Well, that was one "ignernt" stretch of posts there...

Here's the facts:

• If you actually think that one genre of music is "better" than another you have a mental defect. You prefere one genre over others.
  


• Have no illusions; Country music breads a mess of badass lead guitarists. If you look outside of commercial country you actually find a lot of really good songwriting too.
  


• Ibanez guitars are for all intensive purposes Fenders. Different companies, different styles, same idea.
  


• Gear doesn't make the player. Sure, it helps to have a nice playing guitar with good tone, but tone and feel are individual things. My Tele gets everything from classic Tele to Strat to Les Paul tones thanks to it's neck pickup and five way selector. It has a fairly massive body and if you put your ear up to unplugged it actually has an incredible sound. Not many Ibanez owners can say that.
  

Finally, I might add that while Pantera was just getting started as a GLAM band, Larry LaLonde, who will admit to liking Teles was creating some serious METAL as a member of Possessed.