Since I'm only seventeen, this will be my intrument till next September when I'm going to buy a Les Paul with all my summer job money and make my dreams come true, but I'd still keep this one. If it were lost or stolen I'd try to find a bunch of money and buy a Les Paul.

Sound
The Pickup buzz is horrible. Get the noiseless ones that fender makes, I believe they are only about 45-55$. They are not, Repeat NOT good for extreme hardcore metal sounds. I used mine through the digitech death metal distortion pedal and it was just awful. Really Hard to get the Palm Mute stuff like metallica does unless you wanna buy all new pickups. I dropped in a seymour duncan hot rails pickup on the bridge because it was way too bright sounding, and it sounds awesome now.

Features
The tone knobs dont do jack squat. Don't listen to any yahoo who says they do because the are full of it. The Whammy bar works just fine, although i haven't used mine for a while because i screwed my bridge down so it would stay in tune longer, but it's fine.

Quality
This guitar is invincible. Mine has fallen off of its stand on a couple of occasions and it still works perfectly.

Value
If you have your heart absolutely set on buying a stratocaster, by all means get this one, its affordable, and with the noiseless pickups, sounds vintage and clean. If your looking for super fat tone like you hear in… read more todays metal, go with ibanez or a les paul or sg style guitar

Manufacturer Support
I'm giving them a 10 because they have made the product so well I''ve never had to contact them.

The Wow Factor
It's a stratocaster. It's a classic. You can never go wrong with a classic that's been proven time and time again. I give it 8 because the Gibson Les Paul and Gibson SG are cooler looking and the Les Paul Black Beauty Custom is the best looking guitar in my opinion

Musical Background:
Active musician

Musical Style:
Rock Punk Metal Alternative read less