I play mostly fingerstyle but do use a pick in particular when in a group jam with others cause I just canāt hear my fingerstyle otherwise. Mark Knopfler said the little piece of plastic is the best amplifier you can get for free (or words to that effect).
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Does it have strings?
Does it make music?
Most important of all, is it a bargain?
Iāll have whatever it is, mate 
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Me too. Despite being an iconic guitar style, a Tele has no appeal for me. Iām pretty sure that if there was one sitting in my closet, the dusty end of the neck would start at the first fret and go from there.
I love the LP look and feel and I like the look/feel of a strat.
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I donāt own either Fender or Gibson but I do plan on owning guitars from both someday. Not just for the name - theyāre pretty iconic guitars.
I borrowed my mates Gibson Les Paul for a week, a few months ago. Aside from sounding absolutely pure rock n roll compared to my Squier, my mum was visiting, who knows next to nothing about guitars aside from how many strings they have, said āWow, thatās a Gibson!ā
Brand recognition of the big two is real.
Hi Jk ,
I do know that Justin (and others whose opinion I hold highly and also speak personally) find the CURRENT american Fender models far too expensive and that they have been surpassed by many other brands (overshadowed says justin somewhere)ā¦but of course good guitars.
And if they werenāt so heavy Iād buy a Gibson today 
Greetings
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I agree. It just has very little meaning for me, especially whether someone else recognises my guitar as being a Gibson or Fender. Frankly, so what!
Cheers,
Keith
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My first decent guitar was a Mexican Strat; affordable and upgradeable
I never felt much for the LP for about the same reasons @direvus pointed out himself
Never felt warm for PRS guitars either
Not into dreadnaught size acoustics
Love jaguar shapes and scale length but not all the ugly switches
Love the Tele simplicity but it misses some ergonomic features
love the Strat ergonomy, āall roundā character and options.
I poured the pro arguments into a custom guitar and a lot of that was solved
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I am with the āI donāt do picksā crowd.
Currrently I donāt do electric, but that probably isnāt permanent, or if it were, it would just be because I have enough to do with non-electrics.
What I am starting to worry about is that I ādonāt doā rhythmā¦
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Nothing in particular am I just ānopeā about when it comes to guitars to be honest. My first electric was an LP shape which I actually quite like, but the weight of it was ridiculous and consequently it was no way near as well balanced as my PRS.
I donāt know if part of that was that mine was a pretty cheap variant or if theyāre all like that, but itād be in my mind before looking at another LP type.
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I donā t care all that much about brands, names, etcā¦
Before i say not, iāll give it a try.
Thatās how i found out that an LP is not for me, neither is a SG.
A tele might do, i need a session or two more .or, a tele shaped guitar. Iāve been ogling one in my local guitarshop, but still need to come up with a good excuse to go ahead and buy it.
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Stickers. Although there have been some iconic guitars with stickers on them (e.g. those of Woody Guthrie or Alvin Lee), itās just a big no-no for me. I might take an exception to putting one on the pickguard.
Iāll sign on to the no-Strat camp. For me, I think the reason is the ubiquity of the Strat shape rather than the guitar itself. A lot of my favourite players were/are Strat-slingers and they sure know better than me, but still.
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Ornamentation.
Fancy paint schemes, abalone inlays, pictures on the fretboard instead of dots, gold plated hardware, etc, etc, etc
Iād rather the money go into the soundā¦high quality tone woods, build quality, better electronicsā¦and so on.
My Made in Mexico Martin GPC X2 is quite plain looking, and thatās the way I like it. It sounds good and itās easy to play.
Althoughā¦as others have mentioned, brand recognition is a thing. One of my guitar playing friends said āOoooā¦a Martin!ā the first time he saw it, even though itās at the very bottom of their lineup.
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Generally, I think less is more, but there are some pimped-up guitars that are just pure eye-candy to me, like:
Jimmy Pageās Telecaster
Eric Claptonās psychedelic SG
John Lennonās painted acoustic-electric
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No doubt they cost for the brand. Fender in particular also has a lot of affordable models too. BTW I mostly see a Suhr or Froggy in Justinās videos which are not cheap! 
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Fender and Gibson absolutely trade on their names and make money from it, you should be able to buy similar guitars from other manufacturers for less, why would you pay more for a āknockoffā than a Gibson?
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Luckily that Suhr was too heavy for me
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But you know what- having said that I really donāt like Gibson styles, and normally I would agree that I donāt like gold hardwareā¦I would absolutely play the crap out of this.
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I just do not like explorer shape guitars. I know a lot of people that love them but they do nothing for me. Iāve seen some that I thought looked nice, but I certainly would never own one.
As a Gibson/Les Paul lover I hope one day you all see the light 
Seriously though for me the Les Paul look has like an elegant (for lack of a better word) look that gives off a really cool aura. Donāt know what it is but Iāve always been drawn to them. All the way back to when I first went to guitar center when I was a teenager to buy a guitar and got the epi les paul special beginner kit.
Iām in this camp too, I donāt like gold colored hardware and would rarely like a guitar that has them. I can appreciate the look though. For example, the Schecter Solo II custom I can appreciate but never own in this color:
The blackburst would be my choice:
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Both are so pretty. Iād only consider gold hardware on a black guitar. And there really needs to be gold tuners/pegs and even maybe a gold trim around the body too, to set it all off. And its the rounder shape that makes the difference as well. Like, a black and gold Strat? No, looks terrible to me. But any other black guitar, or any other color, with gold- blech!
Then thereās this for those who really really like gold. Only $5800.00.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/JS2GD--ibanez-joe-satriani-signature-js2gd-electric-guitar-gold-boy
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