so I have been looking at picking up my first strat and came across a decent 04 mim on CL. I am comparing that to an epiphone les paul studio (made in china). I am currently a bass player, so I have no feel or skill at guitar. I am figuring most people on here will say to go with the strat (both axes are the same price), but what will make the strat better? sorry for beating a dead horse.

Hello Crock921,

The Strat will be better
because of it's
1----"Original Contour Body"
2----Modality of entire parts system.
Of course there are many other
reasons but these 2 seemed to have
led me to a departure from other makers.

Cheers.

Both guitars have very different characteristics, so which one you get depends on which one you like. The Les Paul will get a warmer sound probably a chunkier neck. On the other hand the Fender has a great, fast neck and a great feel. The pickups are decent, but you may want to replace them later on. I can't comment on the Epiphone's pickups since I've never played one plugged in. If you can, get to a guitar store and play a Les Paul and a Strat. Then ask someone who's fairly good at guitar to play them for you so you can get a really good idea of how they sound. That may help you to make up your mind on them.

_________________
Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckslaird
Instagram: http://instagram.com/beckslaird

I currently owm a Strat, and an Epiphone Les Paul Ultra 2.
They are both great guitars for very different reasons.
The strat sound can't be duplicated with a Les Paul, and vice versa.
The humbuckers on the Les Paul have a sound all their own, too.
The Ultra 2 has a distinct advantage. It has a Nanomag neck pickup that gives a truly awesome acoustic sound.
But a Strat is a Strat and there is no comparison.

What kind of music do you play?
Ask yourself this first, then pick based upon your answer.

I am going to be playing mostly jazz and blues as well as classic rock. I am not into metal or punk. Some of my favorite artists are clapton, hendrix, page, and then stuff like john mayer and dave matthews and trey anastasio.

Of my 4 guitars I favor the Strats because of how they feel when your playing them. To me, the body contour makes you feel like the guitar is part of you. The LP is heavy but it`s in a class of it`s own.

_________________

Get the Strat. It fits the music you will be playing beter (my recommendation would be different if you'd said you were a metal player). The Strat is a surprisngly quality intrument for the money. If your peruse the forums a bit, you will see the discussion comparing MIMs vs MIAs. These discussions are because the MIMs are so good.

Just a note on your '04 candidate... In 2006, the MIMs got a larger tremblock. It is a snap swap to change out, and you can find an '06+ tremblock on eBay (I got one for $12).

_________________
Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

hi, first at all you must play with both. Feel the "taste" of both guitars and how do you like the sound and fits for you. Each guitar is different for everyone. You may like the sound of the Epi but feel a little heavy or bad for your play. Thats why you must play with both. In the future you can upgrade everything in each guitar (don´t hurry up with that...). Both guitars are well made but i still pick the strat (just for taste).

I own a 87 MIJ Squier strat and a 86 MIJ Fender strat with just 1 humbucker and no other pickups, I also own an Epi Les Paul standard II and an Epi Les Pauls SG-G400 custom.
You could go half way and try to get your hands on a Fender Fatstrat as this has 2 sigle coils and a humbucker which will give you the dirty sounds you may need from time to time.
I will say though that the strat feel is just sublime and comfortable (to me anyway). I would go with the strat for now and just pick up a cheepo Epi LP standard II later on (you can get them for around £130 GBP and I have modded mine with some cheap 5 wire tonerider humbuckers £28 gbp each and a push pull pot which transforms the lower quality standard Epi pups).

yeah, that is what I am thinking about doing. Thanks everyone. The strat isn't my first choice in color because it is on CL, but it seems to be better built for what I am going to be playing. a nice mim for $225 or so is not a bad deal.