I've got 28 guitars...these are primarily a combination of solid bodies and archtops. I own 3 Stratocasters ('08 Am. Std., '07 Roland Ready MIM, '91 $@! Squire), my JUST purchased '07 Telecaster, and three Gibsons ('91 Les Paul, '01 SG, '01 ES 135). I love all of my guitars because they all have qualities very unique to each of their models. My '91 Les Paul Studio is a bit beat up with tarnished gold hardware, but it has the best action of any of my 28 guitars and sustains forever! That said, I absolutely LOVE my '08 Stratocaster (Olympic White/White P/G)...it screams, and it is very difficult to put down when I play it through my BK Butler Tube Driver (any EJ fans out there?). The Tele I just purchased through Elderly in Lansing plays like butter....I can never understand why someone like Joe Bonamasa tends to trash Fenders now that he is on the Gibson bandwagon...it's all cyclical. I think there is a place for Fenders and Gibsons (especially older Gibsons...I'm not a fan of Henry J at all, and lately, where Gibson quality has gone down, Gibsons prices have gone out of this world!).

As for quality I feel like both Gibson and Fender came back from the brink of death after they realized that they needed get back to making guitars with better quality. I'm more of a Fender fan so I know more about them. Fender regained a lot of credibility after they came under new ownership in the late '90's. I have found some Fender’s with poor fret work done. This has been mostly MIM, but I did play a Custom Shop guitar that had very sharp frets on the edges.
Also my EC Strat had a small crack in the paint at the neck socket just behind the neck. Also the neck was put on crooked. This was all from the moment I pulled it out of the box. I forget the crack is there and I fixed the neck.

As for Gibson I can only speak for my own experience, but I've owned a Les Paul Studio and it was really sweet. It was even a 2nd and virtually flawless.

In '04 I bought a, “AAA Ice Tea Burst Les Paul” and it has three flaws.
1. The nut doesn't keep in tune very well (Gibson uses crap material. Bone is the way to go).
2. One of the wholes for a tuning key screw was made too big.
3. The finish had cracked at the seams. I spoke with someone who explained that this has to do with the fact that Gibson doesn't take the time to let their guitars sit before they send them out of the factory. They polish them up and then send them out the door. I'm not sure if it's true, but it makes sense. Anyone who has ever opened up a brand new Gibson guitar knows that, "Gibson Smell." That's gasses from the finish escaping the case.

I have Never played a bad Gibson....just some better than others. i have played on the other hand, some bad fender guitars unfortunately. course the fenders i own are friggin schweet!!

I play 2 brands of guitar Fender and Gretsch. My reasons are simple. I had an LP Custom which was just terrible. Looked great but sounded like a cat in a dryer no matter what I did to try and make it sound better. So I eventually sold it. I love Strats, Teles and Gretsch Hollowbodies. That said, LPs have their own unique sound, but I got what I was looking for with Fender and Gretsch. Plus...LPs just don't look right in my hands
ABS

I've played a couple of bad Gibsons with quality issues of significance. They had some QC problems for a while there. Instruments that should have never got past QC, should have been destroyed, shipping out and hanging on store walls with wood defects, fit & finish issues, etc. I've also played some bad Fenders including a horrible Telecaster that sticks in my mind for being the worst sounding Fender I ever played. It looked and felt fine.

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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 was at gc recently and gave two nice guitars a test run, one was a 2000$ Gibson lp custom and I wasn't impressedat all to say the least, I was surprised to find a 2000$ guitar with sharp frets, like they didn't take any time to smooth it out. The neck looked sloppily put together, it sounded ok, but not 2000$ worth of ok. 2nd was a beautiful sunburst maple necked American telecaster. 1000$ I couldn't find a single thing I didn't like about it, played like butter and I play the blues and it sounded amazing. I goto guitar center to play their expensive toys, also played a 2000$ Gibson acoustic which I found was crap and a 100$ Marshall had much better tones IMHO. I'd love to own alot of Gibson hollowbodies and a nice lp but ATM I'm just a poor guy who owns 1 mim and that's it.

I've played some Gibsons lately that, while they sounded good, there was some very questionable finishing and wood-work--sharp frets, which are unacceptable, poorly cut nuts (Bobbits??) And with some hollows and semihollows, sawdust coming out of the f-holes!! Fenders I have picked up (USA only) have seemed far more consistent, and the Guild electrics they were making were across-the-board excellent. I'd go Heritage if wanting a Gibson (though they can be hit-and-miss) or Historic for Gibson-far better guitars for just a few more $$$ than off-the-shelf, but Gibson's business practices and high prices are insulting.

I had a few problems like the last two guys were talking about. I ordered this Custom Shop ES 336 Natural. First of all it took like 2 months longer to get it that I was told. It is a 2004 model and some said something about moving part of their guitar manufacturing somewhere else. (Didn't we have a thread dealing with both Fender and Gibson delays and why???) When I finally received it, it was pushed out the door too fast as the finish was not nearly cured. I put the guitar on a guitar stand for about 3 hours, just to admire it, and when I picked it up the rubber stop on the guitar stand left a blemish on the back of the guitar. I waited a while to let the finish cure more and then buffed it out. It seemed like the rest of the guitar was pretty good, but frankly I did not play it that much before passing it on to someone else.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Actually I like the way the Epi's do the neck to body join better, it's a better wood to wood contact, so since i don't buy into the 'type of finish shaping the tone' mythology, i think not only are the Epi's a MUCH better value, they're actually a better guitar.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

When Epiphones are built in the USA again I will consider one. The Guild Bluesbird of the late 90s-early 00s was a magnificent guitar that was in LP territory, but sweeter-sounding, definitely better built than Gibsons. I had a 90s Les Paul Studio that had a few issues (tuners breaking off-didn't like the pickups). But that is an era that was considered a good one for Gibsons. OTOH I have a 1972 ES-335 that is wonderful, an era that Gibsonites bash. As always, YMMV.

Well , I have 2 higher end strats,a SRV and a 59 thinskin they are phenomenal guitars .I also purchased 2 Epis, a Dot Deluxe and a Les Paul.I have to agree the workmanship is astounding for the money.I see both the strat and lester as doing what they do better than any other guitar.Want quack? Get a strat .Want sustain for days ? Nothing does it better than a lester.Both are great guitars , but so different.I personally prefer a strat .I think its more versatile . I can coax better tones out of a strat than a Les Paul, but that because the strat is what i cut my teeth on.

If you don't mind me asking, 28 guitars and only 7 of them are Fender or Gibson? What brands are the other 21?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I have an American Strat in sunburst and a blonde Highway 1 Tele and really like them both. I have been lusting after a Sunburst Les Paul Standard and after reading the posts I am rethinking making the leap. It appears that some new ones have QC issues. Maybe I should look at used, of so what years seem to have the best quality?
It appears that the 70s through the mid 80s Gibsons had problems because of bad management so probably something after the mid 80s might be the way to go. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Bob

No stupid shims angling the neck and better headstock to neck joint.
Yep, Eastern Epi's get my vote too.
A much more solid construction that comes somewhere near rivaling the big F.
Anyway, you could finish a Epi better than Gibson would.

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No no and no

Two different guitars.
It's easier for me to:
A. Compare my Strat to my PRS Cu24;
B. Compare my CU24 to my LP Studio.

As for comparing Epi LP to Gibson LP (I have owned both) the Epiphone is a carved mahogany guitar with a maple laminate - there's a lot of mahogany beneath that top, giving it a smooth sound. One lady loved the sound so much she bought it from me instead of auditioning guitars in a store. The Gibson LP is a flat mahogany guitar with a carved maple top; you pay for that maple and for the parts, which is why I chose the Studio over the other models. The Studio is comparable in price to the Epiphone.

Get a LP guitar ONLY if you need the thicker LP sound OR just because you want one. That's what I did; I don't play the Gibson, but I don't regret having it.

Keep the Strat regardless