Gibsons and Fenders...
I own a 2002 Les Paul Standard with fat 50's neck and it is my main guitar. My others are a modded Epiphone E-Series Les Paul copy that was once green and yellow crackle finish but was roughly stripped and sanded down to the wood and then rubbed with shoe polish - it looks like a strange pencil drawing now - it was only $200, but it has insane action and some hot rodded Epi pickups that have a great tone. My other guitar is a Fender ( Mexican, but who cares) Sunburst 72 Thinline Tele with an f hole and two humbuckers. It has a custom tortoiseshell pickguard and amp knobs for tone and volume, so it so far is unique looking amongst those Ive seen. I use this as my second guitar most of the time, but I almost always start and finish with the Les Paul. I have been playing for 23 yrs, played out a few times, and am working on getting a band together to play heavy grooved out rock/experimental improv...( whatever that means, right?)
Anyway, I think anyone that talks about these two brands being better or worse than the other is a moron. Seriously I'm not trying to offend anyone but making a comparison between the two and then saying one is better than the other is nonsense other than personal opinion. Gibsons and Fenders are two totally different things, but both clearly have a place in music and have been the standards by which almost all other makers copy from and have done so for over 50 years.
I use both because I was fortunate enough to be able to get my hands on them and I love them for many diferent reasons. As far as tone, they are all different, but I play stereo through
a Boss GT8 into two Fender tube amps ( a Hot Rod Deluxe and a vintage Bassman cab/head) and the variety of tones/sounds I can dial up with my rig is virtually unlimited. I play with a different guitar when I want to enjoy a different feel.
I also want to mention that there are dozens of boutique guitars out there that in terms of quality, tone, and playability, blow away both Gibsons and Fenders, but realistically, these to me are collectors items that you have to be wealthy to afford and stupid to play as gigging instruments. Seriously, it's bad enough that Gibson jacks it's prices up a hundred bucks whenever they feel like it ( my 2002 LP Standard was $1899 new, but the same one is now $2399) but some of these custom luthier built things go for 6, 7, even 8 thousand dollars! How the hell can anyone really afford that unless they are rich????
Oh well. Nuff said.