Strat or Paul -- the debate rages on

[iaresee]

In the interests of keeping things rolling around here...
Which do you prefer:
The Strat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=japBKzYtfN0) or The Les Paul (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EyoXb4DtHA)?
(It makes sense if you watch the videos)


Me: the Strat. It just doesn't have the right haunting shimmer on the Paul. It's too round around the edges. It needs the snap with the clean tone to really feel just perfect.

[GuitaristZ]

the strat...actually the fireworks on the strat clip are what sold me... :D

[Lester B. Flat]

Les Paul. More meat on da bone.

[sesroh]

strat. it can handle all!

[noobcake]

Agh, this is a really hard choice... It really depends on the application, I can find so many situations where I'd prefer a strat, but I can also find just about the same number of situations where I'd prefer a Lester.

[torndownunit]

It's Tele vs Les Paul in my books :smile:

[SCREEM]

strat if I had to choose, you can put it through a brick wall and keep playing:D
having both is Ideal though.

[Milkman]

Neither.

Both are great but both have limitations. I'd take a Strat over a Les Paul but personally I prefer a Hum-Sing-Hum with coil taps (best of both worlds).

Let's face it, a Strat is much better than a Les Paul at clean tones and a Les Paul is better at overdriven and high gain, high sustain tones.

[jcayer]

It's Tele vs Les Paul in my books :smile:

+1 ... :food-smiley-004:

[sysexguy]

It's very cool that some of you have an opinion about which guitar is better, but the question was very specific, which guitar better suits the particular performer, doing a particular piece of music?

so I voted, for the strat and I think this is actually a really cool thread.

Andy

[Scottone]

I like the Paul on this particular tune. Of course there are a lot of other variables involved (i.e. amps and effects)

[elindso]

I voted Lester.

I have both + a Tele.

They are different apples and oranges.

That's easy everybody kows that oranges are better.

They sustain better.

[Hamm Guitars]

The strat tone is way better for this particular song to my ears. The Les Paul tone is a little on the gritty side and it does not cut through the mix nearly as well. I'm not a big fan of mahogany guitars for a clean tone.

There are a number of other factors here as well, the mix, the gear and they are two totally different Mark K-noppel-ers.

[Scottone]

The strat tone is way better for this particular song to my ears. The Les Paul tone is a little on the gritty side and it does not cut through the mix nearly as well. I'm not a big fan of mahogany guitars for a clean tone.

There are a number of other factors here as well, the mix, the gear and they are two totally different Mark K-noppel-ers.

Yea, no cool headband in the Lester clip

[iaresee]

strat. it can handle all!
It's more a in-the-context-of-these-videos question. You gots to watch the clips!

[iaresee]

Agh, this is a really hard choice... It really depends on the application, I can find so many situations where I'd prefer a strat, but I can also find just about the same number of situations where I'd prefer a Lester.
I'm talking specifically about Wild Theme -- those video links are to Knopfler playing it on a Strat and then on a Les Paul.

[iaresee]

It's very cool that some of you have an opinion about which guitar is better, but the question was very specific, which guitar better suits the particular performer, doing a particular piece of music?

so I voted, for the strat and I think this is actually a really cool thread.

Andy
Andy got it! It's not about what's better in general. It's about what's better in Knopfler's hands on a specific Knopfler song. It's rare you get a chance to put a song back-to-back with the same performer doing a similar arrangement but with two wildly different guitars and sounds.

[ENDITOL]

I've always preferred the strat shape and feel personally...but I like the tone of les pauls too. Ultimately i'd like to have a variety of guitars to play around with but my 'main' axes will always be super strats.

[PaulS]

I used to really hang out with my strat an awful lot but since I have tried a few LP's I really like the feel of the shorter scale and set neck.

also the tone and sustain....:D

[Robert1950]

Gibson SG, but if I had to choose, it would be the LP by a nose.

[guitaro]

Both are great guitars in the right hands. :rockon2:

For those who think that a Les Paul doesn't worth it check this review on Epiphone Elitist Les Paul Standard Plus Guitar (http://topguitars.info/guitars/view/70/115/default.html)

Personally I'd like to have this guitar or the Elitist Les Paul Custom.

Cheers! :food-smiley-004:

[ThePass]

I went with the Fender.

I don't own a Gibson but I do find that I can cover most app's with the Strat anyway. However that dosen't cure my GAS for a humbucking guitar now.


:rockon2:

[iaresee]

I like the 2 votes for "it sucks either way".

[Milkman]

One of the funny things about Gibsons is the fact that I like the way they sound by themselves but not so much in the context of a band.


If I have to choose I'll take the Strat nine times out of ten, but I think both designs have been surpassed and improved upon.

[Ti-Ron]

I want to participate to that debate but the links are dead, maybe it's just me but Youtube.com told me that there some violations of somes terms...

[iaresee]

I want to participate to that debate but the links are dead, maybe it's just me but Youtube.com told me that there some violations of somes terms...
Bummer man. I'll try and find the videos again. It was Knopfler doing Wild Theme on a Strat and then on a LP.

[NB-SK]

I have both. I like them both for very different reasons. I like the way the Les Paul sounds clean, very creamy. The Strat molds itself better to the body and has a greater variety of tones. My strat is a better instrument, but that's because is a midrange CIJ whereras my Les Paul is an Epiphone (probably a Chinese factory second).

[hoser]

les paul with p90s/

i can't stand strats.

[RIFF WRATH]

Truthfully, I voted for the LP, before properly reading the post. after i went back and reread the post(s) and tried the threads they wern't available.

however in context of LP or Strat preference:
I have an EPI lp; a squire Tele; and a MIJ 90's Strat.
When I have players over the guitar of choice (after sampling all of them) is the EPI. music genre is "classic rock" (guitars are of "similar" quality, tuned and set up, same amps to sample also)

however IMHO it is a case of apples and oranges and I think it depends on the players ability as well as the ingrained expectations of how the particular song is "supposed" to sound. Lots of famous guitarists have not so much evolved their styles as changed their guitar preferences over time and listening to their music on the radio most people I know can recognize the players style.

cheers
RIFF

[iaresee]

This thread has certainly lost it's usefulness now that those clips are gone. I can't find them again. Maybe it's time to close it down?

[david henman]

...on any given day, i prefer apples, although every once in a while i don't mind peeling an orange.

i love les pauls. twice in my life, i have been given priceless les pauls. both are gone.

unfortunately, i could never make the commitment of adjusting to the weight, the gigantic neck, the awkwardness of playing one sitting down, or the fact that gibson insists on positioning the volume controls as far away from the strings as possible.

a les paul double cut, on the other hand...i'll take a dozen!

-dh

[Maxer]

...on any given day, i prefer apples, although every once in a while i don't mind peeling an orange.

i love les pauls. twice in my life, i have been given priceless les pauls. both are gone.

unfortunately, i could never make the commitment of adjusting to the weight, the gigantic neck, the awkwardness of playing one sitting down, or the fact that gibson insists on positioning the volume controls as far away from the strings as possible.

a les paul double cut, on the other hand...i'll take a dozen!

-dh

LOL
Agreed that some elements of the LP design are plain awkward. Tradition isn't everything, that's for sure. Love the tone but don't dig that flat back and pulverizing weight.. I like the relative lightness and body sculpting of a Strat (or even a Hagstrom Swede, which is like a LP except there's more of a comfort contour, although they repeat the mistake of putting the controls in goofy places).... unlike you, I don't mind the LP necks but yeah, when you're playing sitting down a LP is not much fun.

Love the double cuts, though. Hell, I love 'em all, but if I had to play for a very long time I know it'd be on a Strat... versatility and comfort being the main reasons.

[GuitaristZ]

Just admit it...the stratocaster is the definitive winner.

[GuitarsCanada]

I like a variety as well. But most times it's back to the LP

[Robert1950]

Just admit it...the stratocaster is the definitive winner.

Hmmmmmmmmmm,... NO!

[Robert1950]

a les paul double cut, on the other hand...i'll take a dozen!

-dh

Oh yes. My hand just doesn't like the heel and single cut. If everything I played was below the 15th fret, it would be different. But when it comes to sound, I'd still take the LP over the strat despite its shortcomings.

[I_cant_play]

a LP is awkward to play sitting down?? Cause I have one and I never thought so. The heel does make things a bit awkward but honestly, if you're not able to actually play something with the heel, you probably won't play it any better without it....so why complain...:D

[Robert1950]

if you're not able to actually play something with the heel, you probably won't play it any better without it.

Not true. There are things I can play on an SG from the 17th to 22nd fret with little problem, that I find awkward on an LP. Small hands not withstanding. Still rather have the LP than the strat.

[Maxer]

a LP is awkward to play sitting down?? Cause I have one and I never thought so. The heel does make things a bit awkward but honestly, if you're not able to actually play something with the heel, you probably won't play it any better without it....so why complain...:D

LOL
I don't hear anyone complaining here, only people comparing notes. Here's mine: there's a huge difference between an LP and an SG or a Strat, let alone something like a shredder guitar - sitting down or standing up... the accessibility to the uppermost frets is just way better. If all you're playing is a Les Paul then perhaps you're blissfully unaware of the difference.

In the end, you make music with whatever's comfortable to you. What turns your crank just ain't necessarily what turns mine. Often we tend to forget that.

[I_cant_play]

LOL
I don't hear anyone complaining here, only people comparing notes. Here's mine: there's a huge difference between an LP and an SG or a Strat, let alone something like a shredder guitar - sitting down or standing up... the accessibility to the uppermost frets is just way better. If all you're playing is a Les Paul then perhaps you're blissfully unaware of the difference.

In the end, you make music with whatever's comfortable to you. What turns your crank just ain't necessarily what turns mine. Often we tend to forget that.

I didn't mean to criticize anyone's opinion here. Sorry if it came across that way (I guess the smilie didn't do it's job) I'm just basing this on my own experience. Let me explain, I used an entry level ibanez rg for a long time which had a bolt on neck. All the while I kept trying to learn these heavy metal solos and I felt the joint really got in the way. Then I jammed with a friend of mine with a neck through jackson and I felt everything was easier to play (it seemed much easier to play fast). Then I got the les paul which doesn't have much better upper fret access than the ibanez. Now, though, since I've practiced more I realize that everything that I felt I could play better with a neck through guitar I actually played very sloppy. Maybe it was faster and better sounding to an amateur's ear but I was definitely hiding more of my own mistakes. I realize the upper fret access is better on some guitars than others, but at least in my experience I can't say that I can play something on one guitar and not on another.

Not true. There are things I can play on an SG from the 17th to 22nd fret with little problem, that I find awkward on an LP. Small hands not withstanding. Still rather have the LP than the strat.


I guess my experience is just different, maybe in part because I have giant hands. There's definitely more solos that I could pass off as decent with a guitar with easy fret access but I find if I get it perfect on one, I just need a very short transition period to learn it perfectly with the other.

[Ophidian]

I like the strat

[Maxer]

Let me explain, I used an entry level ibanez rg for a long time which had a bolt on neck. All the while I kept trying to learn these heavy metal solos and I felt the joint really got in the way. Then I jammed with a friend of mine with a neck through jackson and I felt everything was easier to play (it seemed much easier to play fast). Then I got the les paul which doesn't have much better upper fret access than the ibanez. Now, though, since I've practiced more I realize that everything that I felt I could play better with a neck through guitar I actually played very sloppy. Maybe it was faster and better sounding to an amateur's ear but I was definitely hiding more of my own mistakes. I realize the upper fret access is better on some guitars than others, but at least in my experience I can't say that I can play something on one guitar and not on another.

You make a very good point about sloppy playing on a fast necked guitar... if that's what you're beginning with, then the guitar kind of covers for you. At least, that's been my own experience. I first started playing on a Guild S100... think an SG with slightly asymmetrical horns and you're in the ballpark. Anyway, it has a really great neck and it's what I guess I first loosened up on. Over the next few years I'd by chance try a friend's LP and find it really awkward and unwieldy... same thing with every LP I'd happen across, not just one. But over the subsequent years I started playing on a greater variety of guitars and developed an appreciation for how different each instrument can be. In the last five year or six years I have been playing more frequently and with greater discipline than all of the two decades before that... and now I finally realize how sloppy I had been for all that time. I'm self taught so while it helps create a strong sense of self-styled creativity, it also encourages tons of mistakes and lazy shortcuts. I'm still not anyone's idea of a great guitar player but I am much better than I've ever been, and now I have an Agile goldtop among my guitars and even thought it's an obvious LP type I don't find it all awkward... my technique has simply become better and I've become a little more adept at compensating for different guitars with different necks, woods, upper fret access, etc. If I want to do a chord or run of notes at the very top of the neck, I no longer think of the heel as an impediment, I just practice what's the best way of getting there with this guitar in my hands right now. Almost like a Zen thing.

Bottom line is: a great guitar doesn't ever fight you. But you can still fight a great guitar... if you don't understand what it is you're looking for.

[Hinrich]

I used to play an American Highway 1 Strat but couldn't get the hard rock tones I wanted in distortion. I liked the sound of my Pacifica better actually and wanted to get into the Les Paul but couldn't justify the cost.

Then for $400 I got a Univox Gimme from 1970 (Les Paul Copy) on Ebay and since I plugged it in, I sold my strat and never looked back. My buddy is a pro guitarist who owns a Gibson LP Custom and he wanted to buy it off me as his backup.

So, :bow:LES PAUL ALL THE WAY!

[I_cant_play]

I used to play an American Highway 1 Strat but couldn't get the hard rock tones I wanted in distortion. I liked the sound of my Pacifica better actually and wanted to get into the Les Paul but couldn't justify the cost.

Then for $400 I got a Univox Gimme from 1970 (Les Paul Copy) on Ebay and since I plugged it in, I sold my strat and never looked back. My buddy is a pro guitarist who owns a Gibson LP Custom and he wanted to buy it off me as his backup.

So, LES PAUL ALL THE WAY!

Les pauls seem to be better for the hard rock and metal tones in general though I'm not sure how much of that actually comes from the guitar itself and how much comes from just the humbucking pickups. I'm pretty sure if you had put humbuckers in that strat you probably would have been satisfied with the hard rock tones. That ofcourse, is not to say you would have liked it better than the LP copy cause I don't know, everyone's taste is different. When I started playing I liked soloist type guitars (esp neck throughs that kinda thing), then I started liking LPs. Now I think if I had to just have one guitar it would be a strat with low output single coils. It seems that depending on the amp and playing style, you can make a strat sound fatter and fuller but humbuckers can never sound as good clean as a good single coil. To me it seems strats are in general more versatile. Keep in mind I actually use a LP.

[BoogieBoy]

I own a Les Paul and a Strat.

Both are two different animals.
Both play equally well.
Both sound equally different.

It's damn near a draw in my books as I play each guitar about the same.

But I first learned to play on a Les Paul, so the soft sentimental side of me goes for the LP.

[Hinrich]

Les pauls seem to be better for the hard rock and metal tones in general though I'm not sure how much of that actually comes from the guitar itself and how much comes from just the humbucking pickups. I'm pretty sure if you had put humbuckers in that strat you probably would have been satisfied with the hard rock tones. That ofcourse, is not to say you would have liked it better than the LP copy cause I don't know, everyone's taste is different. When I started playing I liked soloist type guitars (esp neck throughs that kinda thing), then I started liking LPs. Now I think if I had to just have one guitar it would be a strat with low output single coils. It seems that depending on the amp and playing style, you can make a strat sound fatter and fuller but humbuckers can never sound as good clean as a good single coil. To me it seems strats are in general more versatile. Keep in mind I actually use a LP.

I tried 3 different kinds of Humbuckers in the strat and concluded that it must have been the guitar. I tried a Squire in the same amp and the SC sounded better. Still though, the emotion I hear coming out of the les paul is more to my liking, not superior nor inferior to the strat, just me. :food-smiley-004:

[I_cant_play]

Still though, the emotion I hear coming out of the les paul is more to my liking, not superior nor inferior to the strat, just me.

I know what you mean. When I had a bright sounding guitar I craved something fatter and I got an LP. Now that I have the LP, whenever I play a nice strat Drool They all have their uses.

[flashPUNK]

until last night, I have never owned a les paul... but, finally.... the day has come.

http://www.diaryofarockstar.com/lespaul.jpg

[iaresee]

until last night, I have never owned a les paul... but, finally.... the day has come.
That's kind of funny. My LP Special showed up last night. Wednesday night must be Les Paul night! Yours is much prettier. Mines a wee scrappy bastard. :D

http://lh4.google.com/sniff.scratch/RsHNylWwy3I/AAAAAAAAAp4/74RMJmWgsfA/s288/DSCN1089.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/sniff.scratch/95LesPaulSpecial/photo#5098582522064849778)
http://lh5.google.com/sniff.scratch/RsHGN1WwyzI/AAAAAAAAApU/7sxwteiB8wQ/s288/DSCN1083.jpg (http://picasaweb.google.com/sniff.scratch/95LesPaulSpecial/photo#5098574194123262770)

[Robert1950]

Come on LP guys! Vote !! Think Blues Breakers - Clapton, Green, Taylor. Think Paul Kossoff. Think Jimmy Page. And that's just a start !!

[flashPUNK]

Since I dont acutally own a strat (i do own a Tele), but now I do have a les paul, my vote is for the Paul.

[puscifer]

That Knopfler song is pretty much the most boring thing that I have ever seen.

[GuitaristZ]

Well...this poll is without a valid option..



the SuperStrat

[iaresee]

That Knopfler song is pretty much the most boring thing that I have ever seen.
Nah. It's second to watching the Canucks play, eh? ;)

[fingers]

I have owned 2 strats both before I owned a LP,once I bought my first LP(mid 80's standard),I sold both strats and bought another LP.Strats where great guitars for the nice clean straight forward sound needed for school,but now just seem to weak and wimpy for my particular style.While reading this thread I noticed someone mentioned that a strat would probaly sound just like a LP if one where to install Humm's.This is not the case.IMO it's the LP's weight and fat neck in combo with the pick up's that give them that "grab you by the scruff of the neck" sound that they are so famous for.

Now Tele's and Mustang's I have a great deal of use for.:rockon2:

[puscifer]

Nah. It's second to watching the Canucks play, eh? ;)

Why don't you go choke a cup away. :sport-smiley-002:

[Marcel Furlanetto]

I don't think you can directly compare these two as they are made for different applications. I love my strat and lp equally. A more suitable face off would be between a les paul and an sg.

[iaresee]

I don't think you can directly compare these two as they are made for different applications. I love my strat and lp equally. A more suitable face off would be between a les paul and an sg.
We should really close this thread. It doesn't make as much sense without the original videos. The original videos were Knopfler playing the same song on a Strat and then on a Les Paul...

[jimmy peters]

if guys would try a GRETSCH next time you have a chance,
this forumn would become redundant.

good luck
jimmy peters

[Maxer]

LOL

You may be right. I was in L & M yesterday scoring some straplocks and looked up over my head, where a Cadillac green Gretcsh was hanging in all its splendour. It was their LP type - the Duojet, maybe? If there was an altar there I'd probably have been kneeling, the thing was that beautiful. I had GAS, but bad... had to get out of there... [must... resist... pulling out plastic...]

As I was paying up for my picks and straplocks, one of the sales guys took it down for a kid to play and plugged it in for him... well, it sounded as rich as it looked. Too bad its price tag was in the mid two grand range, but then again it's probably worth every penny.

[elindso]

if guys would try a GRETSCH next time you have a chance,
this forumn would become redundant.

good luck
jimmy peters

Not here.

I have a strat and a Les Paul.

Different but both are valid.

[Gene Machine]

but i voted for les pauls. everyone talks about the Beano tone, or the woman tone, or how Clapton should have kept playing gibsons. While i like the song, no one talks about how great Claptons' tone was in 'lay down sally'. but listen to 'hideaway' from the Beano album. Or most of the cream stuff. Crossroads! (yeah i know it wasn't a LP, still a gibby though)

there is definitely a place for strats, i have some and love them. but right now i'm a les paul guy.

g.

[ssdeluxe]

...you know........in the studio I have always used the strat and had never been disapointed, the les paul, although awesome, simply hasn't been used as much in the studio...............hmmmm

killer sounders in both camps are truly hard to find, but I think the strat gets more mileage for sure !

[Robert1950]

Talking about raising a Dead Topic. :rolleyes:

[david henman]

...apples versus oranges...the debate rages on.

:sport-smiley-002:

-dh

[elindso]

Oranges are so much brighter and juicier than apples.

:smile:

[zontar]

Oranges are so much brighter and juicier than apples.

:smile:

It's easier to find a candy apple red guitar than an orange one.