Maybe, but to me anything with the 24.75" scale and a humbucker is a LP "type". Many of the guitars you posted are both of those things.


Dime for example playing a Dean ML, was 24.75" and a humbucker. The Flying V is going to sound a little different but is the same exact specs and same pick ups as a LP or SG. And after you put a the guitars through a high gain amp is the tone from a V to an LP just hugely different?

Maybe I should really say Gibson specs vs Fender specs.


edit
Also if you are used to playing an LP then playing an ESP Eclipse, SG, V, Dean ML etc will feel natural.

If you are used to playing a strat then picking up a telecaster or EVH will feel natural.

That's John frusciante, not Jimmy page

quote:

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Maybe, but to me anything with the 24.75" scale and a humbucker is a LP "type". Many of the guitars you posted are both of those things.


Dime for example playing a Dean ML, was 24.75" and a humbucker. The Flying V is going to sound a little different but is the same exact specs and same pick ups as a LP or SG. And after you put a the guitars through a high gain amp is the tone from a V to an LP just hugely different?

Maybe I should really say Gibson specs vs Fender specs.


edit
Also if you are used to playing an LP then playing an ESP Eclipse, SG, V, Dean ML etc will feel natural.

If you are used to playing a strat then picking up a telecaster or EVH will feel natural.

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Ok yeh I didn't pick up what you were saying at all. I thought you meant a literal LP, and not just referring to overall specs.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I just think its funny how similar most guitars are. I think a good guitar is important but I don't feel that there is much difference brand to brand. They are all going to pretty much have one of two scale lengths, use off the shelf tuners, pick ups, mounting hardware, types of wood etc.

And because of that I have a hard time thinking that there is much difference sometimes. The only big difference is the attention to detail in the more expensive guitars.

I think the only company to anything really different and good recently is PRS. They came up with a new tail pc design, new tuner design, and their own scale length.

well you have hollow bodies vs semi hollow vs solid body, neck thru vs bolt on vs glue on, fixed bridge vs floating vs floyd rose, different fret sizes and shapes, neck sizes and shapes (and thickness at the nut), fretboard vs no fretboard, lots of different woods, finishes,

All those things make every guitar a little different, let alone electronics which will make the biggest impact.

I mean I have an american fender and a homemade fender knock off, and they play and sound totally different.

I also have an epiphone Emperor hollow body, and I bet it is completely different than a Gibson ES hollow body.. I only wish I had one to compare

Going back to the mention of guitars for metal music: Above all else, they must be pointy!

In the 80s and 90s, cheap guitars were Grade-A Crap. They played and looked cheap. Gibson Les Pauls were great. American Strats were great. PRS, made in the US, were great. But cheap guitars lined the walls of many a pawn shop, and they all looked like something Steve Vai threw out in the dumpster. Then sometime in the 2000s, overseas manufacturing improved, technology improved, electronics improved, distribution and a bunch of other stuff improved. Today the price difference between a new PRS SE (Korean made) and a PRS (US made) is out of whack. There may be a 4 times difference in price, but only a 1.5x difference in quality. The Mexican strats are approaching the quality of American Strats. I don't know about the difference between a Gibson and an Epiphone Les Paul, but I would think its closer than it was in 1988 when I paid $500 for my Epiphone Les Paul that looked just like Slash's.

Cheap guitars, man. They've come a long way.

And the pawn shops were packed like a backstage party hanging full of pointy ugly cheap guitars...

I've never seen a Les Paul with a single coil put in after market. Fender had to start selling Strats win double humbuckers. Point - Les Paul.

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I've never seen a Les Paul with a single coil put in after market. Fender had to start selling Strats win double humbuckers. Point - Les Paul.

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I've seen a lot of people put P-90's in a les Paul type guitar.

Think he's talking about just a straight up single coil.

Yeah, I think the early Les Pauls all had P-90s, and you'll still see some reissues or Juniors with P-90s.

Yep, that's all I know about pick-ups.

How does a Mexican Strat compare to an American Strat? I've got my eyes on MIM Strat for $300 on craigslist.

I've seen countless players who "think" their Strat can make any tone, including the Les Paul tone; and often try to do so with a modeling amp. The truth is, while that Strat may be sounding great to you onstage, or in your rehearsal space or bedroom, out in the audience it sounds much thinner compared to a Les Paul, and especially since you've got your light strings, light playing touch, and digital modeling all mucking up the tone.

A Les Paul through a tube amp will sit better in a mix. Hell, even a Strat through a tube amp will be an improvement. I've been onstage with plenty of modeling amp players, and a decent tube amp behind me always buried those guys, usually with half the power and speakers of a modeling amp. You can keep turning up the volume of the modeling amp and the separation of the strings in the tone never gets any more distinctive in the mix. Tube amps are much easier to mix.

Strats still have their place, and have a tone that a Les Paul can't produce; but for overall good tone in the mix, the Les Paul wins (unless it's plugged into a silicone amp!).

I haven't owned a mexican strat but I have owned a Japanese made strat.

American>Japanese>Mexican.

Having said that, you can find some great non-USA strats. You'll have better luck with Japanese than Mexican however.

Mexican strats are going to have generic/likely crap pups, generic/likely crap tuning heads, generic/likely crap bridge, etc. You can still end up with a good one, but the odds are greatly decreased. You also have a higher chance of getting sharp fret ends because they aren't dressed as professionally, etc.

A Mexi-strat can be a good parts/Frankenstein guitar. The body and neck should be fine - they're all CNC'd anyway (computer used to control the saw the cuts the neck and body). It's the additional parts that are going to be substandard.

With the right pedals/amp, or swapping the pickups, as long as the tuning heads stay in tune it can be fine. I don't know pricing however so I can't say $300 is a good deal. My guess is that's on the higher end but it's just a guess.

I love my PRS SE Singlecut. One of these days I'll get one of the nicer models with the birds on the inlays.

I'm glad I researched Jap vs Mex Strats because of this thread. Apparently its well known that the Japs are better. I'll start looking for one of those instead.

I've got a PRS SE that I play out with all the time. Awesome guitar. I leave my Telecaster and Les Paul at the house for gigs. The Les Paul is too heavy and the Telecaster buzzes too much. Plus I don't want to leave an expensive guitar sitting out at a bar full of strangers or a party full of drunks.

Since fender overhauled the Ensenada, Mexico plant the difference between MIA and MIM isn't much, and I don't think it's a $700 difference if so.