Happy 50th Anniversary to the whole Fender crew, keep making the real original electric guitar...

Very nice job HW, thanks. I've always been a Gibson man myself, but there's no beating a Strat when the Strat sound is what you want, or something like that.

I've always been a Gibson man myself

...i'll try not to think less of you.

I actually like them both myself. To me the ideal
Rock'n'Roll sound is a beat up old Gibson Melody
Maker or Les Paul Jr thru a pair of Fender Twins.
Best of both worlds.

I always loved my old SG (long gone), no question about the Gibson/Fender mix: ideal.

i really should be so snotty, since i own two gibsons myself: an epiphone shariton (an es-335 knock off) and an beautiful es-175.

but my main rock guitars are strats and tele's.

My cherry red 64 re-issue Strat is sitting right over there and humming "hmmmm". Yes, hmmmm. (Yngwie Malmsteen autographed it, but he did it on the plastic wrap, doofus).

I've been a guitarist for over 40 yrs, and have always gravitated toward Les Pauls, or other Gibsons. Finally one fine day I was in Mannys' Music store and decided to try out a 50th anniversary Stratocaster...I have always loved the sound of the Strat and the Tele, but they had single coil pickups and didn't sound as good as a Les Paul cranked up through a Marshall or whatever, and this is the type of music I played back in the days...mostly anyway. Also the Gibsons were much easier to play with their shorter scale length and jumbo frets. But that day in Mannys', when I plugged the 50th anniversarry Strat into a Peavey Classic 50, I heard bells and overtones , and such a beautiful clean sound spectrum emanating from the speakers, I couldn't resist. It was a sound you could never get with a Gibson..(without a lot of EQ and PU changes etc.)..and it still wouldn't sound the same. Needless to say I purchased the Strat and now I have the best of both worlds. The Fender isn't better, it's different...I still have the 'Paul for those heavy harmonically enriched power chords and Les Paul "crying " leads..ala Mick Taylor etc. etc....Buying the Strat opened a whole new world of sound and playing to me..Wish I was able to afford more than one "Good" guitar when I was younger. Now if I could only get the Strat to sound like a Tele!!!!!

I'm both a fan of Fender and Gibson. I dont see any need to choose, as they're both so different. What one guitar doesnt do the other one will, so I like the variety. I love the clean sound of the Strat though, and have great respect for the design and functionality of the instrument. For clean sounds I'd choose Fender, no competition. When I want to get heavy I'll pick up the Les Paul or SG. I got the 50th anniversary deluxe Strat, and she's a beautiful instrument!

I was playing around with my amp about fifteen minutes ago. I wanted my strat to sound like a tele and then remembered the drive button which most of the time when I press it makes abig loud noise but I decided I'd turn down the drive volume. The sound I got was the rocky sound I wanted from a tele. It's best if you set it to the first or second pick up.