To me, the defining sound of a Gibson is rounder, warmer, thicker, fatter and more mellow.  The defining sound of a Fender is snappier, brighter, clearer and not as fat, more present is a better discription.  Most of this difference comes from the scale length, pick ups, and solid neck through or bolt on neck.

Just buy an Alembic and be done with it.

The bottom line: Most people don't buy ONLY Gibson or Fender.

Thats the plain truth.........

We can come w/ all the arguments in the world - one of the biggest reasons why strats outsells other guitars (beside the price) is this man.





Me - the first "real" guitar (as opposed to my LP copy) I put my hands on was a '57 strat - black, white pick guard, maple neck. Belonged to a friend's dad, who also owned a limited run flying v, a bunch of telecasters, strats, and even a pedal steel. I loved spending time at their place - there were guitars everywhere!


Then I saw that vid, and it pretty much convinced me that that was the guitar for me.








I was so happy when I finally got it that I couldn't stop smiling, even when we were playing the darkest material. ;)

zungle

The bottom line: Most people don't buy ONLY Gibson or Fender.

Thats the plain truth.........

+1


If there's one brand that seems to come up more often than either these days, I was under the impression that the younger generation was more into Ibanez.


The alternative/hipster scene also seem to have contributed to a Telecaster craze. Back in my days, these were basically only good for old farts playing country or Keith Richards. ;)

These days it's hard to see why anyone would want to own either brand...they've both become degraded and devalued.  But, like I've said before...Ol Henry J. Is no dummy...a money grubbin SOB, sure...but no dummy.

What's this about the price of Gibson guitars. Seems like Fender with the Custom Shop charge just as much. http://www.sweetwater.com...QiOiI0Mjk0OTY3MjEzIn19 Save the wood, I guess.

And yes it has changed from the $425 ES-345 bought back in the '60's but then I got $1200 for it 25 years ago when I had to sell it, and then the dealer at the antique guitar show turned around and sold it for $1500 in about 15 minutes. I had forgotten the stereo cord but sent it to the new owner afterwards. He wanted a clean guitar and it was a clean guitar.

humbucker

MakeShift


To me, the defining sound of a Gibson is rounder, warmer, thicker, fatter and more mellow.  The defining sound of a Fender is snappier, brighter, clearer and not as fat, more present is a better discription.  Most of this difference comes from the scale length, pick ups, and solid neck through or bolt on neck.

bingo! was his name....

Over the years, I have noticed the same thing Spacealf, Gibson's hold there value pretty well.  Same has been true for the Rickenbacher's and Martin's that I have bought and sold.  I had a Fender American Deluxe Strat that I sold once, where I had changed out the neck with a custom shop Fender neck and the buyer complained that it was no longer original.  Here I thought that was the beauty of a bolt on neck, you could replace it with a new and maybe even better one, if you wanted.

I have noticed a resurgence in ES335's over the last couple of years.  I have also noticed several blues players, Bossanama (sp), Jonny Lang and even Clapton playing Paul's again. 

One thing that I have done over the years as turn a good Epi into a player by changing out the pickups with Gibson Classic 57's or the likes.  You can come awfully close to the real thing with a good pick up change.  For me, it is still about the playability of the neck on guitars.  It's which guitar, even in the same line, feels best in your hands.