A LES PAUL sounds SIMILAR to a STRAT: Test Results 

Next you will be saying that the paint doesn't affect tone

First of all, I completely agree with you, we put too much emphasis on features that do not truly affect the end sound. I do appreciate guitar features, but they make a difference only in what they inspire me to do when I pick up a guitar, definitely nothing so dramatic in the end sound. With that said, I nailed all 4 combinations with the clean sound, but true, the differences were not so dramatic, they never are. I think the two that sounded most alike were the PRS and the Harley Benton. I went back and forth between those two, and finally said A-PRS, C-HB, but I got it right mostly out of luck. I do think that the Strat and the LP sounded very different, from each other and from the other two guitars. However, when it came to the distorted sounds, I got all 4 wrong. It's much more difficult to distinguish a sound once it's processed, especially with some saturation... and that's how it is mostly in albums, so yes, it confirms once again that in the end, there are more important factors that make up the final sound.

I literally got them all right. My wife was impressed. They all would sound fine in a mix though!

Hey Glen, I got (jagged) it 😁! Cheers dude and thanks 😎

Glenn, Make sure your String Shootout separates actual factories from ghost-building. D'Addario apparently builds strings for several brands and they are not the only one. And then most of the string manufacturers are buying raw wire from once company in Tennessee. So there can be a lot more overlap. Make sure to include Curt Mangan strings.

I thought they all sounded pretty good but I played along and I was wrong about every one of them and I LOVE IT

i got the PRS and the harley benton mixed up (i think i just don't like EMGs). i've spent a lot of time listening to "pickup shootouts" and the differences are always subtle, but i never seem to like clean active pickups for some reason. either way, it doesn't mean shit when you add some gain/distortion. great test, we're all seething.

The Harley Benton sounded awesome.

Watching you dunk on cork sniffer guitar players literally never gets old.

I guessed on the original video. And got all of them matched to the wrong guitars haha But I did identify 2 of the guitars as the same guitar, both clean and dirty. In other words D clean was A dirty, and C clean was D dirty.... Which tells me I did actially hear something, but that I definitely colored my guesses with a lot of extra thought. I'm happy with that result for myself and and my ear. Didn't expect my guesses to be correct. Good fun thought and ear exercise.

One thing I'd like to point out with your testing her Glenn. If I want it to sound different, all I have to do is rotate my speakers that are sitting on my desk so that the tweeter in them them are pointed towards each other instead of away from each other. Guess what, a couple days later and my brain forgets that a difference even existed. So this gets me thinking. How much of these slight differences are just manufacturing tolerances like in tubes where only changing the first tube in the pre amp can even do anything at all. Pick ups may not have a huge change frequency response. However I notice that it's harder to do harmonics on my Ibanez which has their own brand of pick up, but on my Schecter it's much easier, and that guitar has passive emgs. maybe an output thing. Point is, no matter what you change. your brain is going to make things sound like how you want them to sound like. Human perception and all that rot. You like what you like, and no amount of gear is going to change that. Would you agree?

Looking forward to that string video. I think your hypothesis is correct, but evidence would be great.

I can EASILY hear the B being the Strat, and I'm not the kind of guy that believes in tonewood :) However the fact that it's a bolt-on MAPLE neck/fingerboard seems to add just a bit of brightness to the sound and I can confirm this with almost any guitar I've had. So actually it's the CONSTRUCTION that affects the sound more than anything.

I got 100%. I got them all wrong BUT If I move the PRS to the front and shift them all along one space then I was spot on.

I'd like to add my $.02 about the tones of the overdriven samples. A (LES PAUL) Solid, bell-like tones with lots of character B (PRS) Best sustain of the bunch I think, but less character than the Gibson C (Strat) A bit of twang and dirty attitude, pretty good but I probably like the LES PAUL better on this. D (HB) A lot less sustain but still a great sound. An inferior guitar, but also a lot cheaper. Great buy for someone on a budget.

In an indirect way this kinda explained why Ola Englund sounds alike with wildly different gears. I watched his videos for years but couldn't connect the dots lmao.

Would you ever do a string test where it's flatwounds vs roundwounds? I know flats aren't used in metal, just curious for science.

My answers were: A - PRS ✅ B - Strat ✅ C - Les Paul ❌ D - HB ❌ I'm a habitual cheap guitar lover. I think, in a weird way, that lack of reverence for price/brand gives people like me a more open ear. Honestly, I went back and forth a bit with the LP and HB as they sounded almost indistinguishable. All that said, they really did sound very similar. The Strat had a little bit of 'twang' to it, and the PRS had a very 'polished' neutral sound. Not a giant difference in either case, but enough to have me guessing those right.

подписался! Спасибо!!!! Вы лучшие.

Really nice test Glenn. Surprising results there! I was wondering, players claim that Solid, Semi Hollow and Hollow body guitars all gave different tones, would that be something you would look to test in the future?

Alot of mindblowing result from this chanel such as the guitars sound so similar. Like almost no dirfrens. Cant still understand why i got different tone when i chang guitar on same amp. Four guitars. From Ibanez RG 370 DX LH to an Vintage V6 Reisued strat, Gibson les Paul 2012 studio to an agile as-1000 csb onto an Champion 100 amp whit all of em whit tone knob on 100% what can this be of🤔

Here's my hypothesis on the strings: I think the brand of the strings doesn't matter that much. I think it's how new/old the strings are and also the style (round wound/flat wound) and the gauge that matter

Glenn. Question, is there any difference between ceramic and alnico single coils?

"Yup. That guitar sounds like a guitar" -The bass player.

We need more videos debunking guitar player pseudoscience. I don't get why people can't just say they use expensive guitars to feel associated with the legacy/history of the brand and its players. I bought my Les Paul to fulfill some deep-rooted childhood desire to be like the players I admire, and while it was worth it, I probably should have spent the money on therapy to fix whatever mental illness makes something like that feel worth it. Thanks for the videos!

It is so much more important how the instrument feels in your hands and in your preferred playing position, how it looks to you and that it inspires you to play than some imagined tonal differences. People, touch and feel the guitars and buy the ones that "speak" to you and don't geek out over irrelevant stats.

I've been playing guitar for 27 years. Every single guess with the clean was wrong, and I didn't even try with the dirtier tone. It is INSANE to me how close these guitars actually are!

Glenn will one day do a blind shootout between a real guitar and an air guitar and prove that it doesn't affect tone

Dude, I love it, the difference in tone is pitifully minimal and NOT thousands of $$ in difference. Saddly, some people will never admit it at all.

I thought D was the Strat and B was the PRS in the clean test. I'm very impressed by the results. Nice video btw, keep it up Glenn

This is brilliant stuff to watch. I couldn't tell you which guitar was which in the original video in either of the sound tests. You're shining an uncomfortable spot light on whole chunks of 'accepted guitar wisdom' and highlighting that it's just not true. Keep up the good work.

Great work, keep it up. You and Jim Lill are attempting to bring sanity to music hardware.

A great experiment Glen. You proved that all answers are guesses. If you ran the same test again, most people will still get wrong answers. The tone is important but playability and reliability all also equally important. As always, your experiments are on point. Secretly humbling the guitar snob and teaching the world real facts. Keep up the good work 👍👏

As it turns out, I was in fact able to correctly pick out the PRS in both tests. So I guess actives do stand out among passives when you’re actively (no pun intended) trying to listen to that. That being said, I didn’t even try to guess the other 3 because nothing really screamed “strat” or “les paul”

I studied lutherie and as a result of that, aside from the guitars I've built myself I play mainly Squier bullets and Ephipones. I worked at a high end guitar factory very briefly and while the quality control was pretty good, I can't say they Geppetto and Santa's elves working the production line. More like a bunch of 20 something's and one old guy working the fretboard station. If there was a mistake that guitar got a heavy coat of black. Tone wood is meaningless in electric guitars unless maybe the pickup is extremely microphonic. I do buy particular pickups and believe the difference is audible, but telling the difference between two humbuckers is unsurprisingly pretty near impossible. I think strings make a difference but it's probably negligible, new vs old strings being more audible then differences in brand. I think the room and pickup type make the biggest difference to sound. But I mean type as in single coil vs humbucker. Next is probably speaker, followed by the amp. In a mix it becomes more about deciding how much of the frequency spectrum the guitar should take up.

I once owned a USA Strat and a Les Paul, both equipped with Super Distortion Pickups. Now what I do recall is that both guitars sounded noticably different live on stage, however when I tracked both guitars for an album, they were almost undistinguishable.

I was able to guess the strat and Les Paul correctly, but there’s honestly not enough of a difference for 98% of people to notice or care

I can totally tell which one was which when you show which one was which! So kudos to me for having my glasses on.

I’ve been a guitar tech for years, and have changed thousands of strings on guitars and basses alike. Although I feel like it does change tone a little bit, I’d love to see something done in a controlled environment! Much love and support dude 🤘🏼!

Never underestimate the power of arrogant ignorance!

As someone who plays a lot of affordable guitars, the one thing I've considered a lot were pickup swaps. I'm so glad that I've been watching this series because after hearing the similarities on the video last week, It absolutely blew my mind that a $269 Harley Benton could keep up with guitars literally 20 times it's price range. Thank you Glenn for opening my eyes (and ears) to the reality of pickups! You have saved me some money.

I always found most guitars sounded similar given similar conditions. There are always some subtle differences but we all the know the thing that makes the greatest difference in tone is the fingers. Skilled fingers make it sound great.

One thing to point out (I think) is the difference in scale length. Which can influence the sound as it makes you play in a different part of the string relative to another scale length.

I love that you included prices.😂 Thank you so much for turning me on to Harley benton. About to get the 88 dollar les paul kit. Gonna leave it raw wood as paint effects tone!😂🍻

I love that they are all so close. Yes, you can hear differences, but they're very mild. I've always wondered how much strings affected tone. Since it's about the magnetic resonance when strings vibrate, I've always wanted to know just how much difference can be made from the different string materials. Also, while I don't expect that it makes much difference for tone and definitely more in playability, I'm curious how much scale length plays a difference in overall sound? I don't have the first idea on how to objectively test that, but it's something I've always wondered about

Strings make a difference. Old vs new affect intonation and harmonics. Clean vs dirty affect sustain and note volume / clarity. Flatwound vs round affect harmonic intonation and Timbre. Heavy vs light affect intonation, playability, and frequency. Different metals / materials interact with magnetic fields (pickups) differently too. Rick Beato did a shoot-out with various string gauges and clearly demonstrated the sonic differences between 13s and 8s. The 8s gave up nothing on the top end, and sounded more crisp and refined / less thick and muddy on the bottom end in his demo. They are also far easier on the hands and fingers. The main problem I’ve found with light gauge strings on electric guitars is that they tend to break more frequently. I use a rock hard acrylic Dunlop jazz pick, and I like to do a lot of bends. Oh yeah, picks! Picks REALLY make a difference. It’s HUGE AND OBVIOUS Troy Grady did a shoot out between various picks and materials for plectrums and it was shocking how different the attack and tone sounded between flexible and stiff picks. It’s why I switched from floppy nylon picks to rock hard acrylic: Stiff picks have a much sharper, brighter, aggressive attack and tone. Flexi picks sound softer and mellower. It’s night and day to my ears. Believe it or not, pick WEAR affects tone massively too. Hard to believe, but compare a new pick’s tone to that of a cashed one, and again, it’s night and day. Yegway Malmstein is famous for throwing away his rock hard picks when the tips break or wear down. He knows…. ;-) So if you wanna sound consistently good, change your strings every other week, keep them clean between changes, play the lightest gauge you can without constantly snapping strings, and inspect your plectrums regularly, and toss worn picks immediately so you don’t accidentally keep playing cashed ones. …Nothing wrong with buying a $4500 custom shop guitar if it inspires you. There’s a lot more to a guitar than it’s tone - at least for the player. Expensive guitars tend to play smoother, easier and more comfortably. They are easier to tune and hold their tune better than cheap knock-offs. Their fit and finish are top notch, their frets are beautifully leveled and polished and they are a joy to hold and play. The switches and pots are silent and linear. They are well balanced. Their necks and fretboards are works of luthier art. Are they worth thousands of dollars more than that cute HB SG? It depends on the player. The fact is, 90% of guitars end up in the back of a closet gathering dust. If spending thousands of dollars on an instrument gets you to pick it up and PLAY IT every day, then that guitar is gonna sound better than a cheap knock-off. Mainly because your GUITAR PLAYING will IMPROVE because you PLAY REGULARLY, lol. The best money I ever spent on music was the $400 I paid Mitch Perry (Google him if you don’t know who he is) for four private lessons / master classes a few years ago. His instruction and mentorship took me from bedroom wanker to professional performer. Oh, and I have four guitars right now - 2 of which cost $1,000+ Two of which didn’t. One of my favorites is a Gretch 12 fret Parlor guitar called a “Jim Dandy” that cost all of $180 at Sam Ash Music. It’s hard to play ‘cause it’s small / short scale / acoustic with high action. The tuners are GARBAGE. It’s probably made out of cardboard, and it doesn’t even have a pick-up. It’s sound is harsh and boxy. It cuts like a switchblade though my vocals though, and has a unique and gorgeous ringing, resonant timbre, with under and overtones PERFECT for blues and even jazz work. One of my favorite LA musicians plays one when she gigs around town, and she should f*caking GREAT. So sorry guys, but sounding good is not really about the guitar itself. It’s about the player and their heart, relationship and skill with the instrument….

Now I want you to put a pickup on an acoustic guitar just for it to sound kinda similar to any other guitar. Imagine the amount of butts exploded from such a video! After seeing some dude who put a bunch of strings in between two tables and getting a good tone out of it I wouldn't even be surprised. Keep up the good work!

Awesome videos. The difference in tones was quite negligible. As you said a tiny gain boost here or there and it sounds like any of the other guitars. In terms of really effecting my guitar tone, having an EQ pedal of some kind has always made the most difference. I can get an EQ pedal for like $150. Way cheaper than spending $2000 extra dollars on a Gibson or other "premium" brand name.

I’m pretty happy I got one right! (Only answered on the clean test). Laughing at myself for thinking the LP was the emg’s because of its sterile tone. Very fun experiment! Quite excited for that string test. I think you should do it for both bass and guitar!

According to law of diminishing returns there is some vague price point at which guitar sounds and plays good enough, and any further improvements cost too much and add too little. And modern beginners don't know how lucky they are that these days this point is at about 250-300 USD. But there's still plenty features that are worth paying for. God forbid you settle on cheap Floyd Rose clone for example.

Would be interesting to see a blind shootout of randomly changing a component in a guitar recording rig. And see if anyone can guess what actually changes.

My take away is that you can get a great sound from pretty much any guitar. TBH I couldn’t tell the difference between any of the tones except maybe the cheaper guitar but it still sounded good. I was considering upgrading my gear but I realize now that it’s not as important as getting a good cab and microphones. Thanks for the video!

So on the original video I had mentioned that I loved the last clean sound, I suck!😢 it is so amazing that on the distortion end seeing them and not, it all sounded the same to me as far as it mattered. Thank you for doing this ! Also, since you’re talking about strings, maybe if you have not, check the Rick beato take on that from a little while back !

Last video i thought a is nice b sounds bad c is cheap and d is the gibson cause it's out of tune lol. Only on the clean test thought, once there is a fraction of the distorsion we use, no way to tell anything, hail to the harley benton

As a Fender fan, I'm happy that my favorite guitar from the clean samples was the Strat. But to be honest, I thought B was the Les Paul. Awesome videos, Glen.

I found out long ago that if I don’t write down which guitar I used in my tracking notes, I won’t be able to figure it out if I return to the project weeks later. When I heard your blind test I knew I had no chance of guessing correctly. Your videos and others (like Jim Lill’s) have allowed me to relax and enjoy my Epiphone Les Paul and spend the money I saved on more great guitars.

Great stuff Glenn! The only annoying thing is that the few viewers who guessed (and I do mean ‘guessed’) correctly will now be convinced that they have magical fairy ears and therefore superior beings with golden musical intuition…

I’m a fan of LTD guitars. They’re well built, good mechanics, nice colors, just pleasant to play

TBH- They all sound the same to me. That's after 4.5 decades of intense Classical, Jazz, Blues, Rock study and performance etc.... I just really get off on a Les Paul so..... there's that. EDIT: People really need to lighten up, have some fun and just love the music...

For cleans I got the HB and PRS flipped. On Dirty, flipped the LP and HB.

Worrying about tone when playing Metal is like worrying about what cologne to wear before going to work at the Tip (Landfill)

Holy fuck I was right. I just watched the last video then came here. I didn't comment, so you just have to trust my inhuman abilities... Honestly though, it was pure guess and I didn't go back and repeat them. Guitar A had a little clipping, so I guessed it was the EMGs. Guitar B had some semblance of resonance/reverb that I equated to a tremolo. Guitar C sounded a bit darker so I guessed it was the HB. Process of elimination and I get it right. But that was actually just throwing wild guesses out and getting statistically lucky. Play the same guitars again in a different order and I'll probably get every guess wrong.

I think this video is misleading. As a producer, if someone says "I want a Strat sound" I don't know anyone that would immediately think of a bridge pick-up. It's pretty easy to make bridge pick-ups sound similar through high gain, seems obvious enough to me. If you can make a Les Paul sound like a position 2 or 4 Strat then I'd be interested. That is the sound in the industry most associated with the "Strat sound" not just a random bridge single coil.

I got HB and fender right. Mixed up gibson and emg. Weird thing is I play with EMG for 4 years now 🤷‍♂

Am 4:15 in to this vid and I guessed all the clean tones correctly...Seriously, no shit - got 'em right...As for the "edge of breakup" test and not having seen the results yet, I honestly could not tell them apart but am guessing they were not in the same order? Hmmm...

Investing 10x more to obtain results 1% of your listeners might notice... 😅

I hit 2/4 on the cleans and 1/4 on the breakup tones. Nothing to be impressed about but judging by the other guys results I guess I would lol

(Bad?) Idea for another video: Could you invite Christian to talk about whether he approached the guitars differently to get a similar tone, or is it just "his" tone no matter what the instrument?

I completely agree that at the end of the day just buy what you want, when it comes to electric. I would like to say that I did guess all clean tones correct and only messed up the SG and Strat in the distorted test. Maybe it was all luck, maybe I do actually have a good ear for this shit? I have no idea all I know is that I have worked on literally hundreds of guitars this year and maybe there is some slight differences. Play whatever guitar you want, just make sure it is set up properly.

LOL from the test I didn't like the sound of C and D. I thought it was the EMG on C because of the harshness. And D because of shit sustain. I guess that Gibson was a bit overpriced... B was my favorite, weird because i don't like strats. Nice test. Edit: Ok i watched the rest of the video. You had a different order on those two tests. I based my decision on the second one. Didn't like that. That means i still dont like the strat and HB. And the worst thing is i liked EMG the most. Now I hate you glen.

Oh my God! Thank you for the laughs! I'm couch bound from covid and this video is just what I needed! Sure, you can hear very slight differences in all the guitars, but I would never be able to pick one out from the other and I've been playing 50 + year's. Love it when these tone snobs get smacked down. I'm putting a Harley Benton on my list of guitars to buy! Lol

me: shows this to my friend my friend(on the overdrive): D sounds the best me: D is the harley benton my friend: no nvm it sounds like shit the les paul is better, harley benton is shit and glenn is just deceiving his audience me: well how the turn tables

In the past you’ve done some AB comparisons with Cheap VS Expensive drums, I think it’d be interesting to do a blind shootout and see if people can tell which one is expensive and which one is cheap

As a Gibson owner, I love my guitar for making me want an ESP more

Another Brick in the Wall’s solo was recorded with a LP right?

If i have $4000 i know what not to waste it on. Again gibson n fenders are for pros and doctors/lawyers. Id rather buy numerous harley bentons and other knockoffs.🍻

Ok I'm late to the party and just watched the previous video and I have to say that I only got 1 right in my first guess that being the strat but I unfortunately changed it in my final guess so it probably was just by chance or maybe I do know my guitar but it definitely seems like chance, great vid Glenn!

I had the Les Paul and Strat correct as well as thinking they were the two best sounding guitars with a slight edge to the Gibson, where the pickup selector was set on the Strat makes a big difference though and both sounded great. I had the PRS with EMGs and Harley Benton on the bottom end. I generally dislike EMGs and they sounded as lifeless as ever, the pickups in the Harley Benton had such an uneven response that it was easily my least favorite. I identified those two in the reverse though, I thought the EMGs would sound worse than the Harley Benton and was wrong. My take on each one before watching this video? Here's what I thought although it would have been nice to hear several chords to get a better idea of the response other than strings being individually plucked with a single, slow swipe of them all. My order of preference for the sound of the guitars was D, B, A, C. These notes were made after listening to all of them once and the then going back and losing to them again. A: Low end response is not great, pickups sound kind of dead. Harley Benton? B: Good sounding guitar overall but a little weak in the mid tones, gives me Strat vibes. C: Low end was completely overwhelming, when strummed at the end the low and high end response totally drowned the mid tones. Lacks balanced response, EMGs? D: Fairly even tonal response across the board and every string retains it's presence when strummed at the end, nice resonant depth to the overall tone. I'm guessing Les Paul here. My summation at the end, you do you. I'm sure with some individualized tweaks every one of these could perform fairly well and it also depends on the end result you're looking for. At the end of the day it's really not the guitar, it's not the amp, and it's not the studio...it's the musician that brings forth the true mojo. Who the hell am I? Nobody. And I don't care if you agree with me or not...but I do enjoy hearing what other people think and I'm looking forward to reading other people's responses.

My ears are incredible. I got guitar A wrong. I got guitar B wrong. And C wrong. And D wrong. Just goes to show that I shouldn't be in charge of a mixing desk.

I'd say the main question I'd have for people is why they think it matters. Why do people care what guitars other artists play and like. If you like Gibsons, play Gibson, but don't trash talk people that like Fenders. I guess some people's egos are so fragile they need to shout down everyone that disagrees with them. At the end of the day, the guitar that's right for you is the one you can afford, that you think sounds the way you want it to sound and that you enjoy playing. I didn't post my guesses, but they were all wrong, and I didn't even consider that you changed the order of guitars for the edge of breakup tests. I'd say the only thing I can clearly hear when I play guitar is the difference between single coil and humbucker (but not all of them). Some Strats have that real jangly tone. I'm not a fan of that. I prefer the fatter bucker tone. Also, I'm pretty cheap when it comes to gear, I refuse to pay thousands of dollars on a guitar. Especially if it's one I take out of the studio. Also, I've been pretty impressed with the Harley Benton products. I've reviewed a couple. As usual entertaining and informative videos. I think you could discuss cookware and it would be fun to watch!

So, as I thought, I guessed the Strat. Clean ;-) I was wrong on all the rest XD But I'm a bassist so, well, I can tell a P-Bass from a Jazz and a Stingray but know fuck all about those thin string things.

So I got A and B right (clean tones) but only because I've played an american strat for the last 7 years. I confused the Harley Benton with the Les Paul. Just goes to show how you don't a lot of money for a pretty awesome tone. Thanks Glenn!

I have found that developing your ears and your skills gives you way more benefit than buying new gear.

Great video! On the clean I felt like one guitar was more bassy or boomy but only slightly, I couldn't tell any difference on the edge of breakup sounds. I hit the subscribe button, looking forward to the different string test!

I was right! B was the Strat, but the difference was very small. I could not pick any of the others. I have 3 Strats, including an HSS Strat so maybe that sound was familiar to me? With a graphic Eq pedal and some distortion there would be no difference with talking about.

I was right about the EMGS. I thought C.) Was the strat, wasn't sure about the other two. The only one I got right was the PRS with EMGs. Very intriguing.

This was a great comparison and proves to me the power of suggestion! I’ve seen this so many times. A RU-vidr I’ve watched for a while tried out a cheap Fazley Tele as a review but couldn’t let it go back because he just loved it. He swopped out the pickups for a modest set, none of the unicorn dust over priced stuff. And he reaches for it all the time (his words, not mine) even though he has a very nice Fender Nashville Telecaster hanging on his wall. Thanks for the content! You never fail to crack me up! You’re like a hybrid cross between of George Carlin, John Beluchi and Ted Nugent! 😆

Thanks G-Man

String companies sounding different? Maybe. String material? Probably.

I liked the PRS best, which is dissapointed because I've always really disliked them... lol

Damn! I got close, I should have recognized that bright clean EMG sound. IIRC I only had the PRS and Harley Benton swapped.

Can’t believe my clean tone guesses were right 😂 I’m amazed at how similar they all sound!

I hoped C was the Harley Benton. Got to get one, thanks!!

It seems like more expensive guitars are easier to shred on I guess. That's probably because a lot of the cheapies don't come set up. I remember when I worked at a music store, I opened a box to a $99.00 acoustic, tuned it to A440 and the head stock snapped off. I was amazed.

I didn't even bother trying to guess coz they sounded unbelievably close.... FML man shit...

Guitar B did sound different; a little more twangy and when I saw it was the Strat, it was the only guitar with a maple neck and fingerboard.

It’s not the sound it’s the feel and of the given instrument inspire you to play. They don’t sound better. You just feel better with them. Just like expensive watches.

In a orchestra strings make a huge difference, that is the sound that you're amplifying anyways

didn't even try to guess on the first vid... though I was correct on the LP on clean... anyway, the PRS is warm and smooth, which I should like but it bothers me, the Benton is rather surprising though, dirty tone its pretty damned hard to tell a difference between any of them... anyway most geetur players are biased nerds and don't seem to pay attention to things like feel, and whether the guitar is "right" for you. Hell I've never messed with the Bentons, but if they play good and felt good I might pick one up (I have my doubts... cheap is usually cheap for a reason, but I do remain open minded)

The only guitar I could tell was the strat -- and it wasn't the pickups I was hearing, it was the scale length. You can tell the difference between a LP scale and a Strat scale. Pickups don't add anything to that.