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There has always been a sort of battle for the number one spot between Fender and Gibson, the two most popular guitar brands. The battle is fought mainly between Fender Stratocaster guitars and the illustrious Les Paul Gibson, both much loved by guitar playing greats. This is the clash of the Titans when it comes to electric guitars. Both are amazing, so the battle really is one of personal taste and style, rather than quality and performance because both makes are immaculately designed and crafted. Let’s get into the differences, because you don’t get any two other guitars with such contrasting natures.

Fender: the spacey twang of smooth

Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Jaco Pastorius, Jeff Beck and John Mayer are all intricately tied to Fender – mainly Strats. Just by their names, and the types of musical feels these giants created and continue to create, one starts to get a sense of what Fender is all about.

Fender’s signature sound comes from a combination of two things: the type of wood used – mainly ash and alder – and the single coil pick-ups, famous for their ability to create feedback easily and their trademark hum. Think of Hendrix’s innovations caused between amp and pick-ups. A key characteristic of Fender, whether in Strats or Telecasters, is the pick-up selector, which allows the guitar player to select any one of five combinations of three single coil pick-ups; either producing sounds of powerful crunch or punchy openness or thin twang. The volume/tone knobs then help to refine the sounds of each combination.

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And probably the most important feature of any guitar is its scale length. This is where personal taste comes in because the Fender scale length – the length of the strings between the nut and the saddle – is 25.5 inches long, giving it a tighter action than a Gibson. The strings are slightly harder to bend than a Gibson, but it is why the Fender Stratocaster guitars have such a pronounced tinny sound. One last thing to consider is the shape of the body and the comfortable contours of strats. Their bodies have been replicated all over the world because of their sleek look. They are also very light and comfortable to play.

Gibson: super crunch super clean

BB King, Slash, Angus Young, Tony Iommi, Mick Taylor, Jimmy Page and Bob Marley all use, and did use, vintage Gibson guitars, and all of them brought out the best aspects of this amazing invention. From Slash’s shredding to Marley’s skanking upstrokes, it’s no wonder why this make is so popular.

These guitars are almost the complete opposite of Fender, using humbucker pick-ups instead of single coil and made of mahogany, mainly. This wood is a denser kind lending to the guitar a fuller, darker tone. Gibson guitars are known for their clarity of tone due to humbucker technology introduced in the late fifties – no noise, no hum. In terms of tone selection, the Les Paul Gibson is less versatile than a Strat, with only a three channel tone selector, a tone knob and two volume knobs – which is great for switching between huge crunching sound and soft voice melodies.

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At 24 ¾ inches, Gibson’s scale length allows for a far looser action, meaning more speed and bend than the Stratocaster. In terms of body, Gibson has many different innovations from the Flying V and Explorer to the Les Paul Gibson and SG. Gibson is quite heavy but very comfortable, and have unmistakable style – think of BB King’s ‘Lucille’.

And the winner is?

At the end of the day, you are going to have to make the decision between Gibson or Fender. It will come out of your influences really and once you’ve tested each make, one of them will resonate with you. Both makes are amazing. They are versatile and infamous for quality. Buy both. Why not? Either way, rock on guitar god.