Crayon Sky Music

Are Epiphone and Gibson electric guitars more consistent than Fender stratocasters? What is your opinion?

Sometimes I’ll play an American strat and it does not have the quality of another strat of the same price. They seem very inconsistent. Whereas I never seem to play a bad Gibson or Epiphone Les Paul. Why is that? Do Gibsons and Epiphones have more quality than Fenders?

The setups on Fenders really seem to vary a lot. I figure the ones that were set up on Mondays (hangover) and Fridays (gotta go drink) are the worst. Wednesday’s are probably the best.

I’ve always been partial to Gibsons. Heck, I’ve spent as much on Gibson guitars as I have putting my son through college. It may just be that I’ve been playing on that particular scale length longer and I’m used to it.

That all said, anyone that buys a guitar off the rack should invest $50 in having it set up correctly. When you’re working on an assembly line, you’ve got a few minutes to set the guitar up before the next one comes at you (there was an “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy and Ethel working in a chocolate factory that demonstrates this).

Point is, mass production guitars leave a lot to be desired on the setups. The one exception I’ve found is Schecter. They started out as a custom shop, and now have their own import line. I’ve got one of those (in fact, it’s my #1 live guitar now). Every guitar that gets imported goes through their setup shop where the frets get leveled, the nut slotted correctly, and the action set at a good average level. I took mine out of the case and played a gig an hour later with it (and haven’t touched the setup since).

As far as materials, I personally have to give the edge to Gibson, but again I’m biased.

Let your hands and your ears be your guide!

Greetings from Austin, TX

Ken

Fender Stratocaster Comparison American Vs Mexican Pt 2