in my opinion:

gibson les paul
fender stratocaster
ibanez iceman
fender strat and tele look alike..sorry

and there are several v shaped guitars that look the same

I played a gibson last week, and it just seems that my stratocaster doesn’t compare to the SG. The shredding and solos are so much easier to play on the Gibson. How can i make the back of the guitar neck more sleek? Or is it something beyond that?

Every guitar player around wants to pick up a fine vintage instrument like those played by the legends. However, these days there are more than just musicians looking for masterpiece instruments from the 1930s through the early 1970s.

Vintage guitars are a great investment that only increases in value. You might be asking yourself whether a guitar can really be a good investment. After all, to the untrained eye, most guitars are the same. However, the right guitar can be worth a lot to a collector. Guitars that have been owned by celebrities, or which are rare or unusual, can command very high prices indeed. If you’re worried about getting a return on your money, don’t be.

Vintage guitars have consistently performed with more stability than the stock market. There are a number of reasons that collecting vintage guitars is an excellent strategy. For one, they’re more tangible than a stock or bond. They give you an attractive piece to display, and are fun to collect, too. Guitars also don’t lose value over time. In fact, it’s just the opposite - vintage guitars consistently gain value as they get older, as long as you take the time to keep them in good condition. They’re also usually superior instruments.

If you’re a musician as well as an investor, you’ll appreciate the superior action and tone of a real vintage instrument. The most popular vintage guitar with collectors is probably the Gibson Les Paul. Gibson invented the modern electric guitar, and in the 1960s, the Les Paul was one of the best instruments available. While these are still made today, they don’t stand up to the quality of older models, which are made of oak, mahogany, and other fine materials. You can even find examples with mother of pearl and gold inlays! Another brand you’ll probably recognize is Fender. The Telecaster, Stratocaster, and Thunderbird are all great models that remain favorites. The best were made in the 1950s and 1960s. After that, Fender guitars are less valuable. Learn about the guitars that carry the best value before you buy, so you’ll be able to make a smart decision. CF Martin is yet another of the great vintage guitar brands. These amazing acoustic instruments are among the finest, and have craftsmanship that can’t be matched. Martin invented the use of the X-bracing system in acoustics. That means that his instruments lasted for far longer than competitors’. Some of the original Martin guitars are now nearly a hundred years old. Collectible CF Martin guitars are valuable up through the 1960s models. Guild guitars are great vintage instruments, too, but they’re a lot less famous. That’s because the company only did business for about twenty-five years before Fender bought it in the 1990s. Older Guild instruments are very rare, and considered on par with Martin guitars of the same period. Any of these instruments would be a great investment piece for musicians, or anyone who loves music. Even if you just like the look of a beautiful old guitar, think about purchasing a vintage one.

You’ll be surprised at what a good investment it could turn out to be. If you are interest in getting started collecting vintage guitars for fun and profit or even if you have been doing so for years and wish to add to your collection, Bob’s Vintage Guitars is a website that you should visit. It has a lot of useful information about vintage guitars and also a great selection of vintage guitars for sale.

Besides the Gibson Les Paul Guitar, there is probably no more renowned Electric Guitar than the Fender. The Fender Stratocaster and Fender Telecaster electrics are the company’s two most famous models and played by “rock gods” the world over (the Telecaster is especially favored by modern Country and Blues musicians, too), although Fender also makes steel string and classical guitars as well as bass guitars.

The Fender company also produces top of the line amplifiers.

Guitar players and makers began experimenting with amplification in the 1920s because the acoustic guitar’s sound in a jazz band was being totally swamped by the rest of the band. Eventually, in the 1940s, Leo Fender, an electronics expert and inventor from California, created the first instrument amplifiers to have built-in tone controls. However, Fender also understood that in order to fit in with modern music the guitar itself was going to need to be given a vastly greater range of tonal colors and sheer power. In 1951, Fender may have saved the guitar from oblivion in widely listened to music when he introduced his Fender Broadcaster, which was the forerunner to the Telecaster. In that same year Fender produced the electric Precision bass guitar.

In 1954, Fender emerged with what would become the most renowned rock ‘n’ roll guitar in history: the Stratocaster.

Unfortunately, in 1965 Leo Fender was in failing health and sold his company to the CBS corporation. Although CBS was able to put its giant marketing and advertising budget behind the Fender line of amps and guitars to make them the premier modern guitar music equipment, CBS also failed to actually comprehend music and musicians, and by 1973 the quality of the newly produced legendary Stratocasters was definitely sinking. Today’s Fender “Strat” collectors and players covet pre-1973 Strats, and even more they prize “pre-CBS” models.

With the Strat known for its exquisite tone, range of colors, and great action, in 1977 CBS added the five-way pickup selector switch to the Strat, giving the possible combination of pickup-use and the resulting tonal coloration even more variety, in hopes of keeping the Strat commercially competitive.

By the early 1980s, CBS/Fender began producing the “Squire” Strat, which is a deliberately second-rate and much less expensive version of the Stratocaster. The Squire was made in response to pricing competition from Japanese guitar makers.

In 1981, CBS took steps to try to re-invent Fender. William Schultz was selected as the new President of Fender and he and his assistants had a five-year business designed to focus heavily on R&D and advertising to take Fender back to the heights of the guitar world. However, by 1985 CBS was getting out of all non-broadcast media industries and with the help of some investors Schultz bought Fender from the giant corporation.

Having nothing but the patent and old Fender guitars in stock, eventually Bill Schultz built two new Fender manufacturing plants in Corona, California and Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. The idea was to keep all manufacturing close to home to control quality and keep shipping costs down to make Fender more affordable. No more would Fenders be made by cheap labor in Japan.

Fender went on to acquire legendary Sunn amplification and its Lake Oswego, Oregon manufacturing plants in 1987, and in 1991 the company moved its headquarters from Corona to Scottsdale, Arizona. In 1995 Fender bought out the renowned Guild Guitar company and acquired its massive manufacturing plant in Westerly, Rhode Island.

Today Fender is back on top in the world of electric and acoustic guitars, bass guitars, and amplifiers. The company has facilities in California, Arizona, Tennessee, New York, Rhode Island, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico; London, England; Dusseldorf, Germany; Suresnes, France; Brussels, Japan, Korea, and China.

You can learn to play guitar on most any old instrument. This does not have to be the very best instrument out there. As you advance on your instrument you will naturally want to get a better guitar. Although the list of quality guitars is very long you tend to see the pros playing the same popular guitar brands over and over again. You will see Fender and Gibson guitars being played in nearly any style of music. On the acoustic guitar scene Martin guitars and instruments made by Guild are quite popular. This article will look at a few of the more popular brands of guitars you might see your heroes playing.

Almost anyone you can think of at one time or another has played Fender guitars. Leo Fender was way ahead of his time with the modern designs he put into his guitars. Go to any country music show even today and you will more than likely spot a Fender Telecaster guitar being played on stage. Fender guitars come in many different price ranges so most anyone can afford to own a Fender.

A lot of the all time great rockers play the Gibson brand of guitar. Almost everyone has played the Gibson Les Paul from Les Paul himself to Eric Clapton. The tone of the Gibson Les Paul has a large support group in love with the famous Les Paul growl. Many of these guitars are worth quite a lot of money.

Ask most any serious guitarist which guitar is the king of the all of the acoustic guitars and most likely you will get the answer of the Martin guitar. This brand of guitar has been made in the US since 1833. Spend the day at a major bluegrass festival and you will find performer after performer playing Martin guitars. These guitars are sought after because of the fantastic tone they have.

Although Guild guitars may not be as popular as some brands, they are fine quality guitars that are a joy to play. The jumbo models and the 12 string models are highly sought after guitars. Fender bought out the Guild Company in 1995 and continued to manufacture the Guild brand of guitar.

There are many more really good popular guitar brands available. Searching out that perfect instrument is half the fun of playing. Your style of playing will have a lot to do with what type of guitar you choose. Do your homework and pick out the right type of guitar for you. This may or not be the guitar your hero plays.

Billy F. Gibbons is the kind of guy that is irresistible to watch and hypnotic to hear when he’s on stage with his 1959 Gibson Les Paul electric guitar known to the blues and rock world as “Miss Pearly Gates.” Gibbons, recognized also as “Reverend Willie G.” is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the band ZZ Top. While he has achieved his infamy through his music, he is also an ordained minister with license to perform weddings in 49 states. Anyone that would like to learn to play guitar like the Reverend ought to know that his distinctive sound is the result of using a quarter or a peso as a guitar pick and his masterful use of harmonics.

Gibbons was born and raised in Houston, Texas and is touted to be one of the finest blues-rock guitarists to emerge from the state, alongside the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan. He had musical influences in his early years; his father, Fred Gibbons played the piano and gave him appreciation for classical and country sounds. The family’s Afro-American housekeeper introduced him to the blues.

In 1963 at the age of 13, Gibbons received a Gibson Melody Maker electric guitar with a Fender Champ amp and commenced to emulate the new sounds of rock n’ roll bursting from the TV and radio through Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Jimmy Reid. Gibbons was favoured while in his band, Moving Sidewalks by one of history’s all-time favourite guitarists, Jimi Hendrix. When the band folded in 1969 he pushed his way permanently onto the music scene when he hooked up with fellow Texans, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard of American Blues to form ZZ Top.

The band was named after the blues master B.B. King and was initially Z.Z. King. The band members shortly changed it to ZZ Top so it didn’t sound too much like their blues hero. Despite the fact that ZZ Top has sold in the range of 60 million records, one of the most memorable moments Gibbons recalls was an early performance when he was relatively unknown.

“Perhaps one of the first performances where the curtain opened and we were greeted by the one paying customer of the evening. We looked at each other, and then launched into the show. Played the first set, took a break, went out and bought the guy a Coke and went back and completed the night. We’re still friends with the guy!”

Many aspiring blues guitarists have attempted to mimic Gibbon’s eccentric style over the years but it can be frustrating to make it sound as good as the master. Fortunately for us, there is a guitar tuition program available that features Billy Gibbons breaking down his techniques into easy to follow steps. Online guitar lessons give you the chance to begin practicing his famous blues riffs at a slow pace until you can really get going. Gibbons followed some of the greatest musicians in the country while developing his unique style and now technology has made it a simple approach to learning from the genius that changed the course of music history.

Is a Paul Reed Smith better than a highway one stratocaster or a Gibson Les Paul?

guitar and compares to the Gibson Les Paul –Sent via http : Upload videos to multiple sites quickly … Les Paul Epiphone Gibson guitar review lesson

which one do you buy? if u loved em both but only got cash for one.. and the both prices is the same..