Gibson V Fender

I admit to having bn a professional guitar player for lots of years. I've played damn near every brand of guitar made on this planet, acoustic and electric. I've done the Country Gent, I've done the ES 335, Epiphones, Guilds.

The current lineup is a cheap Fender acoustic (sounds ok, fit and finish damn near Leo's standards), a generic resophonic which is on long term loan to #1 son since he likes it, a personally fabbed strat from generic parts (master volume, no tone pots, thanks Neal) and a work in progress: an antique Kay thinline that I'm trying to convert to a Badass bridge with the use of copious amounts of Rockhard Watter Putty.

Now here is the question: who is to reign supreme... No. Fuck that.

Now here is the question: What works best for me.

I gotta admit that the ('58? 59?) Goldtop that I played in some studio work a wek or so ago sounded great. It even felt great. I also have huge hands, was half-drunk at the time, and was running through a Fender Twin that had been tweaked fo rthat axe. Seriously, we're looking at about $12k.

But let's break it down. \

I'm not dissing the original, but I could put $2k in the hands of my buddy Neal Seargent (luthier to the stars) and get smething as good or better, and better looking.

For that matter, I can put about any set of pichups and so on on just any kind of body I wish, So far as that is concerned, I can buy a cheapo (e.g.) Les Paul Jr for a C note, tweak it until it begs, and have something Johnny Winter wants

Now, in favor of the Strat.

It weighs less than the LP, the ES 335, about anything other than the Melody Maker (seen what they run on ebay?)

Now let's look at the Strat. Leightweight. Adaptabile. Varous neck contours.

So what's not to like?

Let the flame wars begin.