Gibson SG vs Fender Strat

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

And then your post gets read by a guy who has seven electric basses...

I used to be more like that until the arrival of my nickel allergy coincided with a major bubble in the vintage-guitar market, around 2007. At that point I had to decide what to refret at $400 a pop and ended up selling almost everything. Now, of course, you can buy a brand new Warmoth neck with the hypoallergenic frets of your choice for less than a fret job on your old neck would cost.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by GCWaters

Both are great guitars, but I prefer the SG. While I have a Strat, my go-to electric right now is a double humbucker tele--I just prefer humbuckers to single coils....

Ditto on this, while my preference would be a Gibson with P-90's, I also really like my HH Tele.

For me, I like the way P90's will handle gain better than the Fender single coils, but respond better to the onboard controls than humbuckers. I like to use my volume controls to fine tune my overdrive to different levels on each pickup, use the tone control to make the tones compatible with each other, and use my toggle switch to cycle between different levels of gain rather than being glued to a pedalboard. With the regular Fenders you dont have the controls to pre-set each pickup, and with humbuckers its more tricky to fine tune them... for the most part the volume knob does almost nothing to the gain, until you hit that 1/8th of a turn where the pickup goes from almost full gain to going silent.

[J Patrick]

…when I was a lad…in 1969 I had a strat…when I realized I probably wasn’t gonna be the next Jimi I traded it in at a pawn shop for an SG standard thinking I could be the next Eric…..I finally realized I was only gonna be J Patrick…

…love both models

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by J Patrick

…when I was a lad…in 1969 I had a strat…when I realized I probably wasn’t gonna be the next Jimi I traded it in at a pawn shop for an SG standard thinking I could be the next Eric…..I finally realized I was only gonna be J Patrick…

…love both models

Ha! I never thought I could be Jimi or Clapton - I figured on my best days, I might get in the neighborhood of Peter Green or BB King. Green mostly played a strat and Les Paul, BB almost always a semi-hollow. I played enough of those and other electrics and quickly realized that on the very rare occasions I managed to briefly visit the outer suburbs of the sound neighborhood those guys lived in, it didn’t matter what I was playing, it was all about HOW I was playing.

I ended up with a strat because it’s the sound I love most about 90% of the time, and an SG with P90s because that’s the other sound I love enough to want to play the other 10% or so of the time. A Les Paul with P90s would sound at least as good, but I’m a LOT more comfortable playing an SG seated than a Lester.

And, yeah, I ultimately sound like me, not them. It’s nothing to aspire to, but it’s what always seems to happen, so I finally learned to just go with it… It’s hard enough playing like me- I’m waaaaay too lazy to learn to play like someone else!

-Ray

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

Ditto on this, while my preference would be a Gibson with P-90's, I also really like my HH Tele.

For me, I like the way P90's will handle gain better than the Fender single coils, but respond better to the onboard controls than humbuckers. I like to use my volume controls to fine tune my overdrive to different levels on each pickup, use the tone control to make the tones compatible with each other, and use my toggle switch to cycle between different levels of gain rather than being glued to a pedalboard. With the regular Fenders you dont have the controls to pre-set each pickup, and with humbuckers its more tricky to fine tune them... for the most part the volume knob does almost nothing to the gain, until you hit that 1/8th of a turn where the pickup goes from almost full gain to going silent.

Yes! Good P90s really seem to respond with a range of timbres depending on on-board controls, amp settings, and plucking attack on the strings. The Strat "well it's got three pickups so it the more flexible" argument misses those elements that are particularly valuable in guitar-cord-amp playing. When playing 90s I often find exactly what you describe, and it's uncanny.

I think traditional Telecasters bridge pickups share some of that "use the knobs and attack" virtues too. And still, Strat players manage to get a lot of different sounds depending on who's playing and how anyway.

As to the a set of knobs for each pickup thing: it gives and takes. One of the things I love about the traditional Fender layout is easy pinky volume swells, and with the Tele I can even get a bit of pinky wah-wah out of the single controls. I can reach down and twiddle the Gibson knobs, but it's after the note is struck and likely when only one pickup is selected.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by FrankHudson

Yes! Good P90s really seem to respond with a range of timbres depending on on-board controls, amp settings, and plucking attack on the strings. The Strat "well it's got three pickups so it the more flexible" argument misses those elements that are particularly valuable in guitar-cord-amp playing. When playing 90s I often find exactly what you describe, and it's uncanny.

I think traditional Telecasters bridge pickups share some of that "use the knobs and attack" virtues too. And still, Strat players manage to get a lot of different sounds depending on who's playing and how anyway.

As to the a set of knobs for each pickup thing: it gives and takes. One of the things I love about the traditional Fender layout is easy pinky volume swells, and with the Tele I can even get a bit of pinky wah-wah out of the single controls. I can reach down and twiddle the Gibson knobs, but it's after the note is struck and likely when only one pickup is selected.

Some good points. For me I like to roll one pickup back to a mild crunch for "Full Chord distortion" usually my neck pickup. Then I keep my other pickup, usually the bridge, dimed for "Lead and Power chord distortion" as well as using it with the clean channel. Depending on the clean sound I want I might reverse those settings to the opposite pickup. On the off chance my footswitch malfunctions I can get by just using the gain channel and rolling one pickup back to a relatively clean tone, leaving the other one cranked.

Not being a fan of using lots of pedals, this was one reason I came to prefer the Gibson controls over the Fender's during my gigging days. Didnt figure it out until afterwards that P90's worked way better for this than PAF's though.

[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

Some good points. For me I like to roll one pickup back to a mild crunch for "Full Chord distortion" usually my neck pickup. Then I keep my other pickup, usually the bridge, dimed for "Lead and Power chord distortion" as well as using it with the clean channel. Depending on the clean sound I want I might reverse those settings to the opposite pickup. On the off chance my footswitch malfunctions I can get by just using the gain channel and rolling one pickup back to a relatively clean tone, leaving the other one cranked.

Not being a fan of using lots of pedals, this was one reason I came to prefer the Gibson controls over the Fender's during my gigging days. Didnt figure it out until afterwards that P90's worked way better for this than PAF's though.

I've intentionally setup electric guitars with mismatched pickups or pickup heights sometimes for that two sounds at the flick of a switch things on a "Fender scheme" control knob guitar. And the original Jazzmaster and Jaguar circuit that Leo Fender went to later in the 50s is another way to approach that need. I used to laugh at that "too many switches" Jaguar and Jazzmaster look, but in this century I've taken to liking it more. The Gretsch master volume on the upper bout is another way to fillet the feline, though again you can't do a full "violin swell" from nothing to full with a drive and sustain envelope thing without being able to pick and move the volume at almost exactly the same time. With enough gain on a Gibson scheme control set I used to hammer on a note and move the volume (my old joints no longer like hammer-ons though) or use a foot operated volume pedal like a pedal-steel player might.

Maybe there's a reason that the answer to Strat or SG is Strat and SG, and Jazzmaster, and a Gretsch and a...."

[N4640W]

OK, I take back the thread. I’m sorry I asked. I feel so bad now. It was a stupid question. I will try to not ask things like this anymore. Really. Its like asking: strawberry or chocolate? Blondes or Brunettes? Mornings or evenings? Steak or lobster? Ford or chevy?………….the answer to all those questions is:
………YES!
Loved all the comments though.
(I……..Want………..BOTH!

[talister106]

First electric was a 1972 SG fell off my bed and cracked the neck, traded it for a new Strat. Wish I had them both but all things considered it would be what I bought in January a new Strat Ultra.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by N4640W

OK, I take back the thread. I’m sorry I asked. I feel so bad now. It was a stupid question. I will try to not ask things like this anymore. Really. Its like asking: strawberry or chocolate? Blondes or Brunettes? Mornings or evenings? Steak or lobster? Ford or chevy?………….the answer to all those questions is:
………YES!
Loved all the comments though.
(I……..Want………..BOTH!

I'm glad you posted this thread, there were some great replies. Best thing about Steak or lobster is that you can have both! Which is why I have both SGs and Strats, although I prefer SGs.

[PetesaHut]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

To be honest, if I had to choose between an SG and a Strat I'd choose a Les Paul and a Tele, or perhaps an ES-335 and a Tele.

Bob

I'm with you, Tele, Strat, and LP ")

[Ian111]

Right now my daily “beater” guitars are my Epiphone Gold Glory and the Squier Classic Vibe. I gotta have both a Fender single coil and the thicker full bodied P90 or humbucker. So if the only guitar I could afford was either an American Fender or American Gibson I’d rather choose a less expensive Epi LP/SG and Squier Tele/Strat.