First Electric Guitar - Fender Strat or Les Paul or ???

Hello,

I'm not ready to buy an electric right now but I'm looking around.
Being a lefty I can't expect the deal I'm looking for to be ready when
I am so it pays to know what I want in advance. I'm a beginning
guitarist playing a nice Guild acoustic right now. Down the road I'd
like to have a relatively versatile electric to play with. I was
thinking Fender Strat. A lot of the rock and blues I like comes from
one and if I understand the setup correctly I can in essence buy the
low end model (Not the squire) and upgrade piece by piece over time if
necessary.

On the other hand Les Paul's are also responsible for a whole lotta
good music and the Epiphone version would be in my price ball park.

Opinions, suggestions, recommendations, and any thought on what else I
might be overlooking?

Thanks,

John Purser

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