i own a fender cyclone and a gibson 57 les paul reissue.
the fender is alright. i screwed up the humbucker and had to replace it. i ended up putting
a gibson 500t in it. it sounded a little better after the 500t was in it, but not a whole lot. fenders have a ton of high end twang no matter which body style you get.
I personally like the cyclone more than any of the other fender styles. i would like to get one of the jaguars that had block inlays eventually and maybe a mustang.......but those would just be for collection purposes. i've head good things about the cyclone2, but i have never heard or played one.....i don't think it looks good with the stripes and the single coil pickups.
the gibson is all around better. it makes the fender feel like a toy. it has more, tighter low end. it sounds heavier.......the bad part is it is heavier (weight wise). I personally think the one i got sounded a little darker than the other les pauls i tried.
i've been told that the 3 pickup firebird can get tele like tone from the middle pickup. i don't know if that's true though.
i would go to a music store and play a bunch of guitars. once you decide on which brand/style you want, ask if you can go into the storage area and try all of the ones being stored.
you said your looking to spend a thousand or more.....if you decide on a gibson, i would personally save up and get a les paul standard as your first gibson...i think you would be happier with an LP.
and also make sure it really has the sound you want. even take your amp in and any effects you use and insist on trying it through them. if you think there's any possibility that you are going to sell the guitar in the future you don't want to change the pickups. the guitar will drop considerably in value.
so yeah back to trying every one they have in stock. just have one of the employees sit in front of you and strum an E chord. get an idea of how the guitar sounds. like it has a lot of attack or a good tight low end, etc. then move on to the next guitar....do the same thing.....find like 3 or 4 maybe even 5 that really stick out as being better than the others.......then plug them in and do it again, but listen for tone and output.
if the music store wont let you do that, then try another store. if you're going to be spending over a thousand dollars on a guitar, they better be willing to do some work for you.
I would avoid catalogs. the companies don't set the guitars up. you get it in the same condition it came from the factory....often times in the same box it was sent to them in, so you know they didn't touch it. anyway.
(this next part is just hearsay) i've also heard that they don't get the "choice" guitars......meaning weight wise and soundwise.
also, often times music stores will give you the same or better deal on the more expensive guitars.
if you don't live in a town with a few music stores or any music stores it will really be worth your while to go to a larger city and look in stores there.
if you're going to go the mail order route, try these guys. they sell a lot of guitars and they do a lot of mail order stuff and they can make you some badass deals on gibsons. they'll treat you right.
http://www.music-machine.net
also, you can find cyclones real cheap on ebay. like 200 or so dollars.