gibson , fender or PRS ? ? ?

rxkevco

rxkevco

New member
Hi all, , been a long time since i have been on the forum but due to illness and divorce recently, i just havent really had the motivation ot time to be musically active.
For once, my problem is a nice one to have and i would like some great advice if possible.
I am only 45 yrs old but in the next 12 months or so, i will be taking ill health retirement from work unfortunatly , but , i will be getting a decent lump sum to go with the measly monthly pension.
I will be using the lump sum to buy a new guitar and want some advice.

I presently own both a Martin HD28 and a Taylor 316CE acoustics and am very , very happy with them both so wont be looking at a new acoustic.

Electric wise i own a decent Ibinez RD-GR bass guitar and am very happy with that also.

I have an old 80s Ibinez roadstar strat copy which ia remarkably close to a fender strat in almost every way , i believe this particular model ended up in court with fender trying to get it off the shelves , ,it really is a decent strat copy despite its age.
My main electic guitar is a custom Washburn , again from the late 80s (early 90s).Its a strat shape in metalic gold (yellowy ) see thru , , Its got a seymour duncan distortion humbucker and a matching pair of seymour duncan single cores. A fantastically quick neck and a floyd rose locking trem.
Its a fantatic guitar all round and i havent really needed to upgrade it as i dont gig. I write my own material and a decent cubase 4 DAW, along with a BOSS BR 1180-CD digital multitracker. I run my own little recording studio from my spare room and thats as far as i go regarding my playing, , , i record my own stuff and recently started uploading a few tracks onto my soundclick account and so far, i have nearly 45,000 song plays for my first 5 songs.
This is all i want to do and unless someone from the music industry comes knocking on my door and suggests otherwise, then this is all i have planned for the future as i will have so much time to myself once my ill health retirement goes thru.
I play middle of the road soft rock and have both electric piano and hardware and software synths also. I plan on buying a decent new synth as well but thats for a different thread when the time comes !

Sorry for rabling on but i wanted to ensure i paint a proper picture of my circumstances before anyone decides to reply to my post.

Right here goes, , , i wanted to buy a decent Gibson les paul or possibly a decent fender strat to finish off my collection and over the years i have played a number of both and had no complaints with either.
BUT , whenever i think of buying a les paul or strat i get this huge doubt hanging over me and i remember the absalute glee that stayed with me for weeks when i got a few hours alone with a high end PRS a few years back.

Realisticslly i could buy both , but finacially i want to buy just one , , , and thats where my dilema starts , , , if you had the cash what would you spend it on , , ,a Gibson les paul, , a fender strat, or a decent PRS , , ,
I know its all down to personal preference but i would like to gauge everyones opinion on what they would buy if money was no option , , ,, i dont mind buying used either, doesnt have to be brand new at all so long as the new guitar is in near new pristine condition ! !

Fire away everyone , , ,cant wait for your opinions , ,

Many thanks, , , kev
 
Sorry to hear about your health issues. I am sure hours of free time making music will be very therapeutic. I have just bought my second Gibson Les Paul, and even though I have been shocked by the prices, both of my LP's are flawless and play and sound great. I have had bad experiences with Gibson in the mid 90's but they have seemed to clean up their act.
VP:)
 
It all comes down to personal taste. I had a Strat, and, while it sounded good, the 25-1/2" scale wasn't for me. I fell into a fantastic deal on a gold top Les Paul, and it immediately replaced my '63 Chet Atkins Country Gent, which I had been happily playing for 15 years.

Now I have a 335 and it kills. Much better fit than a Les Paul (but Lester isn't going anywhere), love the sound, love the look.
 
If I had the budget for a les paul, I'd shop around and get a tele and a strat and be very happy. But I just get the vibe that you are a les paul man. Dunno why. Maybe I'm psychic.
 
When I got my LP I had a pretty severe case of buyers remorse until I played it in public. Until then I was just another rocker with a Strat but for some reason people went nuts over my playing when I showed up with the LP. My playing didn't change but peoples attitude towards it sure did. So I don't know about your situation. For personal satisfaction I like PRS but depending on your health, strength and endurance if giging is in the picture (goals are good and the irritation keeps you sharp) go with the LP because the general public doesn't know crap about PRS. Forget the strat since you already have reasonable facsimiles and no one will care if they are fake.
 
rxkevco said:
I know its all down to personal preference but i would like to gauge everyones opinion on what they would buy if money was no option
Click to expand...

Everyone else's opinion doesn't matter. Just go and play a bunch of them. When you find the right guitar you will know it as soon as you pick it up. "The wand chooses the wizard...its not always clear why".
 
dogonjon said:
I was just another rocker with a Strat.
Click to expand...

There is something to this. I hardly ever gig with my fender strat. I have an epi es-295 that I play mostly becuause everyone thinks it's something special. However, when I've played important gigs like in pit orchestras or when i played on a live radio broadcast, I brought my strat. It's the best playing, best sounding guitar i have. It doesn't have the character of some of my other guitars, but it is my go-to axe when mistakes won't be overlooked and I need to cover a variety of tones. They don't really have the look anymore since the market is flooded with that shape.
 
ocnor said:
Everyone else's opinion doesn't matter. Just go and play a bunch of them. When you find the right guitar you will know it as soon as you pick it up. "The wand chooses the wizard...its not always clear why".
Click to expand...
there ya' go. But I wouldn't really consider Fender since you have that covered with the Ibanez.
 
The Strat, the Les Paul and the Paul Reed Smith all cover different bases. Since you're soliciting opinions, I'll give you mine. Ultimately, the comments above are going to prove to be true: your opinion is all that really matters, and you should definitely DEFINITELY play several examples of each guitar before purchasing anything. I think that this especially holds true since you're undecided on what you truly want. When you lay your hands on it, the right guitar will choose you.

With the Strat, I think that the main allure is versatility. There are so many pickup configurations and price ranges that the Strat is both available and attractive to a huge range of players. Their high-end instruments are still terrific, with an impressive fit and finish and they agree with a very wide range of amps. Strats seem to do their best on clean channels, with a mild crunch ala country or blues. The SSS setups aren't too popular for heavy metal players since its tough to find a pickup with enough power and articulation that fits in a single-coil slot. But with a HSS or HSH setup, you can tackle pretty much any tone.

With a Les Paul, I think that the main allure is the raw power. A double humbucker setup opens up a tonal pallette to you that goes from dark, bassy tones out of the neck pickup to bright and loud tones full of midrange out of the bridge pickup. LPs tend to take best to crunch-type distortion, hard rock distortion, all the way into full-on high-gain heavy metal noise. Their one weakness would probably be their less inspiring performance on clean channels. Then there's the weight issue. Most LPs are Mahogany with Maple tops, which combines to make a relatively heavy guitar. And their price tag is generally twice that of an American made Strat.

The PRS has a unique allure, and that's playability. They have a very wide, flat neck profile that seems to be preferred by shredders. They share the raw power of the HH setup with the Les Paul. They have easier access to the high frets than an LP does, but they lack the tonal variety of a Strat. And they don't have as wide of a price range as Strats do either. They're beautiful instruments, though and are very high quality through and through.

OK so that probably didn't help you decide, but it gave me something to do for an hour instead of work :D
 
Have you considered an Agile Tele copy, a couple cases of booze and a suitcase of controlled substances for the same price?
 
Well, you're talking about three VERY different guitars.

But, that said, you already have what seems to be a pretty versatile lineup as it is. Do you really NEED a new guitar? You have a pension, but what are your employment options down the road? When you say "ill health retirement," do you mean a short-term medical leave before you go back to work, or are you done?

At the age of 45, even if you're not particularly healthy you're probably looking at 20 years of retirement and livng off your savings/pension, up to maybe 40 or so. That's a long time - if you're never going to work again, then I'd save every dime you can, just in case. With the stock market at a low like we haven't seen for decades, odds are a few mutual funds will be worth much more in 15 years than a used 2009 PRS, if you find you need the money.
 
So spend the first 4 weeks of your free time running around and playing different guitars - that'll give you some time to know whether you'll need the money for other stuff, and the information you need before buying a guitar.

BTW - I had a LP (Custom, cherry sunburst, early '80s) that I traded away in one of the stoopidiest moves of my life. Recently, I picked up a SG Supreme, and I no longer miss the LP as much. The SG is a lot lighter, too :) - the Supreme sub-models have a maple cap, so they sound a little more like the LP than a pure mahogany SG would (and it's got 24 frets).
 
There is no smarter answer than to play them all and let the one that clicks with you be the one you buy.

But don't rush it.
 
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