Fender or Gibson?

thebreeze

Gibson have that weird latch on the opposite side of the case to which you’re opening and it’s purpose has never been explained.  Obviously, therefore, Gibson has to go.

dindude

Judging by the guitars at Glastonbury, Gibson are pretty much erased anyway, certainly by the younger lot. Happens to be my opinion too.

MagicPigDetective

Fender has been the guitar of choice for much of the younger generation for years..... especially in pop, indie and r&b. Yet Gibson still has a place with rock, metal and blues bands....which are less represented in the Glasto Tv coverage. If we did Download Festival there would be far more Gibsons. 

LPManic

If we are being serious about it, the fact that Fender can bring amps into the debate means they win quite easily.

But I am Gibson through and through. Listen to Jo Bo and learn how to use your knobs. I got a funky clean Chic type sound today in the middle position with the a weird concoc(k)tion of volume and tones. Cool as.

And I haven't even mentioned P90s yet. If in a parallel universe I was a touring musician crisscrossing across America in the 70s before I made my money when MTV came along in the 80s, a LP junior would be my gigging guitar of choice. A perfect guitar.

BigPaulie

When it comes to electric guitars, it's a tie for me. I love Les Pauls, SGs, Strats and Teles. Really can't choose between them.

But Fender bring the amps. Absolutely classic designs.

Then there's Gibsons acoustic offerings...

Currently it's Fender 1.5 Vs Gibson 1.5.

I'd have to keep them both, or do away with them and make do with Rickenbacker electrics, Vox amps and Martin acoustics. Doesn't sound too bad actually.

Philly_Q

BigPaulie said:

I'd have to keep them both, or do away with them and make do with Rickenbacker electrics, Vox amps and Martin acoustics. Doesn't sound too bad actually.

I'd cheerfully get rid of Rickenbacker and Gretsch.  Apologies to jangly and/or twangy types.

eoinzy

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dazzajl

Oh please, wipe out Gibson and save me from myself!! I’ve never had one I’ve actually gelled and got on with. But I’m too stupid to accept this and give up trying. It’s been a long while since I last tried but I will again and it’ll end the same way. Again. 

Slartibartfarst42

I like Stratocasters but not that fussed on anything else Fender makes. My favoured guitars, while not Fenders, are superstrats and if we didn't have Fender, there would be no superstrats. Conversely, I like all of Gibson's guitars and I'm far more of a humbucker man.

If it was just on the guitars each company makes, I'd keep Gibson without any hesitation, however, if getting rid of Fender also meant ridding the world of all superstrats, I'd have to get rid of Gibson.

BillDL

It probably hasn't been debated here for a while, but I think if we just kept the Gibson and Fender pickups and upgraded our Harley Bentons we could ditch both brands and save a lot of money 

Tannin

SET 1:

Gibson invented the archtop, the humbucker, and the adjustable truss rod. 

Fender invented ... er ... nothing much. (Some people say that Fender invented the electric guitar. They are wrong.)

So Gibson all day long.

SET 2:

Fender didn't produce the first electric, but they were pretty close, and the one they made first-up was so bloody good that one very like it is still made today - and still sells like crazy.

Fender's second major go at an electric guitar came not too long after. It rapidly came to dominate the industry, and still does.

Fender's bass guitars are so much better than Gibson's that most people don't even rremember that Gibson make basses at all.

Fender by a street.

SET 3:

Gibson acoustics are quite popular and (at least in some circles) well regarded, which isn't a bad effort when you remember that less than 5% of Gibson's total sales has to do with acoustic guitars and the management barely even remembers that the acoustic division exists.

Fender has always been hopeless at making acoustic guitars and stil is. What's worse, Fender has a terrible track record of using its huge electric guitar revenue to buy out companies that actually do know how to make good acoustics and wrecking them by mismanagement. Tacoma, Guild, Ovation - one after another they bought them out and screwed them over. (Guild came back to life after Fender sold it to Cordoba. Ovation was sold too and is just a shadow of its former self now. Fender killed the innovative, successful Tacoma stone dead.)

Gibson every single time.

SET 4:

Fender made (and still make) one of the world's three great amplifier families. Gibson .... not so much. And amps matter.

So Fender.

5TH SET AND TIE-BREAKER

I don't play either one (though I have owned both): Fender acoustics are cheap Chinese crap and I don't like the Gibson acoustic sound. Besides, for the price of a stock-standard mainstream Gibson acoustic I could buy two instruments of higher quality from any of several makers in Europe, Japan, or Australia. 

So I don't care. Fender or Gibson? Give me a Maton any day. Or a Guild. Or a Martin. Or a Yamaha. Wouldn't mind trying a Furch, a Lakewood, or a Larivee. 

stickyfiddle

Is this "company ceases to exist", "company never existed", or "I must choose only one to use forever"?

I have more Fender-types than Gibsons (though actually only 1 actual Fender). I love my various Fender-style guitars, but no-one makes anything like a 336, SG or 330.

If I'm allowed to keep making partscasters then I'll keep the Gibsons. If the company just has to cease to exist, then I'll keep Fender as they're doing far more interesting things lately, and the likes of Collings would keep the archtop/semi thing going very nicely

TTBZ

If we're erasing one from history then it'll have to be Gibson for me, as much as I love their guitars (with the obligatory "if you get a good one"). Purely for the fact that without the Fender Bassman you might never have had the Marshall JTM45 and everything that came after that. Amp is more important and I'm sure I'd be fine on a humbucker strat if I didn't know any better

Mellish

As an acoustic guitarist, Gibson over Fender  

TeleMaster

I guess Fender, but I'd cry. A lot. 

Kilgore

Erase Fender, but that's because of acoustics rather than electrics. 

Offset

Wouldn't even have to think about it.  Fender every single time.  I've been a Fender bender since I first picked up a guitar.  I do have a Gibson (Firebird) and whilst I love it, faced with swapping it out with one of my Strats or Teles it would be a no-brainer.  And I'd get enough for it to buy another very decent Fender.  But mercifully, I don't need to make that choice :-)

guitars4you

Isn't this a bit like asking if we should choose blonde or brunette

Both can have nice curves and contours - Feel nice - Perform well - Easy to handle - But equally both can sound crap at times !!!!!!!!!!!!!

bertie

stickyfiddle said:

Is this  "company never existed", 

then its Fender because of the amps

otherwise f*ck off, Im keeping both

Sporky

Erase both, and see if whoever emerges instead manages to avoid the utter stagnation the two have imposed on the guitar world.