When it comes to electric guitars, it truly depends on what tone you’re trying achieve. Strat or Les Paul are equally iconic, you’ll find many greats that play either or. Continue reading at your own risk, I might go on a tangent here. [emoji23]
Les Paul’s are mostly known for their chunky tone thanks for their humbucker pickups. They also have individual tone and volume pots for each pickup which can be quite versatile in live situations. Some also come with split coil feature which splits the ‘buckers so they sound like single coils (kinda, you’ll never get a true single coil tone out of a split humbucker). Also the Les Paul has a shorter scale, makes it easier to play on the lower frets, but things can feel a bit crowded after the 15th or so. Also shorter scale is friendlier to higher gauge strings. And the set neck along with the angled headstock helps with sustain (rumor goes that Nigel’s Les Paul is still sustaining today).
But of course there’s drawbacks. Les Pauls are heavy. Big solid mahogany body with a carved maple cap can make a Les Paul weigh as much as over 12 pounds. The angled headstock supposedly helps with sustain and tuning stability, but they’re fragile, just google broken Les Paul headstock for some cringe-worthy pics. The big body might feel uncomfortable to some, and even though the neck is set, upper fret access is not that easy. And last but not least, a “proper” Les Paul will set you back over $2000. A Studio model will give you the Gibson logo on the headstock for about $1200, but that’s still a good chunk of cash. Anything under $1000 and you’ll have to settle for an Epiphone.
Strats on the other hand are known for their bright and sparkly single coil pickups, yeah some have humbuckers, but I’ll concentrate in the classic triple single coil model. The 3 single coil pickups with its 5-way switch makes it very versatile tone wise. Although they only have a master volume pot, they do have separate tone pots for the middle and neck pickup. The bridge pickup is usually only potted to the master volume, it is also slanted so it picks up the higher strings closer to the bridge, and the lower strings a bit more away from the bridge. Regardless of this, that bridge pickup is very bright and thin sounding, which is why most modern music rarely use it, or use it combined with the middle pickup for that out of phase tone only a 3-single coil Strat can provide. But IMO, the best tones out of a Strat come from the neck pickup. Also just like how a Les Paul with a split humbucker will never sound like a single coil Strat, a Strat with humbuckers will never sound like a Les Paul. The scale on a Strat is considerably longer than a Les Paul at 25.5”. The longer scale makes it great for lighter gauge strings, you can try and mimic SRV and put 13’s on a Strat, but anything over 10’s will have some tension that will get in the way of those Gilmour bends you might try. The longer scale makes the lower frets a bit more spaced apart than you might be used to, but the higher frets are a bit more spaced apart than a Les Paul, which makes it a bit easier to play up there. Also the neck of a Strat is bolted on, in theory that kills sustain, but really the neck joint is just a small element on the whole sustain thing. The bolted on neck makes upper fret access a bit awkward, but it’s still easier to get to those high frets than a Les Paul. And the Strat is very comfortable to play. The bolted on neck also adds to its versatility. Neck snapped? No big deal, replacement necks are inexpensive. And they’re light and very comfortable to play with all the contours on the body. That guitar easily becomes part of you. And best is the price. For $600 you can get a MIM Strat with the Fender logo. $1100 buys you a made in USA model. $350 buys you a Chinese-made Squier that may rival MIM and MIA in craftsmanship, but will suffer in hardware and electronics.
The bad? Again the long scale can be a deterrent to some. Also the radius is typically 9 degrees, with vintage style necks as curvy as 7 degrees. 12 degree are easily available too, and might feel a bit more at home for acoustic players. The floating tremolo is tricky to set up so it stays in tune, and the in line tuning keys might be almost confusing for those who are used to the 3 and 3 configuration.
Ok that was a lot but I’m not done lol! Practice amp? I think it’s hard to look past the Fender Mustang line. $110 or so buys you a mustang 1 and they’re loud and versatile enough for bedroom use.
Hope this helps!
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