Strat vs Les Paul: 5 Players and the Tone That Made Them

Here I jump into the oldest argument in rock guitar: Stratocaster or Les Paul. Two completely different machines, two completely different philosophies, and a debate that has raged in guitar shops for 70 years.

Here is the truth. The debate never gets settled with specs. It gets settled by players. So here are 5 legends and the iconic tone each one pulled from their weapon of choice. 

Watch the video: Strat vs. Les Paul: The Ultimate Choice and subscribe on the Rock with PJ Pat channel for more rock breakdowns.

1. Jimi Hendrix and the Stratocaster

Hendrix took a right handed Strat, flipped it over, and restrung it to play left handed, which changed the way the controls and pickups responded and became part of his sound by accident. Through a wall of Marshalls he made the Strat scream, sing, and feed back on command, most famously the white Strat he played at Woodstock. Before Jimi, the Strat was a clean, twangy guitar. After him, it was the ultimate tool for pure expression. He basically rewrote the instrument's job description.

2. Jimmy Page and the Les Paul

Page built the heaviest sound in rock on a 1959 Les Paul he nicknamed Number One, plugged into cranked Marshalls. That combination gave Led Zeppelin its thick, singing sustain, the sound of Whole Lotta Love and a thousand riffs that launched hard rock. Fun wrinkle for the debate: Page actually tracked the first Zeppelin album and the Stairway to Heaven solo on a Telecaster. But the image burned into history is Page slung low with that sunburst Les Paul, and it sold the guitar to generations.

3. Stevie Ray Vaughan and the Stratocaster

By the early 1980s the Strat had drifted out of fashion. Then Stevie Ray Vaughan came roaring out of Texas with a beaten, road worn Strat he called Number One, strung with cables for strings and played with brute force and impossible feel. He single handedly dragged the Strat and electric blues back into the spotlight. His tone is proof that a Strat in the right hands is not polite at all. It can hit like a freight train.

4. Slash and the Les Paul

When Guns N' Roses exploded, a generation of kids saw Slash with a Les Paul hanging off his shoulder under a top hat and decided that was the coolest thing alive. Famously, the warm, creamy sustain all over Appetite for Destruction came from a Les Paul replica his manager found, because the band needed that thicker tone in the studio. Slash made the Les Paul the choice for a new era and kept it on top through the whole modern rock age.

5. David Gilmour and the Stratocaster

If Hendrix made the Strat scream and SRV made it sweat, David Gilmour made it soar. His famous Black Strat is all over Pink Floyd's biggest moments, and the solos on Comfortably Numb and Shine On You Crazy Diamond show how vast and emotional a Strat can sound with the right touch and a long delay. Gilmour bends fewer notes than most and makes every one count. Pure proof that tone is feel, not flash.

More guitar lore on What Rocks: 5 Legendary Guitars Rock Heroes Built or Hacked Themselves, 5 Corporate Guitar Wars That Shaped the Gear You Play, and 7 Wild Billy Gibbons Stories.

Wear it loud

Strat or Les Paul, every rig still needs more volume. Two picks for the certified gearheads:

Volume Knob Rock Baseball Cap →
Whichever guitar you grab, the amp still goes to 11.

Rock Hand Sign Graphic Tee →
For the player who refuses to pick a side.

Well that is the Strat versus Les Paul war told through 5 players who settled it their own way: Hendrix, Page, Vaughan, Slash, and Gilmour. Three Strats, two Les Pauls, zero losers. The real answer to the debate is simple. The best guitar is the one that sounds like you.

Crank it!

PJ Pat