about em and fatal did say what u thought about PRS. Les pauls Strats and PRS's are all good in my mind in different ways.

PRS's better sound good for the $$$$$$ , not that Gibby's are cheap by any means. I see alot of people in my area ( Upstate NY ) trying to get rid of their PRS Guitars.... no idea why? The only Gibby's or Strats i see for sale are the cheap MM's or the Studio Gibby's.

I own a Les Paul Standard and a Fender American Deluxe Ash Strat .....I would never sell either one. The point i'm trying to make is ...no matter what you will never go wrong spending your hard earned $$$ on a top of the line Strat or Gibby. Nothing has the sustain of a Les Paul not even a PRS.

PRS's are popular at the moment , because alot of the new bands are using them.....I also see many more using Fenders and Gibby's for good reason. I do agree it is personal choice and all are of the best quaility made in this country...so whatever you buy enjoy it and take care of it and Rock on !!!!! --Fatal

For all those who think Jimmy Page only used a Tele in the recording studio, you need to just do alittle research and you'll find that, that really isn't the case.

Now i'm not saying he never used a Tele in the studio as that was one of the popular guitars in that era, but he also used a 58 and 59 Les Paul Standard , a Strat , and various other guitars given to him by Jeff Beck and other Musicians.

Also used an Gibson SG double neck 12/6 String.

See for your self http://www.mikesguitarsite.co.uk/gear/led_zeppelin/ --Fatal

I use both (well actually a Peavy clone of a strat) and a real LP Black Beauty along with several other brands of guitars.
I think it really depends on the sound you want.

I think the point POSITIVE NRG made up there about when you need more then one guitar sound and don't went them to fight for sonic space in the mix is excellent. That can easily be solved by using different model/sounding guitars. If you use the exact same guitar and same amp and guitar fx settings on every guitar part in a song it will lack depth and texture.

Hey Gretchboy, my Les Paul, strat, and my playing would make your make you wanna crawl in your pussy little hollow body and hide.

as someone who has played both a les paul and a strat i can't understand u people. u say a strat can't make good heavy rock sounds or play metal..... have u ever even tried. my les paul gets all muddled when distorted and my strat sounds awesome. strats all the way!!!!

What Amp you using? Coz i use a Marshall and my Gibby Les Paul isn't Muddy , it's nice and crisp and clean ( Nothing better than the roar of a marshall and a Les Paul) My strat doesn't have the power of the Gibby , but with a bit more volume, it cranks as well. --Fatal