[Oster]

I know what you're saying.

Despite being a Fender fanatic, I must admit my disappointment when a Gibson (or other) player switches over to Fender.

It does go both ways, though not as much. I don't like seeing Jimi Hendrix pictured with a Gibson, for instance. I can't imagine Rory Gallagher with a Les Paul. Or Clarence White with a 335.

My theory as to why the balance is off is that most big guitarists of rock's classic period were not Fender players. My older brother tells me that when he was in school in the mid '70s, Fenders were thought of as kind of nerdy. Les Pauls ruled the day if not the imaginations of most aspiring teenage guitarists.

When Fender's popularity suddenly skyrocketed in the '80s with Strats (and by association Superstrats), the music changed to more New Wavey, synthy type sounds. With Gibson largely out of the picture for that era, it became more novel that an unprocessed Gibson or Gretsch be the first choice of someone while so many were playing that inbetweeny Strat-tone.

To this day it's Fender's lasting, overwhelming, popularity that makes a Gibson or Gretsch or other seem almost exotic by comparison. So when some Fender slinger switches to another brand, it's almost somewhat of a relief & not so much a shock.

Off-topic here but it can still be quite unfashionable in certain circles to play certain Fender instruments. A stratocaster in the right band, for example, can be quite a defiant statement.

As long as there are players who follow their own hearts and ears, we'll always have sonic (and visual) variety.