Fender American strat or Gibson SG?

This is a question that has no answer, so don't expect one. You have asked, "What's the best primary color, red or blue?" You are talking about the most fundamental yin and yang of electric guitars. For me, it's Les Paul vs. Telecaster, but it's the same deal. The feel and sound of those two guitars is different, both are desireable, and neither one will do exactly what the other does. The only way to answer the question is to pick them up, play them, and see which one is harder to put back on the wall.-Richie
 
I will give you my personal opinion...which means nothing. I have always been a strat player, but for a short period, in the 1980's I bought a les Paul Custom. I tried to like it, because it was a beautiful guitar and sounded very good.....but...I hated the neck, I didn't like having a volume for each pickup, and it was way too heavy.

A couple of years ago i found a fantasic deal on a Gibson SG. I bought it.
I tried to like the SG, because it was a beautiful guitar and sounded very good...but...I hated the balance of the guitar, I hated the neck profile, I didn't like having a volume knob for each pickup, and it seemed like it was as long as a surfboard when I was onstage....i sold it a few months ago.

Im still playing the strat I bought n 1976 ('66 model). I have learned that for me, nothing is as good as a strat.
 
You are quite correct i should have quantified that with this which one for general playability and personal likes and dilikes etc? I was trying to get an open thread started all are welcome.
 
First off, I don't play electrics much but there's times I need 'em. I've always liked Gibson hollow bodies but their solid bodied guitars never seem comfortable to me. I like the sound and feel of a strat or tele.
 
jimistone said:
I will give you my personal opinion...which means nothing. I have always been a strat player, but for a short period, in the 1980's I bought a les Paul Custom. I tried to like it, because it was a beautiful guitar and sounded very good.....but...I hated the neck, I didn't like having a volume for each pickup, and it was way too heavy.

A couple of years ago i found a fantasic deal on a Gibson SG. I bought it.
I tried to like the SG, because it was a beautiful guitar and sounded very good...but...I hated the balance of the guitar, I hated the neck profile, I didn't like having a volume knob for each pickup, and it seemed like it was as long as a surfboard when I was onstage....i sold it a few months ago.

Im still playing the strat I bought n 1976 ('66 model). I have learned that for me, nothing is as good as a strat.
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Pretty much the same story here. Still play the first Strat I ever bought. This really is an apples and oranges question, though. It's all personal taste. Why don't you buy both?
:D
 
For me it's Strat vs. Les Paul (or something like it). The Strat was my first electric, and I kind of naturally lean more towards ambient or percussive, heavily effected sounds (read, The Edge from U2), so the Strat fit the bill. Then I got an ESP EC-1000 (Les Paul clone) and at that point my Strat has pretty much taken a permanent back seat. Now I just picked up an Epiphone Les Paul (with a few mods). Every time I try to go back to the Strat, the sound from it just seems so thin and harsh. Now I can get a thin and harsh sound from the Les Paul or ESP, but they can also give me a nice smooth or very heavy sound. The one thing I miss from the Strat is the chime of the middle+bridge pickup setting :(
 
I use 4 electric guitars to capture the sounds that I need in my band.

American Strat
Les Paul
Gretsch Tennessean
Rickenbacker 350

Only you can decide what's best. Go and play as many as you can. We can't tell you.
 
The balance of the SG takes some getting used to but the sound is huge. I got an SG standard a week ago, and I'm almost fully adjusted to it now. My Ibanez noodles signature, which is basically a strat with humbuckers in terms of sound and feel hasn't come out of the case since getting the SG.
You really have to ask yourself which one suits your style of music better, whether you want the humbuckers of the sg or the single coils on the strat, and which one is more comfortable to play. Also if its an SG special, make sure you look it over really good, as the quality control on those are horrible and it might take a bit longer to find a good one, if its an SG Standard then its almost definitely good, but either way be sure to play the guitar before you buy it.
 
For me it would be a Tele but I also have a Strat. By no means will a Strat do it all so it depends on what you want to hear.
 
I sold my SG because it wouldn't stay in tune. If I were to get another, I'd look for an older one, circa 1963-1973. Anyways, I have an old Ibanez Studio that gives me a perfectly adequate humbucking sound. So, that, with my Strat, gives me the two basic electric sounds. The rest is in the fingers.
 
Proc said:
Which one boys and girls?
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I hate to post a "me too", but I've gotta say that these are two totally different instruments, both great guitars, but in different arenas.

If you want grunge, the SG (or a Les Paul) will do it better than the Strat ; humbuckers love to feed distortion. If you want clean with a transparent high end, go with the Strat.

I never could make up my mind, so I got both.
 
if u want the best of both worlds look into a les paul jr with P90s. i laso have an american strat, mexican tele and an SG standard.

the P90 les paul Jr. double cut has been my most used ax in the bunch. it plays great too.
 
i would say the sg because i've been able to get more crunch out of it, however if you're looking for a more bluesy feel then definitely the strat.
 
My two cents....You really need both! My 80 goldtop paul is my meat and potatoes guitar. I must have played 25 or 30 before I landed on it. I think it was the slimmer neck profile,the others felt like baseball bats sawed in half.
Anyway, I have humbuckers with a coil tap on both in it( yeah, I butchered it) With both pick-ups in single coil, I can actually get a pretty good "strat"- like sound. But when I need my Marshall to spit fire, It delivers big time!
The strat just won't get that. But,the paul won't get those nice "chimey" tones like the strat . The only thing to do is use a "A/B " switch, and swap them out once in a while. Plus it's nice to have a spare hooked up in case I break a string.
 
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