You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

[Chris Pile]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Stratguy23 is simply an unenlightened hater.

Also, allow me to correct your spelling..... it's WEENIE MARMSTEEN.

 

[nsnate02]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Kinda like analog vs digital, vinyl vs. Digital/CD/ect., tube vs. SS. Some of the "magic" of those older technologies is actually IN the flaws and no matter how good replication becomes, they still can't quite capture the "magic". Eventually, they get very close but they never quite get ALL of "it".
When it comes to creating an "art", whether that be paintings, sculptures, music, ECT, some of the greatest, un-reproducable creations were the results of "flaws".
I don't mind flaws.

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

 

[LLL]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Wow, sounds seriously messed up. Gotta wonder how Michael Bloomfield, Mark Knopfler, Joe Bonnassama and like that would should with a decent guitar, huh?

They're good players......you'll find no excuses coming from them

:laugh2:

A particular type of guitar design's shortcomings and any given guitarist... have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

And who's Joe Bonamassa? (and does anyone care?) :laugh2:
(I was hoping you would've thrown in Paul Kossoff, Jeff Beck (briefly) or at least Jimmy Page (live) instead...)


I slung a very heavy Norlin-era black Les Paul Custom on my back for two decades.

Nowadays, I use a superior Gibson design: the Gibson SG.

It still has the high headstock angle and splayed strings over the nut issue, but the weight is great and the upper fret access is smokin'.

And yes, I will get another Les Paul (got one in 2013 but never bonded with it) eventually, but it will be solely relegated to studio use.

 

[LLL]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Jokes aside, I am a Les Paul player... ...But I do not play it for its functionality, and frankly, nobody does.

Precisely.

 

[oilpit]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Wow, sounds seriously messed up. Gotta wonder how Michael Bloomfield, Mark Knopfler, Joe Bonnassama and like that would should with a decent guitar, huh?

Literally nobody in this thread has said anything negative about the Les Paul. You seem to think that is saying that I guitar from the 50's isn't some perfectly engineered shred machine that we are criticizing it.

It's just not the easiest guitar to play, you gotta work for it.

 

[LLL]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

An interesting tidbit on this topic:

Scott Gorham of Thin Lizzy used to haul around a Les Paul Deluxe back in the day.

He eventually switch to a strat; in an interview he stated:

I can’t bottle out of that one, I’ve been cornered into playing the Les Paul. Nah, nah, I can’t deal with that anymore — it’s too heavy, it’ll do my back in!

and

You start wielding those babies [Les Pauls] around for two hours and your back is misaligned, your shoulder is destroyed and your neck is strained. It’s funny now because our other guitarist, John Sykes, still carries a big lump of mahogany wrapped around his neck all night and his shoulder is just killing him. But, he’ll never trade that guitar in for anything. That’s why I went to the Strat as my main guitar. I’ve been talking to Gibson and they’re building me a custom chambered guitar. So I’ll be playing Pauls again.

Thin Lizzy: John Sykes and Scott Gorham Info

 

[AlexR]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Yep, some people just can't handle them.

But thats the individual player for you.

 

[NeedForPower]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Why not a Les Strat...Strat mahogany body with maple cap and set in neck?

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

How much time do you have? lol



The flaws in the Les Paul are what make it so perfect, what make it sound so good and why people put up with it. Think of all the other single cut guitars you can get, PRS and ESP are the first that jump to mind but there are dozens I'm sure.
All of these alternatives fixed the flaws, but they lost what made the Les Paul so amazing, they don't sound quite the same and they don't feel quite the same, they are much better on paper, but when you actually play one they lose the magic that makes the Les Paul the Les Paul.

Sorry I tend to get a bit romantic about Les Pauls....


EDIT: For the record I am not trashing other singlecut alternatives at all, just saying they are different.

No. It's because the brand name. LP is the pioneer of electric guitar, it's expensive, and it's American, what's not to like? QC issue? Noo....

To me the problem is the back that's totally flat, no contour, just like an acoustic.

 

[NeedForPower]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

:laugh2:

A particular type of guitar design's shortcomings and any given guitarist... have absolutely nothing to do with each other.
.

If the guitar 's purported shortcomings have no effect on the guitarist ability to execute then it would seem there are not shortcomings but personal preference being sited, huh?

 

[AlexR]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Why not a Les Strat...Strat mahogany body with maple cap and set in neck?

Like this??



Its nice and it plays really well. The scale length is still a contributing factor IMO

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Les Strat has been around for years. Cort KX Custom, ESP and Schecter are what come to my mind.

 

[NeedForPower]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Like this??
View attachment 81128View attachment 81129View attachment 81130View attachment 81131


Its nice and it plays really well. The scale length is still a contributing factor IMO

Absolutely beautiful. I gotta find one. The maple cap IMO is one of the reasons a Les Paul has its magic tone and you got it right there.

 

[LLL]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

If the guitar 's purported shortcomings have no effect on the guitarist ability to execute then it would seem there are not shortcomings but personal preference being sited, huh?

Point out where someone/anyone stated that a (given) guitarist's ability to execute is affected by the guitar's design.

Fixing design flaws simply makes things easier.

BTW, who are you? :naughty:

 

[AlexR]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

^ or completely kills the design brief. The LP was designed around tonal goals......they tried many options of woods and dimension before that iteration was approved.

In the case of the upper fret access, the bulk around the neck join is integral to the tone of the singlecut LP.

Go the 'Ace Frehley' type double cut and you lose something......just the same as the DC vs singlecut juniors sound different......just the same way that the SG doesn't sound the same as a LP.


All guitar styles have something unique......I like them all for their own tones.

 

[dave74]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

Les Strat has been around for years. Cort KX Custom, ESP and Schecter are what come to my mind.

And also, although maybe to a lesser physical degree, Van Halen's original frankenstrat.

 

[Jacew]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

....just the same way that the SG doesn't sound the same as a LP.


All guitar styles have something unique......I like them all for their own tones.

I agree. Though I'd say SG sounding what is sounds like is mostly due to it's thin plank body than anything else.

 

[Dusty.Rhoads]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

What does an SG sound like? Back When: In Eric Clapton's hands... Duane Allman....Tony Iommi. ...Robby Krieger. ...Jerry Garcia. ...Frank Zappa. ...Derek Trucks. ...Frank Marino.??? I'd say an SG guitar can sound like almost anything short of a elephant.

 

[AlexR]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

^ It sound like an SG, filtered through whatever variables you like to add.....like amp, recording techniques, player etc.

But once you remove the variables, which is what you have to do to quantify your statement, then you have a very identifiable sound. That can be tonally compared as a whole to a LP.

 

[AlexR]

Re: You gotta hand it to Leo Fender

I agree. Though I'd say SG sounding what is sounds like is mostly due to it's thin plank body than anything else.

You'd need to have done testing.......made SG's with various different body constructions as a departure from the LP construction to test what part of the overall the various aspects of the difference contribute.

And to make it legit you'd probably need about 10 of each type tested and averaged just to make sure its not just individual wood blanks chosen causing the difference.

Otherwise its just idle speculation.