Re: But I never wanted a Gibson or a Fender!
And I still don't want either, although for somewhat different reasons than the OP (I seem to recall lots of strats & LPs in the 80's).
I've owned 2 american standard strats (SSS & HSS delux), and, while I'm probably more of a strat type guy than LP, both never did it for me. Did play a friend's mexican strat once, and I hate to say it but it played and sounded better than my american standards...lol.
And I've played LPs; way to thick sounding and clunky feeling for me. Got a nice LP & two strats sitting in my music room now from my son's band. Whenever I pick them up they go right back down and I go back to the parker or reverend. Why? Because of how the parker and reverend feel, how my response to them takes my playing to a higher level, and how they sound different from what eveyone else is playing.
Like song writing, I have no desire to sound exactly like something else that's been done many times before. Of course, like most of us, I do hear something I like and want to know how to get their sound. For me, I do that so that I can make my setup get close to it but still get something unique in the end. And because I don't own anything standard (guitar or amps) I'll probably never get a truly standard sound, and I'm ok with that.
No disrespect at all to strats, LPs, or trying to replicate standard/classic sounds. We're all free to go after what pleases us and find what gives us that sweet feeling that keeps us from putting our axes down, which is really all that matters, right?
