I found the same thing when I had both Gibson and Epiphone Les Pauls. Some key differences are Gibson uses a much thicker slice of maple for the top. Gibson pots and selector switch are slightly better than the Epi parts. Gibson pups are also slightly better but I still despise the burstbuckers that come in most new LPs. Also I'm not a big fan of Gibson's method of binding around the frets and then trimming the binding to the shape of the frets. The Epi is done like a Fender and I much prefer that feel. When I decided to sell off a big portion of my gear I sold the Gibson and kept the Epi. I installed PRS pots in it and Dimarzio pickups. Super Distortion at the bridge and Humbucker from Hell at the neck. It now feels better than a Gibson, looks just as good, sounds significantly better and I've got about a third of the money tied up in it compared to the price of a stock Gibson.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I also have never bonded with a Les Paul type guitar wither it was Gibson, Aria Pro,Burny or Orville .
I just have never got along with them..On the other hand prior to my eyes being opened to Strats i would only play humbucker equipped guitars..
My guitar of choice was a SG.It may be because i absolutely idolized Tony Iommi and Angus Young..But even when i got older and my music style changed i still preferred the SG over the Les Paul..
Now i don't even own a SG .Although i have started gassing for another ..

My Evil glowing eyed amp says...you need a les paul...dont argue ...just do eet!!

made me crusify my strats ...lmao

Les Pauls are wonderful guitars, but I still really feel that they are just not versatile enough. Out of total playing time I play mine about .01% of the time. I always seem to play Strats. At the moment I'm pretty enamored by my home built Andy Summers Tele.

I will say that every guitar has it's place. Whenever I write a song the guitar I write it on becomes the sound I'm looking for and the song won't sound write without "that" guitar.

I know that Edge (U2) is the same way.

If I remember correctly, Mark Knopler said it best in a video that I saw on Youtube.
If I remember correctly, he said something like
"A Stratocaster can sound like a Les Paul. A Les Paul cannot sound like a Stratocaster"

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Alexander
AMSTD Strat RW Candy Cola +Callaham + Texas Specials +Tortoise shell pickguard/Fender Blues Junior III SN FSR
Salonica-Greece


Macedonia IS GREECE the last 2500 years

or, as Keith Richards says in his autbio (a must-read); " If I want bite, I go Fender. If I want warmth, Gibson."
I love the feel and tone of a Les Paul, but always find it lacking when I use one for any length of time. Much prefer Strats and 335s, and a Jazzmaster for something different.

If I want warmth, I roll off the tone pot

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Alexander
AMSTD Strat RW Candy Cola +Callaham + Texas Specials +Tortoise shell pickguard/Fender Blues Junior III SN FSR
Salonica-Greece


Macedonia IS GREECE the last 2500 years

I can deffinately get some nice, "Les Paul" like tone out a Strat and the tone knobs.

I also feel that Strats bring more of the player's personality out of the guitar.

I've found over the years that experienced player seem to gravitate from Les Pauls to Strats as their ear and tastes change.

I think one VS other is pointless, try to own both for a while and you will just find that all guitars have a place in your sonic palette (ahhh that was artsy). I play strat and LP equally and to tell you the truth I am so focused on the music that I forget sometimes which one is in my hands and they are starting to sound the same (and that is weird ).

No seriously, if you have an LP and the reason you don't play it much is the wrong feel or whatever, that particular guitar is not for you. There are tons of different LPs, SGs, PRSs, Anderson, etc on the market and you should trade yours for something else.

I'll comment on the Epi vs Gibson as well. From my observation I can tell that Epi higher end line did improve quality a lot. On the other hand you are fooling yourself with the idea that high end proper Epi LP is better than the proper production line Gibson LP. Gibson will always have a higher grade wood and most of the time a better hardware/pickups. Now this might not mean much to you as you are playing/listening the end product, but they are business and have to differentiate the product lines at various price points.

Don't get me wrong, I would not be surprised that today many Gibson studios (parhaps 2008 Standard and traditional lines) are probably CNC-ed, glued and maybe painted/binded in the Epi china factory and sent for electronic assembly and "finer" finishing treatment to Nashville with higher end Epi LPs.

my 2 coins

Ive always been a les paul man, the feeling of the neck, the weight of the body, the middley growl in the sound. I love them, however, i have found over the years that i was exceptionally lucky to have brought the one i did, ive played many many others (some of which were twice or even 3 times the price) and they havent compared to my gibson LP studio.

Ive always played in `one guitar bands`, i just like everyone to be covering their own instruments sound themselves and no-one to be stepping on eachothers toes. Anyway, NOW i have ended up playing in a more song based two guitar band. This has thrown a spanner in the works! Weve done some great gigs and tried to perfect our sound, and eventually found it was the guitars that were just a bit, well, wrong. They muddied up the overall sound, couldnt be seperated from eachother in the mix, they trod all over the bass players frequencies, and i really struggled to have my solo`s heard (even when i was blatantly loud enough!) This was when we were both playing les pauls. I have since brought my first strat in about 15 years. My singer who also plays guitar has switched to a tele. The difference in our live sound was instant and very impressive.
Quite a rambling long story, but i hope its of interest to someone!

I now find myself smiling whenever i pick up my old les paul and feel its trusty weight. I cant resist stumbling around minor scales in a bluesy way. However, for the sturdy, versatile, cutting guitar which our gigs call for, im so glad i now have the strat and will never look back. I also like the fact that i now only carry round £400 worth of guitar to each gig, instead of breaking my back lugging round the heavier les paul whch originally cost nearly £1000!

in my case, id prefer a les paul, but have had to go with a strat and am very happy with it. Perhaps its also the difference between me living out my rock star dreams, and then now playing more for the band and fitting in with whatever each song needs?

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`I prefer not to listen to music that I can't rip off or improve on` - Ian Dury

I bought a new LP Epi last year, an Ultra with an amazing body top and gold trim. I think it is well built, and sounds just great when I am in the Jimmy Page mood. Nothing will compare. In real life, I prefer jazz guitar, but somehow have interpreted that through Strats. I love them since I first started playing them a few years back. I have ten now, no CS models yet, but quality and nicely preserved AmStandards and Strat Pluses, all from 1987 to the present. The older ones were great instruments, the newer ones are also fantastic, and I take turns playing them all. No closet queens here - everyone has to produce music. All have their personality and things they do well, and nothing calms me after a tense night working in the ER as playing blues or rock on a hot Fender. I originally thought I was gonna be a Gibson man, but handling Fender Strats has ruined me forever, and I love it! Glad to have fallen in with like minds here!

This is a topic that I am currently close to. I started playing guitar a couple of years ago after a 25 year departure. Since then I have purchased several strats and squiers and love them all, even my 2 plywood korean squiers.

As a teenage guitarist, a long long time ago, I had always wanted a Gibson LP Standard. Then, as now, I just cannot get myself to fork over that kind of cash for 1 guitar. I can buy 3 new MIA strats the cost of one Gibbie LP. ($3,000)

A couple of weeks ago I was in my favorite guitar shop and started tinkering with the Epi LP's. One tobacco sunburst "plain top" instrument just kept coming back to me. I ended up purchasing that guitar and am enjoying it very much. It's not a Gibson but I really cannot tell much difference. For $500.00 I have a very close to equivalent guitar to the Gibson. it's my only non-strat electric. I have no desire now to spend the $3,000 for the Gibson unit.

I had a real Gibson SG for a while during the late 70's and early 80's. I bought it new because I would not lay out the cash for the LP. It was a mistake. I sold it and cannot say I miss it or cared much for it. I would not take all the SG's in the world for a good Stratocaster, except that I would sell them all and retire on the cash.

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I remember when we were free!

i tried out a les paul last weekend at a store just to try it out i didn't like the feel... the sound was good but i couldn't get the right tone off of it... a metal head friend of mine got me to try it out but i honestly felt that i couldn't express myself through it (it felt almost artificial to me)... my friend got pissed for not liking it but i wouldn't feel good playing it... i dunno my first strat just felt right when i got it at a music store the neck profile was perfect... i'm a strat freak i admit it and people hate that i always use the same guitar but in terms of feeling and sound i'd go for it any day... like a wise man once said "you could make a strat sound like a les paul but you can't make a les paul sound like a strat" although i am a rocker and i do get some feeback i do love the struggle might get a fat strat soon

I too prefer jazz guitars, but feedback would be an issue in a rock situation, and I play acoustic as a solo act, though I occasionally go electric-The Jazzmaster does a very nice job in that situation, and the 335 is a happy medium between my GAS* for a LP and the fact that a 335 is more suited to my style of playing and is more versatile--and, in most cases, lighter. The Strat is always the one I reach for when I need one guitar (though the 335 is less than a length behind and Jazzmaster is coming on strong). With these three guitars and some badass amps, pedals and Guild acoustics, I'm pretty well covered for any situation that might arise.