I saw that episode. It was a nice LP. It would have to suck to discover your 60 model LP was an early 70's huh? What a drag.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

for sure. [/quote]

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I like my tone like my women. Full round bottom, sweet and clean but can get as dirty as I desire.

dont argue with your bro-in-law....everyone has their own opinion....both are great guitar's. Even though im a Strat man I am thinking on getting a Les Paul for my next guitar....instead of arguing, tell him his Eppi is nice also....give him a little help, let him know he could check out the nut make sure its smooth maybe put a little grafite (however it is spelled) in the slots.....if that dont work im sure new tuners will fix the going out of tune.

but you and your bro-in-law already have one thing in common....you both like to play music...that can be a start of a great friendship....I have two older bro-in-laws that play guitar (one I tought to play, he is a gibson fan) the other even after 38 years, we still call eachother at least once a month just to talk about guitars and amps.

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2008 Am. Std. Strat
2008 Am. Deluxe Strat
2010 Am. Deluxe Strat
2011 Am. Std. Strat
2011 Am. Std. Strat
Hot Rod Deluxe
Hot Rod Deville 410

Most of the time I dont argue with him. He and I grew up together from around age 12 or so then he married my sister. So we've been friends for 20 yrs. For some reason it seems he's always on the defensive about things just when having a general coversation. It's always been that way. So I usually just agree with him so as to get him to hush. But I can't agree with someone putting down strats. Both guitars have thier place. It's just a matter of personal preference. I'm planning on getting a Les Paul too pretty soon if my buisiness continues to do well. Im gonna need some good advice about'em before I choose one though. I know there are some, even the really expensive ones that aren't that good. Just have to play as many as I can find before buying one. There's still another strat I have to have first. Haven't found it yet. I might make it from parts.

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"Damn Right I Got the Blues"

Awww man I know this all to well... Not with a brother-in-law, but with a local guitar store owner that I must go to now, because my favorite guitar store right down the road closed down... Anywho comparing Fender to Gibson is like comparing Apples to Oranges. They both do different things. They are both shared by the common factor that they are guitars. I have seen some Epiphones that are made from a single piece of wood. Some Gibsons too.

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“The guitar is a small orchestra. It is polyphonic. Every string is a different color, a different voice.”


- Andreas Segovia

There is a toll free 1 800 GIBOSN phone line that you can phone to ask questions. I have been playing professionally for over forty years and have worked repairing building and selling guitars and it doesn't matter what theory says, it matters what works in real life. There are so many of the best players in the world that use both Les Pauls and Strats. It doesn't matter what is used it matters on the results. Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Johnson, Eric Clapton so many others use Fender Strats or guitars that are similar and they get great sound because they are great players. Your B in L needs to grow up. You should buy a Gibson Les Paul Studio just to show him up and then you can go on You Tube and learn a bunch of things on guitar to play better than him. You will have a guitar that is better than his Epiphone that doesn't stay in tune. If he took the guitar to a repairman they would put the strings on correctly and stretch the strings and polish dress and lubricate all the string contact points as well as set up the guitar including intonation and neck relief. Some players press the strings too hard and pull the strings sharp from poor playing technique. Guys with big egos you just can't win with guys like that, they are always " right ". There are new Mexican Standard Fender Strats with humbuckers for $499 or sometimes less. I have owned many brands of great guitars, I like Gibsons but I have always favored Fender Strats for being the most comfortable to play and having the best definition and clarity especially on low notes. His Epiphone I'm sure doesn't have a one piece body and the neck is a different piece of wood glued into the body and the neck is rosewood fingerboard glued onto the mahogany neck and it probably has a maple top on the body that is glued onto the mahogany body.

bingo!

OP: tell your brother-in-law about the Swiss cheese. A quick google search will lead you to X-ray images showing the "tone holes" under the maple top

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

The best value in guitars is getting a Mexican Strat and dicide if you want one with a humbucker in the bridge position or the regular three single coils. You can always upgrade by getting Dimarzio Area 58 pick ups in the middle and neck positions with and Area 61 in the bridge position or a Seymour Duncan JB or Little 59 in the bridge. A Gibson Les Paul Studio or faded Studio is the best value in that style of guitar because you can get them for about 1000 to 1200 discounted and they have Burstbucker or Gibson 498T and 490 pick-ups that are used in the more expensive guitars. The more expensive guitars have binding on the neck or and body as well as highly figured wood and fancier inlays with don't contribute to the sound so you can get a Gibson Les Paul Studio that sounds great for a reasonable price. If you want an American Fender Strat The Special or American Standard are great guitars. Changing the pick ups if you are not into the stock pick ups can give you a wide range of sounds. You can hear and see every option in videos on You Tube.

When I was in high school, I had two Framus guitars. The first one was an ES335 copy, the second an SG copy.
I learned how to play on these.
Anytime I picked up a strat I felt like I was swimming in molasses.
They are slower to play.
The Gibsons are shorter scale necks and you can move faster as the frets are closer together.
Not only that, you can bend strings easier and higher.
Unfortunately they have limited tone.
And that's why I now have about 40 strat style guitars, 3 of which are real Fenders.
As my fretting hand got stronger I was able to bend on the strat and have liked several of the different fret radius's available from 7.25 to 12.
I prefer strats overall as the five way switch allows greater tonal range and expression.
With a humbucking option you can get just about any gibson sound out there.
Gibson responded with an SG3 I believe, which had three pickups and a 5 way switch.
Gibson also built some really nice strat style bodies, as most of you know.
I find that the neck and pickup electronics have more to do with playing than anything else.
The basic wood stock is important too but it seems electronics are more important.
Whether a neck is bolted on or glued together doesn't seem to make much difference in my experience.

Your brother in law certainly hasn't seen many Les Pauls,I've seen plenty with 2 piece mahogany backs and maybe even 3.I have a 63 Hagstrom Corvette that appears to be one piece but that's just the body that's one piece and the neck although one piece of mahogany also had to be made separately to achieve the neck through body effect and the guitar cost plenty new-the original owner paid $750 for it in Sweden in 1963.If not impossible it would be prohibitively expensive to make a guitar out of one continuous piece of wood.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I'm an unfortunate person who has an idiot BIL also,after 30+ years I can almost ignore him,start working on that.