I forgot to post Mike's quote from another thread that gave me the idea to start this one.

Quote:

Aha! But can you tell what color the body is and what hardware is mounted?

Yes, these two guitars have their own distinct sound and most if not all guitar players will be able to recognise a Fender from a Gibson. Not only by the sound, but by the style of music. You can even do it from memory: Robert Cray plays a ...... (superior piece of craftmanship starting with an F) and Gary Moore plays a .... (piece of 2nd choise driftwood starting with a G.... )

Yeah, I'm in the Fender camp. I own an American built Strat and love that guitar. Someday I hope to be able to add a USA-built Telecaster to my collection. But I shure can apreciate the sound of a Gibson LP.

What I wanted to say is that these guitars are not distinguishable (is that a real word ?) in quality. It's just personal taste that drives a person to buy either one of these guitars.