electric guitar battle

Haha "dean ML". NO RICKENBACKER NO CREDIBILITY. I voted "les paul", it was not a difficvlt choice

Like voting between a hammer, a screwdriver, a wrench, and a crul ringmaster.

Real answer: I've never played a Dean, but have a serious place in my heart for teles.

the wrench can do the work of the hammer and the screwdriver in a pinch imo

although idk I got a les paul that when soundmen first hear it they go "good christ that's a beautiful sound" but the les paul is more demanding of the player than a tele which is just good times all day

GIBSON SG

(voted Les Paul)

yeah ok actually sg belongs on this list, it is the only other make as canonical as those big three. damn. makin polls too early in the morning. ok well if you want to vote sg just vote for the dean I guess

never played a dean, les pauls are a chore and i hate strats like a mortal enemy. tele it is.

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/shop_image/product/fc1849c5b62c2dfa0688a687b2fd579f.jpg

4EVA

However, I voted for the Stratocaster.

playing Deans is funny, they feel more like farm implements than musical instruments to me. they sure can take a beating. I don't own one because honestly what would I do with one but on the other hand every metal cat I know has a go-to Dean and I feel like I should have one just on principle

Totally boycotting this. Death to solid-body hegemony.

never really played any of those, but when I save up the money I'm definately going to buy a Tele
(still, Jazzmasters/Jaguars are IMO the sexiest guitars ever designed)

jags look awesome but in my opinion they don't live up to their looks

Vast Halo OTM. No Rickenbacker, no credibility.

I don't play guitar but if I did I want to play a es-335, strung up high

my vote wouldn't have made a difference anyway

(somebody told me that the es-335 is just a cheap knockoff of some famous and expensive guitar, I am not a guitar geek so I'll stop typing)

I voted Strat because that's what I play. I like the versatility of it and the clear, cutting tone. But there is a place for all of these. Every good guitar has a unique sound that just belongs in certain types of music.

i vote tele > stratocaster > dean ml > les paul

you can't actually vote that many times

old roommates always had les pauls and sgs lying around but i never warmed up to them (pretty limited experience with thru-neck stuff but this seems to be the only constant i can point a finger at). usually drawn to trem'd things like jazz's and strats, but since there's no jazzmaster in this poll, and i've never played an ML, i'm voting tele cuz in my experience they cut deeper than strats and if i really desperately needed a trem i guess i could bigsby the bastard.

Voted Les Paul but before pulling the trigger searched long and hard on the list for Steinberger because I still have a soft spot in my head for those weird little things.

I have a Les Paul, but voted Tele for some reason. Strats have always annoyed me.

i vote tele > stratocaster > dean ml > les paulman

man les pauls may be demanding on the player & vary widely in quality but a good Kalamazoo LP through a decent amp is a downright beautiful sound

really hard to choose between strats and teles. really, really hard.

Huh - didn't know there were Kalamazoo electrics as well! I got an old war-era Kalamazoo acoustic from my grandfather and it's a thing of joy even though it's seen better days!

Strat, because I like to use the middle pickup for rhythm playing, and none of the other guitars have one (assuming stock configs).

xp everything they made before '74 came from kalamazoo

Wait wait are you talking brand name or location of manufacture? Because I'm talking brand (as well as location obv).

I just meant where they were made.

OK gotcha! Carry on!

Totally boycotting this. Death to solid-body hegemony.

Dude "Telecaster" includes this, which it what I usually play:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Fh2UO39BL._SS400_.jpg

Love the sound of Strats but hate playing them. Les Paul necks are generally too chunky for my stubby little finger. So Teles it is.

I have the stubby little finger problem as well, but get along with Strats OK. I guess because I never hook my thumb around the neck onto the bass strings.

Love the sound of Strats but hate playing them.

OTM.

Does the arm contour on the front ever fit underneath anyone's actual arm?

The Stratocaster is the greatest guitar ever designed. Or maybe it would be better to say that Leo Fender was the greatest designer of electric guitars and the strat was the pinnacle of his work.

My reasons:

- It was modern. The LP with its set neck and carved top still had one foot in older lutherie traditions. Fender guitars were a radical break with that past and moved guitars into a modern era of mass production with auto finishes, bolt-on necks, and easily interchangeable parts.

- Comfort. Dual cutaway + body contouring

- 3 Pickups

- Synchronized trem (or not, if you don't want it)

- The strat is a "platform." I think it's fair for a Les Paul fan to say that an LP copy with a bolt-on neck and single coil pickups wouldn't be a Les Paul anymore. But conversely, I think you can drop humbuckers in a strat, block the trem, give it a floyd rose, take away the pickguard, throw a tele neck on there, etc. and somehow it's still as strat in spirit.

- Personal reasons: I prefer the scale length and fingerboard radius. I prefer single coils. Overall they're just way more comfortable for me to play than LPs. And they're lighter which is great. I don't buy into the whole '70s/'80s mass=sustain nonsense.

Dean ML? WTF?

ah aero fuck yer killing me here dude

voted tele but really i am voting for ASAT

I'm strictly a semihollowbody (335 knockoffs) dude but of the available options, I chose the Tele. Les Pauls are like the snooziest possible guitar to own/play if you're a rock guitarist. Strats aren't far behind but at least they're a little more streamlined.

Love the sound of Strats but hate playing them. Les Paul necks are generally too chunky for my stubby little finger. So Teles it is.

― a seminar on ass play for kids or something (Phil D.), Sunday, October 3, 2010 1:04 PM (9 hours ago)

Early-70s SGs have skinny-ass necks at the headstock, good for the short-fingered, possibly a good substitute for an LP. I have long fingers, though, so while I love the sound, playing an open D chord is a pain in the ass.

BTW, how can anyone (like hypnopriapism up there) HATE strats but like teles? That doesn't make any sense to me. I think a lot of people are just voting on perceived style.

It's that clean middle-pickup Clapton sound. Doesn't exist on a Tele.

For me, the strat has so many different possible sounds and colors that it's hard not to like. I've been playing strats for about 20 years and not much that I've done ended up sounding like Clapton. (not necessarily saying that's a good or bad thing though)

I find teles a lot more comfortable to play than strats, is all.

strats just don't feel right to me, so the sound almost becomes irrelevant. plus i think they mad ugly

tele has been my favorite sound for the last year or so, but les paul is all time fave sound and i'd probably vote for it even if SG and es-335 were here (which they should be but there u go etc)

Les Pauls are like the snooziest possible guitar to own/play if you're a rock guitarist

So OTM. It's the guitar eeeeeeeeeverybody had in their dorm room. Everybody. They're decent guitars but you couldn't get any more middle-of-the-road.

I play a semi-hollow bodied Tele, just like the ones Phil D. posted, and I love it so I'm voting for that. Strats are decent too, but they don't have the same punch Teles do.

corny indie fuxxors in hating Les Pauls SHOCKER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk46UvfjTYM&feature=related

No. Seriously. Stratocaster.

http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/85001603.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA5482FA0687AEED6AD624C1BC3C05CDA02E247E0A426CE5411A0

http://ds.mk-guitar.com/lp84.jpg

http://www.lespaulguide.com/images/PeteTownshend.jpg

http://www.changingworld.com/catalog/images/A-B1436.jpg

Don't like the Strat-style knobs on the Tele

Those are actually amp knobs. They were used on the tele custom & deluxe models in the '70s so it's really more of a tele thing.

D'oh!

Well, EVH is most famous for his self-assembled "Frankenstrat," isn't he? For that matter, SRV played a cobbled together Strat, and Springsteen's famous Tele is a unique cobbled together thing, too. Prince's famous Tele was some weird Korean knock-off. And all these dudes have and use so many different guitars it almost doesn't matter. Townshend famously recorded a lot of Who stuff on a Gretsch, I think, but no one really ever saw him play one of those on stage. Similarly, Johnny Marr used all sorts of guitars in the studio, but favored the Rick live.

D'oh!

They do look weird on those new Fender Blacktops though. They look especially bad on the white strat pickguard. They're perfect on customs & deluxes though IMO.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-7/1052255/FenderUSA1975TeleDeluxeBody_3.jpg

Townshend famously recorded a lot of Who stuff on a Gretsch, I think, but no one really ever saw him play one of those on stage.

Tons of Townshend Gretsch history/info here: http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/gretsch.html

And here's where it got smashed (later repaired):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qv6QTrWXN4

i have no idea what you're talking about

http://www.vintagekramer.com/Ed/guitar-5150lespaul.jpg

(xxxpost)

I think you meant to post this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/EVH_frankenstrat.jpg

Or, if you're nuts, this: http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/EVH-Eddie-Van-Halen-Frankenstein-Replica-Electric-Guitar?sku=513703

$25,000!!!!!!!!

there are dudes who will build you an "exact replica" for around a grand all day long. it's strangely tempting.

LOL

http://www.vanhalenguitars.com/images/dsc01274.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/durbien/kramer_11_212.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/428004078_be4eb9abf3_o.jpg

ok fucking loving the EVHed drills in that first picture

my college roommate's most prized possession was a strat* (I think) that was built to mimic yngwie malmsteen's strat as closely as possible

*I think it was a strat. whatever it was, it's the one that yngwie plays the most often, it's kind of creamy white.

yeah that would be the yngwie signature strat probably.

(pssst its kinda a piece of shit. expensive tho.)

haha I'm not sure if it was the signature official yngwie strat or just one that he got to mimic it

also can you guys tell me about es-335's, just in general

Suggest Ban Permalink

my college roommate's most prized possession was a strat* (I think) that was built to mimic yngwie malmsteen's strat as closely as possible

*I think it was a strat. whatever it was, it's the one that yngwie plays the most often, it's kind of creamy white.

― Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile (dayo), Monday, October 4, 2010 6:06 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah that would be the yngwie signature strat probably.

(pssst its kinda a piece of shit. expensive tho.)

― the great aussie ballkicking vids (jjjusten), Monday, October 4, 2010 6:08 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha I'm not sure if it was the signature official yngwie strat or just one that he got to mimic it

― Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile (dayo), Monday, October 4, 2010 6:09 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

Speaking of Yngwie, what exactly are the benefits of a scalloped fretboard?

Easier wanking action.

Enhanced bendiness!

Speaking of Yngwie, what exactly are the benefits of a scalloped fretboard?

― Louis CK BK ANYBODYK (lpz), Tuesday, October 5, 2010 12:10 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

haha I just remembered that my roomie's strat did have a scalloped fretboard, but I can't remember if he had a guy do it or if it was indeed the signature model

It says on Wikipedia that John McLaughlin had scalloped fretboards and that it made doing microtonal, eastern-influenced stuff easier.

ES-335s are pretty great. Think: John Fogerty, Bernard Butler, Ted Leo... their tone is pretty warm, which makes them good for jazz, too. Like Larry Carlton. But as far as dual humbucker Gibsons go, the SG is more in line with the rest of the guitars in this thread. It's sort of like the Telecaster's tougher second cousin, but just as versatile.

Another strike against Strats for me (irrational, I know) is that I can't even look at one without thinking of Eric Clapton.

it is a shame so many dbags like clapton and yngwie ever picked up a strat

This Strat player should mitigate the damage of all those dickweeds:

http://theselvedgeyard.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/buddy_holly88193326_502.jpg

I've noticed that a lot of '50s Strats, like Buddy's, sound pretty similar to Teles. It's like they hadn't discovered the "quacky" pick-up combo that every single electric blues player now uses. I guess the 5-way pick-up switch wasn't formally added til the late '70s, though.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

love the tele 4vr but must choose LP in the end... if you can't get with the humbuckers, there's always the LP Special...

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/6702/lpspecialvosampeg.jpg

Speaking of Yngwie, what exactly are the benefits of a scalloped fretboard?

If memory serves, wasn't Richie Blackmore the originator of scalloped fretboards?

This Strat player should mitigate the damage of all those dickweeds:

And these guys too:

http://www.gilmourish.com/wp-content/images/blackstrat_72.jpg

http://www.jerrysleftyguitars.com/left_handed_artists/dick_dale.jpg

FWIW, Townshend has been playing Strats pretty consistently for the past ten years. Though he has always stated that he starts with the amps first and then works backwards to the guitar.

^^ more proof that the strat is the last refuge of a scoundrel

look what happened to clapton when he switched from his LP and 335...

^^ more proof that the strat is the last refuge of a scoundrel

look what happened to clapton when he switched from his LP and 335...

It was all over for Clapton when he switched from this:

http://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/media/users/frankenslade/claptontele.gif

BTW, rogermexico Knopfler used Strats for years (hell, the original Dire Straits logo was a Strat) until he reduced himself to using a Les Paul on "Money For Nothing"

Pretty sure he 90% Strat still

voted dean ge.

man, did no one get what i was up to with those pics ;_;

though EVH may be a special case since the frankenstrat was built around a PAF

http://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/media/blogs/rth/mc5.gif
http://www.muzprosvet.ru/graphics/can-michael-malcolm.jpg
http://www.bakedziti.net/images/RonAsheton.jpg
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/akkun.0308/tribe/makeup/y-05.jpg
http://www.guitarontheedge.co.uk/images/heavy_metal_guitarists/Ritchie_blackmore_1.jpg

wk, who is the second-to-last pic there?

look how fun

http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/0/5/3/8/15528350-15528352-large.jpg

wk, who is the second-to-last pic there?

guy from flower travellin band

FWIW, Townshend has been playing Strats pretty consistently for the past ten years. Though he has always stated that he starts with the amps first and then works backwards to the guitar.

― Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, October 7, 2010 9:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

There's an absurd amount of info on Townshend's Strat rigs here: http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/fenderecstrat.html

If memory serves, wasn't Richie Blackmore the originator of scalloped fretboards?

Did he use one before John McLaughlin?

Dunno who was first, but I'd assumed that McLaughlin used a scalloped board for a different purpose (microtones) than Blackmore/Malmsteen (speed). McLaughlin's scalloped guitar was also an acoustic, was it not?

That Flower Travelin Band photo reminded me of another cool Strat player:

http://www.acidmothers.com/cgi-bin/tour/L002_2003amg_london/_img/kawabata_AMT.jpg

and another favourite of mine:

http://dwars.radio6.nl/files/2009/03/loren-connors-gitaar.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

http://guitarfixation.com/images/pic/Leo_Fender_by_Bob_Perine.jpg