My blind hate of strats

[KeeperOS]

Re: My blind hate of strats

Oh, I didn't mean it like that.
What I meant was that Ibanez established their market share a long time ago and that they've been to more of a slump the past few years.

On the other hand I feel that Ibanez should fear of Schecter as they seem to be cutting a big chunk of what used to be theirs...

My personal opinion is that for the money of the lower China/Korean Ibanezs import Jacksons have it better. I however cannot comment on the higher end models...

 

[BGtelecaster]

Re: My blind hate of strats

I used to hate strats, i guess. I thought I was a tele with maple fretboard kinda guy but now I am turning into strat with rosewood.

 

[blueman335]

Re: My blind hate of strats

A modded gibson-type guitar will just be a bastardized guitar.
A modded strat will simply be a unique Strat...

Well, the point I was trying to make about "bastardized" guitars is that both Fender & Gibson have influenced each other, and that of the two, Fender has copied more things. Looking at recent guitar retailer's catalogs, I see a number of Fenders with humbuckers ( a BIG effect on tone), Teles with semi-hollow bodies (Tele Thinline), Teles with 2 volume & 2 tone knobs plus a 3-way toggle in the upper bout (Tele Deluxe/Custom), Strats & Teles with rosewood fretboards, and Fenders with set necks (Showmaster). The mid-boost on the Clapton Strat nudges it towards a more Gibson sound. You don't have to "mod" a Fender yourself to make it like a Gibson, Fender's done it themselves often enough.

The distinction has been blurred on some models by giving them Gibson features, that have also changed the tone to be like the competition. Gibson's certainly not innocent either, but isn't this Fender "bastardizing" many of it's own guitars itself? Gibson doesn't use bolt-on necks (yes, cheap knock-offs do, but we're talking about the big two here), & Gibson doesn't use skinny single coils. All emotion aside, Gibson has not moved nearly as close to Fender, as Fender has to them. If "there's a Strat for every purpose", its because they've expanded their line by incorporating many key things from other companies. How's that go about imitation & flattery?

As passionate as some of you are about Strats (good God!), there is a good-sized segment that likes other guitars. Some guys like both camps ("bi"?) and some of us heretics dare to buck the trend, and actually DO NOT like Fenders, & for some well thought-out reasons. And although we're outnumbered, we're just as emotional about our preferences! The number of posts that have said that players who don't like Strats are unimformed & naive is a bit much. Hey, free country you know... I disagree with them. I wouldn't want to make them play a LP against their will, so they don't need to put down people who don't want to play a Fender as being dim-witted. Trust me, we know what we're doing. It gets down to personal preferences & not everyone has the same. You know, those who don't agree with you are not always wrong.

 

[BigAlTheBird]

Re: My blind hate of strats

I'd say if you plain don't like Fender then you've got some issues. If you don't like Gibson, that's slightly more understandable, but they put out some quality stuff.

That said, I'd buy a Gibbo over a Fender 98 out of 100 times.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: My blind hate of strats

Hmm something tells me blueman isn't gonna like being told he has issues by Big Bird.

I agree with what you're sayin, blueman, that there are more Fenders with Gibson styling than vice versa, but I would see that more as Fender trying to appease the consumer more than 'ripping off' Gibson.

I can't be the only one who's noticed that after Fender launched the Strat, Gibson started making double-cutaway Melody Makers with thin single coils. They're guitar companies, they make guitars, so of course they borrow eachother's ideas. Just like how Burger King and Wendy's both offer double-cheese double-beef double-bacon burgers right now.

And Gibson DOES use cheap bolt necks on some models. They're called Epiphones.

Whoever laughed about guitarists and their "silly guitar religions" had it right on. A good guitar is a good guitar reguardless of what's on the headstock.

-X

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: My blind hate of strats

I can't be the only one who's noticed that after Fender launched the Strat, Gibson started making double-cutaway Melody Makers with thin single coils. They're guitar companies, they make guitars, so of course they borrow eachother's ideas. Just like how Burger King and Wendy's both offer double-cheese double-beef double-bacon burgers right now.

+1


Have to say that it's a good thing companies do copy each other if it makes them invent new things - the 72 Tele Deluxe wouldn't be around if the LP wasn't invented (it did took fender two decades to benchmark :smack, Gibson made innovative models inspired by Fender... PRS took something from everyone and now he's being copied by many others.
When Gibson make interesting guitars inspired by other brands - the result is very pleasing.

The problem starts when companies do the same thing all over again, we don't need so many cheap Les Paul and Strat copies...

 

[wahwah]

Re: My blind hate of strats

It is an established scientific fact that people who prefer Gibsons are invariably spotty bedwetters with bad breath and poor penmanship. I don't want to have to get into the actual figures, nor a source for this pivotal information, but let's just all agree that it's true and stop all of this bickering. It's not at all personal, it's just the way that it is. Having said that, I dearly wish I had a 335.


Cheers......................wahwah

 

[KeeperOS]

Re: My blind hate of strats

What I don't understand is how this turned into a stupid Fender vs Gibson flame war.

Yeah, when I think LP I think Gibson but when I think Strat I don't necessarily think Fender.

The comment I made wasn't about Fender and Gibson models but rather to the nature of Strats vs other type of guitars and how above all else they manage to still be recognizable as Strats (almost) no matter how different they are from the norm.

For example, an HH with a 3-way, TOM bearing, Mahogany Set Neck Schecter C-1 is a SuperStrat or Strat copy, not an LP copy.
However would you call an SSS, Vintage/Synchronized/Floyd bearing guitar (leave out the bolt-on, maple neck/fretboard and/or Alder/Ash body if you don't want to) with the generic shape of an LP a Les Paul (copy)?

No, I think you'd call it something else.
And this has nothing to do with companies doing their thing or whatever.

That's what I think at least...

 

[BigAlTheBird]

Re: My blind hate of strats

It is an established scientific fact that people who prefer Gibsons are invariably spotty bedwetters with bad breath and poor penmanship. I don't want to have to get into the actual figures, nor a source for this pivotal information, but let's just all agree that it's true and stop all of this bickering. It's not at all personal, it's just the way that it is. Having said that, I dearly wish I had a 335.


Cheers......................wahwah

:chairfall

I love posts like this, and I'm not being sarcastic. My favorite type of humor is pawning off absolute lies as fact, and then not hearing any questions about it. I'm really ont being sarcastic, I find it very funny.

I find it almost as funny that this dude (albeit who owns the coolest guitar on the forums) admits in the same post that he wants to buy a Gibson, and therefore become a bedwetter "with bad breath and poor penmanship." :laugh2:

 

[wahwah]

Re: My blind hate of strats

What I don't understand is how this turned into a stupid Fender vs Gibson flame war.

I think it's because stupid Fender Vs Gibson flame wars can be a lot of fun, as long as they are not taken even slightly seriously. Once they are taken seriously, they become hilarious. Isn't it human nature to feel the need to defend our choices, or more importantly, purchases? That's all that is happening here. If anyone wants to seriously suggest, for example, that Jimmy Page would have been better off with a Strat, because they're better, or that Jimi Hendrix would have been better with a Les Paul, because they're better, then surely they have a brick where their brain is supposed to be.

And even though Strats are obviously better, I still want a 335.


Cheers.....................wahwah

 

[Ares]

Re: My blind hate of strats

Do you like Teles? You could Warmoth up a Tele with a Strat tremelo and pickup style...or get a Nashville Tele, those have a Strat middle pickup, and you could replace the neck pickup with another Strat pickup.

Actually with Warmoth the guitar could be any shape you want as long as you made it out of alder or ash, with a maple neck. I would love to see somebody with a "Stratolespaul" or something.

I Love teles and I got two fenders and one tele-partcaster.I ve been thinking of the solution you suggested for a while,I might go for it.
Speaking of a "stratolespaul" few months ago I played this guitar

http://www.fredguitar.com/fgp/duesenberg/guitares/vcaster.htm

which sounded stratlike in a suprising way(but was too fretbuzzy).I would be an owner of a vcaster by now,if one of the several internet dealers I ve tried reassured me that the guitar in stock aint fretbuzzy

 

[wahwah]

Re: My blind hate of strats

:chairfall

I love posts like this, and I'm not being sarcastic. My favorite type of humor is pawning off absolute lies as fact, and then not hearing any questions about it. I'm really ont being sarcastic, I find it very funny.

I find it almost as funny that this dude (albeit who owns the coolest guitar on the forums) admits in the same post that he wants to buy a Gibson, and therefore become a bedwetter "with bad breath and poor penmanship." :laugh2:

I know I've got those research papers around here somewhere...I might have left them in my Epi LP Junior case...anyway, the evidence is conclusive. Let's just leave it at that.


Cheers.............................wahwah

 

[alex1fly]

Re: My blind hate of strats

I think it's because stupid Fender Vs Gibson flame wars can be a lot of fun, as long as they are not taken even slightly seriously. Once they are taken seriously, they become hilarious. Isn't it human nature to feel the need to defend our choices, or more importantly, purchases? That's all that is happening here. If anyone wants to seriously suggest, for example, that Jimmy Page would have been better off with a Strat, because they're better, or that Jimi Hendrix would have been better with a Les Paul, because they're better, then surely they have a brick where their brain is supposed to be.

And even though Strats are obviously better, I still want a 335.


Cheers.....................wahwah

I personally believe that Les Paul would have been better off playing a banjo...

 

[sosomething]

Re: My blind hate of strats

It is an established scientific fact that people who prefer Gibsons are invariably spotty bedwetters with bad breath and poor penmanship.

As someone who prefers Gibsons, I can confirm this claim beyond a shadow of a doubt.

 

[wahwah]

Re: My blind hate of strats

As someone who prefers Gibsons, I can confirm this claim beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Thank you sosomething for your candour and forthright integrity. This clearly shows a 100% positive response from all of the one respondents so far. I rest my case.

It's really nothing to be ashamed of. You're bound to grow out of it, just like Jeff Beck did.



Cheers........................wahwah

 

[blueman335]

Re: My blind hate of strats

For example, an HH with a 3-way, TOM bearing, Mahogany Set Neck Schecter C-1 is a SuperStrat or Strat copy, not an LP copy.

That above guitar may be a Super Strat, but it sure seems that the "borrowed" features make it a hybrid that has more tonally in common with a Gibson (basically an SG with a Strat body, to make it more palatable to the Fender camp). Sure isn't your daddy's Strat.

 

[blueman335]

Re: My blind hate of strats

I agree with what you're sayin, blueman, that there are more Fenders with Gibson styling than vice versa, but I would see that more as Fender trying to appease the consumer more than 'ripping off' Gibson.

I wasn't thinking "rip off", as Gibson has borrowed a few things too (like the headstocks of Explorers & Firebirds). But since Fender has utilized so many classic Gibson features to "appease the consumer" what does that say about a sizeable part of the market? That they like the Strat & Tele body shape, just as long as it has a humbucker or two & sounds like a LP or SG? I'd think any comparison between Strats & LP's should be based on the original 1950's designs & electronics, before the bloodlines got diluted with competitor's features.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: My blind hate of strats

I wasn't thinking "rip off", as Gibson has borrowed a few things too (like the headstocks of Explorers & Firebirds). But since Fender has utilized so many classic Gibson features to "appease the consumer" what does that say about a sizeable part of the market? That they like the Strat & Tele body shape, just as long as it has a humbucker or two & sounds like a LP or SG? I'd think any comparison between Strats & LP's should be based on the original 1950's designs & electronics, before the bloodlines got diluted with competitor's features.

for overall comparisons i usually use the 'original design'...it's unfair to say Fender's Stratocaster is the ultimate guitar if your strat is built just like a gibson.

i actually think it says more about the styles of music being played than anything else, tho. For the last few years, heavy metal and rock has been getting bigger and bigger all around the world, a style of music which the twangy, clean Fender tone doesn't typically mesh. Of course country, the blues, and indie rock are getting a lot more popular lately too, and the clean twang is the key ingredient to those genres, so there will always be a place for the traditional Fender design...not to mention the apparent trend of people liking humbuckers and heavy distortion when they're younger and gradually gravitating to a cleaner and cleaner tone.

If Gibson's new Melody Maker is really selling as well as I read it is, i could see Gibson producing a LOT more guitars with single coils...i like the split possition on my SG so much i've contemplated getting an old SG Melody Maker for a more 'true' single coil tone in a Gibson body style.

I do see your point, tho. I'm finding myself to be more and more of a 'Gibson Guy' even tho a year ago i would've said i'm ALL FENDER. I think to cover all the ground, you need at least one of each...and for the complete spectrum, you need two of each, Gibsons with hums and P90's, and Fenders with hums and single coils.

-X

 

[LunaticFringe]

Re: My blind hate of strats

Unless you've tried every Strat variant you simply cannot write them off without deliberately keeping yourself blind to the simple truth:
Strats can be made to suit anything and anyone. A stock strat will be a blah thing only as long as you don't realize that the stock condition is the starting point for building the guitar of your dreams.

The same can't be said for LPs, SGs or any other Gibson-type guitar.
These will either fit or they won't. You can try all you want to get it more to your needs but the more you do, the less LP/SG/anything it will be.

A modded gibson-type guitar will just be a bastardized guitar.
A modded strat will simply be a unique Strat...

That's ok. I modify my LP to make it more appealing to me, I could care less about some idea that LP's are strictly one way. Maybe I'll put a trem in there if I feel like it. I just don't care.

 

[marvar]

Re: My blind hate of strats

I used to hate Strats......


I still do.