Les Paul vs Telecaster With Humbuckers | Can You Tell the Difference?

Scale length affects the tone more than the mahogany vs alder theory. Even the bodyshape of a guitar impacts on tone. Humbuckers do not sound the same on Fenders vs Gibson/Epiphone when guitars are played clean. With half a dozen pedals going and computer-generated programs anything can be made to sound similar...almost anything. That being said no two guitars, inc. same model, will sound alike.

The Les Paul here is a good example. It has the signature Les Paul tuning gears slipping.

The Tele sounds brighter because it has a longer scaled neck which causes the strings to vibrate faster compared to a shorter scaled Gibson neck which produces a darker, warmer tone.

Great comparison. Agree with everything said here. They are so close in tone with the Tele very slightly brighter when driven but I could n't tell any difference in clean mode. The Les Paul just sounded dull and muffled. For me the the neck of a player Fender is superb. Fender all the way.

Me parece que a Les Paul arrasta consigo um rastro de gordura enquanto a Telecaster tem um som mais sequinho sem perder o corpo.

What a great comparison video man. I wish there were more like these - genuine comparison playing identical licks and flicking between the 2. Thanks man. Would have liked to see the comparison to a real LP, but this was super.

both these guitars have the same EXACT no name pickups from south east asia, there $45 a set on ebay. these pickups are terrible and are in many entry level guitars by many brands. I put Lollar imperials in my Player series MIM telle its 300% better. YES THEY ARE THE SAME pickups, Pull them out and turn them over , read the name.

The Tele is noticeably brighter - the LP sounds dark and muddy in comparison- especially in the neck and in middle positions.

I’ll put that down to fender scale length, string through body.

I definitely prefer the Tele over the LP in the demo. I have an LP with 57s and a couple of teles but no HH Tele- thanks for the video - I need an HH Tele!

LP just sounds so much better imo. Fuller sound.

The only difference I saw was the Epiphone didn’t hold tune lol.

25.5" scale length and maple fretboard on the Tele are probably going to be the two things that contribute the most to any tonal difference here 🤔

That much distortion, it wouldn't matter if you played a 2x4.

Exceptional A/B comparison!

The Tele sounds “alive”, ringing and singing.

Amazing video. And I wonder how much the subtle tone difference (considering the range spectrum of tones an electric guitar is capable of achieving) is due to (1) pickup height (the LP sounded like it has the pickups a bit closer to the strings than the tele) and/or (2) small differences in electronics. I think with some minor tweaking it’s possible to achieve the exact same tone, or something very very very close to it.

The Telecaster sounds a lot more defined

your amp settings are what makes the slight difference, not the pickups themselves

2 distinct sounds it comes down to what tones you want they are both equal in sound quality I will say that for anything with a country flavor teles are good , they are great when paired in songs

Maybe I missed it at the beginning but are the pickups the same in both guitars? Are they set at the same height? The Epi sounds louder and warmer but I’m wondering if it’s from the height difference or not. I love comparisons like this though. Oh and does the Epi have a 300k or 500k pot? Maybe the tele has a 500k pot? That would be weird since Fender uses 250k pots on their single coils but could have a 500k pot. Lol I’m not trying to avoid the “there’s a difference because of the body wood” and I’m open to there being a difference. EDIT* watched until the end, different pickups 😣 yeah, that could DEFINITELY affect the tone as well as thicker strings typically on LP’s.

Really like your video.
I'm doing just That.
Making a tele and putting humbuckers in it.
I like the way your humbucker tele sounds better than the LP Myself.
The LP sounded muddier to Me....
I have both...

The tele sounds great. I expect the Epiphone has lower quality pickups. I don’t hear much upper mids chirp like one might with a quality PAF. The only way to get a true A/B comparison would be by using the same model of pickup in each guitar. Enjoyable video nonetheless.

Telecaster sounds acid … les Paul fat …

The Les Paul had creamier leads and phrasing but the Tele beats it in all other areas.

Bridge pickup on tele with distortion rocks

The tele obviously sounds a million times better. But you're comparing an actual fender telecaster to an epiphone. Let's keep ito n par here and compare it to an actual Gibson. If you're gonna compare an Epiphone to a Fender, then you better pickup a Squire

Tele is brighter. Could be a combination of different pickups, woods and scale length. But you could A/B two les pauls and hear the same difference. Every guitar has it's own voice.

The only problem I have with this test, is that you are comparing an unknown brand of humbuckers in the Tele ,with a really shitty Epiphone which is right at the bottom of the pile of Gibson copies.

Thanks Kennis for all the work that goes into making a proper A/B comparison, your video really helped. I'll be swapping my LP for an HH Tele as soon as possible.

Well, as others have said, the Fender sounds like a Fender and the Les Paul sounds like ... a Les Paul. The Tele makes a sound that is definitely different from a standard Tele but still nice and crisp, well balanced. Sorry for you LP fans but for me the Epi sounds dull, maybe the strings are old. Very similar to my Gibson LP with 490 / 498 pickups which is wearing ancient strings at the moment.

You can talks about the different scale lengths, different neck settings etc. but surely the pickups are the biggest factor in the sound you get from an electric guitar - they turn string vibrations into the electrical signal which gets amplified. And it's surprising that Fender seem give us better humbuckers than Epiphone. Still, it would be good to know exactly what these two different sets of humbuckers are.

Not really fair comparing a real Tele to an Epiphone.

I still say Telecaster is best with Single Coils....

Are the pickups interchangeable.?

That's completely different pickups.

I have a HH Thinline Tele, Semi Hollow Body. And it's got that Les Paul like sound overall. I'd rather get a LP, or possibly a SG just because I want to lighten the weight a bit... As for your comparison here, there were only a few points where I could tell a difference. So Good Job Ken! 🙂

Best comparison video around, period.

Wow. What a huge difference. One i wasnt expecting. Every a/b the tele sounded so much more clear and present. I cant believe how much the tones differ. Tele all the way.

Les Paul sounded punchier but less articulate and harder to pick out individual strings... and strangely each swap to the LP sounded like the LP was out of tune...

No difference.
Thanks. Good vid.

Nope not the same two different animals...
Scale length, pickup location, mahogany vs alder or ash..
The only thing they have in common is two humbuckers..
It up to you to decide which sounds best to your ear...
Even PRS with a 25 inch scale and with 24 frets throws the neck pickup in a different location so its going to sound different....
Especially clean,without effects
Nope there not the same....

Similar sounds from both guitars but the paul is the darker sounding guitar 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

Nice job... thank you!

Telecasters win, again, as always.

They're pretty different: scale length, body and neck woods, feel in string tension, etc. The Tele is brighter, more articulate, and has more string seaparation while the LP is warmer with looser bass and more present mids. But that atiff could be changed with a pickup swap or EQing

Should of compared a Les Paul to a Tele Deluxe. They are both are wired the same; HH, 4 knobs(2 vol, 2 tone), three-way switch. Would have been a lot closer in tone.

epi is very muddy, bleh

I have always preferred Les Paul to telecasters…..but the telecaster sounded better, it just did. Maybe different pickups? Gibson not Epiphone?… I don’t know. But in this comparison the tele won for me. Eye opening.

They're very different. Different scale length and different fretboard radius.

As expected, the Tele is chimier but EQ could definitely make up for that. They wouldn’t be dramatically different in a mix. Overall I like the Tele better, but then again my main electric is a G&L USA ASAT with a P-90 in the bridge.

I’d definitely like a T-style guitar with two volume, two tone.

Sound closer together than expected. In a band mix, would be even harder to tell. Tele probably cuts through a bit better; but the lead tones on the Lester carry a bit more gravitas..

Perfectly done. Thank you! IMO... they were ever so slightly different, not enough to make a difference at all. I didn't close my eyes and listen, but if I had, I'm sure I wouldn't have heard a difference at all.
Zen tip of the Day: Guitar is like life, do what makes you feel good!