Re: Les Paul Sound, Strat Playabilty
Zerberus said:
Well, the typical "big sound" of a Les paul can only be had from a Les Paul... anything else is a compromise of that sound for playability
I don't feel strats are any more playable *for me* than Gibsons style instruments, but in essence, Zerb is correct.
You are never gonna get the tone of a paula through anything else but a paula...you can get closest with another Gibson or Gibson-like intrument (the Hamers mentioned by Benjy for example), because they share similar construction, scale, etc. Once you deviate from the same scale length and body shape, things really start to change. My MCCarty didn't sound Gibson-like at all even though it's (indirectly) touted as sounding that way. My Firebird sounds more like a Paula, and my Hamer is the closest I've come yet, REAL close. IT's nearly identical to one construction-wise except for the body shape.
Once you get into longer scales, bolt ons, different bridges, neck throughs, different neck/headstock angles, etc etc...AFAIC, they just sound like a humbucker equipped strat...not even a GIbson sound in general, and certainly not a Les Paul sound in particular.
I spent thousand and thousands of $ in my youth trying to find the mythical "sounds like a les paul, but isn't" guitar.
it doesn't exist
