Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified vs Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged

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Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified

Playability

70

Sound

80

Build

65

Value

77

Score

72

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Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged

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Playability

75

Sound

72

Build

74

Value

59

Score

74

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Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified Prices

• New from $744.23 >>
• New from $959.99 >>
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• Used from $699 >>

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Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged Prices

• New from $6,514.94 >>
• New from $6,999 >>
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Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified vs Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged: Which One is Better?

After going through our comparison algorithm, the results show that the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged is probably the better product overall with its final score of 74 compared to the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified's 72 score, although not by a lot.

The Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged wins when it comes to playability, build quality. On the other hand, the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified has the upper hand when it comes to sound, value for the money.

If you got small hands, you'll probably feel more comfortable playing the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged.

Which Guitar is Better for Beginners?

If you're looking for your first guitar to learn how to play, the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified is the better choice.

The Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified meets 7 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, while the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged meets only 6. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players.

Nevertheless, when it comes to choosing a guitar, you should pick the one more compatible with your personal style. Still, below we'll try you to give you our results as objectively as it's possible to help you decide.

Sound Quality Comparison

The wood used in an electric guitar is not as important to determine the final tone. However, some people prefer specific wood types, so we'll take a look at those first. Then, we'll take a look at the electronics to determine the versatility and sound quality of each instrument.

Woods Used in Both Guitars

Maple is one of the most popular necks for good reasons. It is a strong wood that is relatively cheap to make and looks beautiful. The highest quality maple is the hardest that comes from North America. Find out more about Maple.

Woods Used in the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified

Alder is the most popular wood that Fender uses in most of their guitars nowadays. Even though they say it's because of its balanced tone with an emphasis in the upper midrange, it probably is because it isn't too expensive, and it's also pretty lightweight—more than Mahogany. Find out more about Alder.

Woods Used in the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged

Mahogany is a fairly rare wood nowadays. It's used mostly for bodies due to its relatively lightweight. Gibson popularized it with their Les Paul guitars during their golden years, so this wood has a lot of good reputation behind it. The most expensive type comes from South America and it's still used by Gibson even today. Find out more about Mahogany.

Rosewood is an almost purple-looking wood that is used mainly for fretboards since it's heavy, rare, and expensive. It's sometimes used on acoustic guitar bodies to create stronger warm tones. Find out more about Rosewood.

Winner: Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged.

Pickup Configuration

The Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified has an SSS configuration while the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged has HH pickups.

SSS is perfect for players who like to play clean. The definition you get between notes and the crispiness is unmatched by most other configurations. You can still use it for distortion, but you won't get the same kind of output and power compared to a humbucker, and the hum they produce also makes them less adequate for high gain.

On the other hand, Double Humbucker (HH) is the choice for people who want a fuller, more round sound with tons of mids and lows. Humbuckers also get rid of the hum noise that plague single-coil pickups. They can work out for almost any genre going from Djent to even Jazz.

Pickups Quality

Both guitars come with very good pickups from at least one of the specialized brands in the market. With pickups like these, you probably won't need an upgrade anytime soon.

However, the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified has a slight sound quality advantage when taking into account other factors like the type of pickups, magnet, position, etc.

You can purchase similar pickups to the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified's and use them on any guitar:

Both guitars use Passive pickups. This is what's used for most music genres. They have a regular output and will serve you for both high-gain and clean tones. The alternative (Active pickups) offer a higher output that is mostly used for heavy music.

Winner: Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified.

Versatility Comparison

Some guitars offer you more ways to explore your creativity than others. Below you'll find how both guitars compare when it comes to versatility.

Switch Options

The Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified gives you 5 switch options while the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged gives you 3. This means that the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified gives you more options to find the right pickup combination for the type of sound you want to achieve

Only the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified comes with some kind of pickup modification: S-1 Switch.

An S-1 switch can do a lot of different pickup combinations. It can split them, connect them in series, parallel, add more pickups to each position, and more. Check out the diagram to know how it affects this model.

Here's the diagram comparing all the pickup combinations you can get with both guitars:

When evaluating versatility, we also take into consideration bridge and neck joint type, number of frets, switch options, amount of pickups and more.

Winner: Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified.

Final Sound Quality Scores

Build Quality Comparison

When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the guitar. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified compares to the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged.

Country of Origin Comparison

The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. The Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified is built in Mexico while the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged is made in United States.

Mexico has been for a long time where Fender has built their semi-premium series. If you don't want to overpay for a wellp-built instrument, a guitar built in this country by a good brand always offers good value for the money.

The United States is considered one of the best electric guitar manufacturers in the world. A guitar made in this country is supposed to have world-class quality control. Nowadays, guitars made in other countries can beat some of the ones made in the US, but most of the time, this country offers the best you can get. Of course, that comes at a price.

Winner: Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged

Nut Material

If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same guitar model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.

The Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified has a Synthetic Bone nut. Bone is the best natural material for guitar nuts. However, its tonal properties can be inconsistent. That's the problem that synthetic bone fixes. This is much better than using a plastic nut because the nut is more slippery—which helps with tuning stability—, and it gives your open strings rich harmonics.

On the other hand, the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged comes with a Nylon nut. It used to be one of the highest quality materials for nuts (and still is), but it's rare to find nowadays because it's hard to work with. It's a very resistant material with very low friction, so it will keep the guitar in tune and will last for a long time

Winner: Tie.

Fret Material

Most guitar fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most guitars end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive guitars come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.

Unfortunately, none of these guitars come with stainless steel frets.

Winner: Tie.

Bridge

The perfect bridge for you will depend on your playstyle because they all have advantages and disadvantages. However, some bridges are more expensive—like Floyd Roses and Evertunes—and thus add more value to a guitar.

The Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified's brige is a Tremolo. Tremolo bridges give you more versatility than fixed bridges. They let you perform the intense vibrato effects that would be impossible with a fixed bridge. However, since the bridge floats and there's less contact with the body, the strings lose sustain slightly faster. They can also be a bit harder to restring and set up correctly than fixed bridges.

On the other hand, the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged's is a Fixed. It's a simple bridge that is very beginner-friendly since it doesn't require any set-up. You can swap strings easily. It might also give more sustain since it doesn't have complex moving parts that make the strings lose vibration. However, it doesn't have the same versatility as a tremolo bridge.

Since we need to be objective, the most expensive type of bridge will be the winner of this section. In the end, this doesn't matter if you're not going to use the bridge for its original purpose, so choose the bridge that fits your playing style better.

Winner: Tie.

Tuners

The Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified has the best tuners of the two because they are locking tuners. They'll help to keep your guitar in tune because they allow you to tune the guitar without wrapping the strings around the posts. This avoids variations in the tuning due to the strings changing position at the post after a bend. They come at the disadvantage of being slightly heavier than regular tuners. Also, it makes it a lot easier to restring.

Winner: Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified.

Neck Joint

Contrary to popular belief, the difference in sustain and tone that some neck joints give to a guitar is simply unperceivable—if they're all well built. However, some of them do have advantages over the others.

The Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified has a Bolt-On neck joint. This neck is joined to the body by 4 bolts that you can simply unscrew. This allows you to replace the neck or take it off for travel. It's the most common and cheapest way to build a guitar.

On the other hand, the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged comes with Set neck joint. This neck is tightly glued to the body. They give you the least versatility because you can't swap them for a neck that fits your hand better if you want to, unlike bolt-on necks. Some people think this gives more resonance and sustain, but there's no real difference if the bolt-on joint is well built.

Winner: Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified.

Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:

Final Build Quality Scores

Playability Comparison

Let's now compare the playability of both guitars. Bear in mind that the guitar will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test a guitar before buying it. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the guitar for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar is to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.

Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when we're comparing guitars. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.

Nut Width Comparison

The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged has the wider nut with 43mm (1.693'') vs 42mm (1.654''). This is a 1mm (0.039'') difference

This means that it will be more difficult to do bar chords on the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged, especially closer to the nut. However, it's also easier to play without muting strings accidently. This favors people with big hands.

Scale Length Comparison

The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.

The Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified has the longest scale: 25.5". The Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged is only 24.75" long. This is a 0.75'' (19.1mm) scale length difference.

This longer scale means that the strings need more tension to get in tune. This is good if you want to avoid fret buzz, which can happen when the strings are too loose and touch the frets while vibrating. This is especially important when playing in lower tunings. This will also let you reduce the gap between fretboard and strings (low action) to make them easier to press down. However, this higher tension will also make it harder to perform bends and vibratos as the strings will feel stiffer.

This also means that the frets have a longer separation between each other, so this will make it harder for people with smaller hands when playing some chord positions.

Another characteristic of a longer scale is that it makes the guitar sound 'snappier' or brighter. This is due to the extra separation between harmonics and overtones produced by the tension. This influences tone more than any other factor (except the pickups).

Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.

Neck Profile Comparison

No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.

Both the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified and the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged have a C-shaped neck. This is what you'll find in most modern guitars. Most people feel like the thickness of a C neck is simply the less intrusive one for playing fast, while at the same time allowing you to grab the neck easily for resting if you want to.

Fretboard Radius Comparison

Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.

In this case, the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified's fingerboard radius is smaller, which means it's more curved than the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged's. This extra arc will make playing chords easier in this model. You won't be as likely to mute the strings, especially if you have big hands. However, playing single notes and bending will be easier on the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged.

Hand Size Comfortability

Everyone has a different hand size, and that's why it's recommended to try a guitar before buying, even if others tell you that it's comfortable to play. However, we can know whether a guitar favors small or large hands just by knowing its exact measurements.

And after taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that the Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified favors large hands more than the Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged.

Fender Vintera 50s Stratocaster Modified:

Gibson 1964 Trini Lopez Standard Ebony Ultra Light Aged:

Fret Size Comparison

Both guitars have a Medium Jumbo fret size. These are slightly shorter than full Jumbo frets, so you'll still feel the fretboard when pressing down the strings. However, they interfere less with your fretting hand than medium-size frets. This is a good size if you like easy-to-press frets, but would still like to feel a bit of the fretboard when playing.

Final Playability Scores