Most ubiquitous guitar?

[Eric]

In the past, I always thought stratocasters were the most popular guitars, because I saw them everywhere. It actually made me a little hesitant to get one, just because they seemed so...played out. Lately, however, I've been wondering if it's actually a different model, because I feel like every other person that I see playing publicly is playing a Les Paul.

What do you think? What type of guitar do you find is the most commonly owned? Strat? Tele? Les Paul? Ibanez/superstrat? 335? How about for bedroom rockers? Local musicians? Professionals?

I'm curious what all of you think about this.

 

[kidsmoke]

i think this answer depends in large part on the "circles you run in". In Chicago's live music scene, Fender overwhelmingly rules the day. But then you go to say, the Jam Band/blues rock scene, it seems Humbuckers are a bit more prevalent. LP's SG's and 335's, Anastasio's Languedoc, Haynes (LP) Black Crowes (Gibson centric)....

Seems to me the more Roots Rock/ Country fried you go, the more Fender-ish.

I'd have to say Fender, not necessarily Strat. This may be because you can go high end Fender for a lot less than you can go Gibson.

I dunno. I know for me, as a kid in the 70's, when I thought electric, I thought LP. Period. That's probably due in large part to the fact that Live Rust was, for me, my epiphany for the essence of Rock n Roll and I quite literally spent untold hours on the floor with the album cover in my lap, transfixed. Then came Led Zep, and ZZ Tops first album, with Pearly Gates sittin' in a 30's Ford....it went on from there, but somehow, it was burned in my mind that the quintessential guitar was an LP. Had it been the Stones, or Hendrix, it'd probably be a Fender, or the Beatles, and it would be a Hollowbody....who knows.

 

[Beerman]

When I started in a garage band in the 70's (yes, I'm old(er)) there were really only 2 guitars everyone was playing....Strats and Les Pauls. Not that there weren't others out there just that's what you were suppose to have according to the stupid 'keep up with the jones' idea. I loved Jimmy Page and also Ritchie Blackmore and drooled at their guitars. So, in 74, I got a Strat. I played the frack out of it until I got married and then I just about stopped playing guitar for almost 10 years. Got married, had to make a real living, had a kid, bought a house.....all the excuses. And then I realized that part of me was missing and took out that strat again and found love once more.
I'm way off your question but now that I've been back into it the last 8 years of so, bought more guitars and played with a much larger variety of folks, I realize, if someone is good, I don't even notice right away what they're playing, just too busy watching them get into it.

By the way, I just recently posted on a strat forum how hard it is for me to decide what pickups I might want to put in my old strat. So, I guess I'll be playing more of it again until I tire of it and grab another one.

 

[Katastrophe]

In terms of sheer sales numbers, the Strat wins, hands down. Gibsons have always been a prized, great playing guitar. But, the LP is much more expensive than the Strat. So, you end up with a ton of guitar players that want a Gibby, lust after a Gibby, but have a Strat because that's what they can afford.

Along the way, many players (IMO) found that Strats have a unique tone, are easy to repair, and play great when properly set up. I certainly do love my humble MIM, and it has replaced my superstrats because of versatility of tone.

There was a time in the mid 80s when Kramer eclipsed Fender in sales, but I don't think they've been beat since.

Don't let the numbers of Strats out there dissuade you from trying one out. Fender hasn't sold the numbers that they have because the guitar sucked!

 

[R_of_G]

Just in terms of what kinds of guitars I've encountered playing with people, I'd have to say it's far and away the Strat. I can't even think of a single LP owner I know personally. I've met a few people with SGs, and a friend of mine has a beautiful Tele, but the Strats I've seen outnumber them greatly.

 

[duhvoodooman]

I think this is the sort of thing I was hinting initially. I know they're nice guitars, but I've just never had a reason to fall in love with them due to their overabundance.

Pardon my bluntness, but I find that to be a fairly lousy reason to be down on Strats. IMO, styles of guitars should be judged primarily on how they sound, how they play, and how well they're made. Looks are a distance fourth in my book, and commonality/popularity is pretty much a non-factor for me. To infer a lack of character in the Strat due to it's popularity is a huge mistake, I think. They're so popular because they're a classic design (tones, playability, looks, etc.) and can be manufactured much more inexpensively than set-neck designs. Just my opinion....

 

[Eric]

Pardon my bluntness, but I find that to be a fairly lousy reason to be down on Strats. IMO, styles of guitars should be judged primarily on how they sound, how they play, and how well they're made. Looks are a distance fourth in my book, and commonality/popularity is pretty much a non-factor for me. To infer a lack of character in the Strat due to it's popularity is a huge mistake, I think. They're so popular because they're a classic design (tones, playability, looks, etc.) and can be manufactured much more inexpensively than set-neck designs. Just my opinion....

I don't hate strats, and this thread isn't about strat-hate.

My initial thought in starting this thread was actually that when I go on MF and look at the most popular electric guitars these days, they're all Les Pauls. It made me wonder if I actually had it backwards.

 

[oldguy]

"Round, I say, round these hyeah parts Telycastahs is mostly played.":french

:running:running:running I'm a 'gonna git now while the gittin's good..........

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Ah, nonconformity, or the pursuit thereof. (Speaking to the ubiquity part of your post, not your realization that you prefer HB's for your style). Is nonconformity the same as individualism? Maybe sometimes, . . . but I submit, often not. Here me out. I remember long ago thinking that if folks were making choices in reaction to what the "majority" did or what the "norm" was because they did not want to be controlled by that norm, then their choice was still not their own but simply in reaction to the choices of others. Play lots of guitars and buy the ones you like. Don't stay away because of what others do. To thine own self be true. :thumbsup

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Hey, Eric, didn't mean to go too far off topic. Based on everything I have seen from the guitars in Costco, used on craigslist and ebay, etc., and otherwise, I have to say I think strats are overall the most ubiquitous. Les Paul styles (not actual Les Pauls) have certainly become popular among newer rockers, but I think the strat is still the most widely seen, used, sold, etc.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Based on everything I have seen from the guitars in Costco, used on craigslist and ebay, etc., and otherwise, I have to say I think strats are overall the most ubiquitous. Les Paul styles (not actual Les Pauls) have certainly become popular among newer rockers, but I think the strat is still the most widely seen, used, sold, etc.

And most widely copied! I'm always seeing Strat copies in brands I've never even heard of (Chinese knockoffs, I have to assume) on our local CL....

 

[R_of_G]

Pardon my bluntness, but I find that to be a fairly lousy reason to be down on Strats. IMO, styles of guitars should be judged primarily on how they sound, how they play, and how well they're made. Looks are a distance fourth in my book, and commonality/popularity is pretty much a non-factor for me. To infer a lack of character in the Strat due to it's popularity is a huge mistake, I think. They're so popular because they're a classic design (tones, playability, looks, etc.) and can be manufactured much more inexpensively than set-neck designs. Just my opinion....

Another way to look at it is not so much in terms of ubiquity of design but ubiquity of sound. If someone is a tone junkie and everyone they know plays a strat, they might seek a different guitar sonically.

 

[Retro Hound]

Almost everyone I know personally that has an electric has a Schecter except my brother-in-law who has an Ibenez Kirk Hammett. Don't know why that is. They are all pretty much non-gigging people.

 

[Brian Krashpad]

Strat, for sure. It's been the most copied due to the bolt-neck construction, and does not have to surmount the "country" tag that Teles get.

 

[wingsdad]

Most ubiquitous meaning most popular, I take your question to mean from the initial post, Eric.

While LP's and clones/copies thereof are abundant, I'd have to say the Fender Stratocaster takes the title, since as dvm points out, it's the most copied and cloned, to the point of it being morphed by (probably) first Ibanez and then other Asian companies into another 'contender' for the title here: the "superstrat". (is there such a term as a "superPaul" or "superTele"?)

That, and also pointed out here, the strat's tonal versatility, how it interacts with various amps, with notable players using it for anything from country to blues to rock to jazz.

Teles have certainly been used for rock, blues and soul, but their country stigma/stereotype is simply because that's what they were conceived to be by Leo Fender and George Fullerton: designed from the start with the input of Southern California country/western pro pickers as Leo went from a pine bodied prototype to the ash-bodied/maple necked Broadcaster to Nocaster to Telecaster.