Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition 1956 Relic® Stratocaster vs Gibson Les Paul (SG) Standard with Sideways Vibrola 1961 - 1962

The Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition 1956 Relic® Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul (SG) Standard with Sideways Vibrola 1961 - 1962 are both electric guitars sharing mid-forward, modulated. The Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition 1956 Relic® Stratocaster leans high gain. The Gibson Les Paul (SG) Standard with Sideways Vibrola 1961 - 1962 leans sustaining. Current prices: $4521.41 vs $5495.

Similarity
citedBlended from circuit-archetype lineage, dynamic feel, tone-signal overlap and tone-vector distance — the tone vector itself is derived from editorial description text, not a measured acoustic signal, so this reflects how similarly the catalog copy describes the two, not a lab measurement. Shown only within a gear class, and only where there's enough evidence to be meaningful.

48% somewhat different

Shared genres
citedGenres both listings are associated with.
  • Rock
Shared tone character
citedDerived from overlapping tonal signals across both listings.
  • mid-forward
  • modulated
Citation fame
citedCitation/mention fame — how often this gear is cited across artist rigs and gear discussion.
0%
0%
Price

$4521.41via Reverb

$5495via Reverb

Description

This entry covers a Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition 1956 Relic Stratocaster, part of Fender's ongoing '56-spec relic line built with a soft-V maple neck, vintage-style single coils, and period-correct aged hardware and finish checking. It is separate from Iron Maiden guitarist Dave Murray's actual signature model, the Fender Dave Murray Stratocaster with its Seymour Duncan Hot Rails and JB Jr pickups, and from his more recent Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilt Dave Murray Stratocaster built by Andy Hicks. Documentation tying this specific '56 relic build to Murray is thin, so this entry should be read as one of the general '56-spec Custom Shop guitars in his collection rather than a signature or artist-specific model.

This Gibson Les Paul, styled in the SG body shape with a sideways-mounted Maestro vibrato, dates from the brief 1961-1962 transitional period when Gibson had switched the Les Paul line to the thinner, double-cutaway SG body but before Les Paul himself asked to have his name removed from the model in 1963, making guitars from this exact window historically distinct from both the earlier single-cutaway Les Pauls and the later SG-branded guitars that followed. Carlos Santana played a cherry-red 1961-62 example fitting this description at Woodstock in August 1969, its Maestro vibrato notably left disconnected, strings never attached to it, kept on the guitar mostly for balance or in hope it added sustain rather than for its intended tremolo function. Built with two P-90 pickups, a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, and a wraparound stop tailpiece doing the actual string-anchoring work, it represents a genuinely narrow slice of Gibson history.

Genres
citedGenres this gear is documented as being used in.
  • Classic Rock
  • Funk
  • Country
  • Indie
  • Blues
Tonal lean
  • high gain
  • sustaining

Related searches

Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition 1956 Relic® Stratocaster vs Gibson Les Paul (SG) Standard with Sideways Vibrola 1961 - 1962 — Shared Character & Differences — NodeTone