Question for Joe on new guitars

Gibson? Sleep beside it, clean and cherish it.
Fender? drag it behind a bicycle up and down the driveway... get it good and dirty.

What? Fenders can take punishment... you just gotta break em in a litte. New Fenders don't play well for me at all. I'm sorry... I shouldn't have started. Forget I said anything

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping.

Funny, my first guitar was 79' Heritage Burst Les Paul Custom and I thought I never look back until about 5-years ago, I was waiting to speak to my friend and GM at Guitar Center and picked up a random Strat, plugged it in and was impressed - pick-ups weren't any good, but guitar felt great- good natural sustain, then turned it over and it was a MIM Jimmie Vaughan Strat -worked a deal for $400.00 OTD  - best $400.00 I ever spent - sounds nearly as good as my Custom Shops and now  have a dozen Strats since - Les Paul rarely gets played - too easy to play - Strats make you work a little IMO.

I'm liking that people arent all slating the strats anymore.
I've got a strat body on the way from Relic Guitar Studio in the UK. Cannot wait, got all aged parts and neck waiting to be bolted on and I'm ready to go!

Also, Gibson issue here...today I went to try out a fulltone fulldrive (awesome pedal by the way) and played with an 08 les paul standard, considering I'm playing an 05 classic, it's fairly close...or so I thought, the thing was awful! It felt unbalanced and plastic almost. It felt almost like my old Epiphone felt!

Let me know how that body is, I've heard some mixed opinions about that place lately. It used to be kavanagh customs if my source was correct (which also had a few mixed opinions). The pictures of the bodies certainly look good though..

I play my strats almost exclusively and rotate them for gigs so that they all get used.. My les paul I rarely touch unless I'm practising at home (and thats just because its on the wall and easy to reach..)

My strats are all at dif stages too (in the process of trying to find a string gauge / type I like)
My Vintage 62ri has a set of 10-48 Fender 250 Super Bullets, I like them BUT they dont seem to last long.... (it was what came originally with the guitar so rather than change strings straight away and re-setup I thought I'd give them a shot...)

My 93 Standard has a set of 9-46 Fender Original Bullets they seem really good on this particular guitar easy to bend with out being like elastic and they sound just as beefy as the 10-52's that was on previously....

My highway 1 has a set of 9-46 Fender Original Bullets too but on this particular guitar they seem really thin and weak and just so bright that its verging on annoying, funny how you can go between 2 guitars of the same make with the same set of strings but they sound so different.... More annoyingly its my favourite guitar that used to sound really mellow and now it sounds like a tele

I used to use Rotosound Blues 10-52's which I've always liked (and still use on my Dot and les paul) but I just fancied trying a few dif types out. Next on the list is Dr.Blues, Thomastik and Pyramids..

As far as set ups go I do it all myself, unless the frets need levelling or a new nut needs doing for that its just worth having someone do it properly...