I'll play this for a long time, maybe the rest of my life. I can't imagine ever having a need or want to replace it. Thank you Fender!!!! If it were lost or stolen, I'd cry like a little girl and then do everything in my power to replace every single piece of it. If I had $400 more to spare, I might go all out on an American standard, but there's only a slight difference.

Sound
My style is mostly blues and Pink Floydish rock. Sometimes I like to mess around with heavy metal, but I use my Les Paul for that. The pickups are amazing for stock and I really have no desire at all to replace them. They can be a bit noisy with a lot of gain, but for middle-of-the-road distortion, you can't beat this. The clean sound I get is pretty close to my Highway One Stratocaster with vintage Jeff Beck Noiseless pickups. I'm not kidding!

Features
It only came with a nice gig bag, which I replaced with a nice Gator hardshell case, but still for only $400, I feel like I still owe Fender more money for this guitar. The springs for the tremolo were only three, so I added the extra two and it works perfect for me. I don't do dives with the whammy, so it stays in tune for a very long time.

Ease of Use
I get all sounds I desire from this guitar. The neck is very easy to be fast with and it fits very well. The contours of a stratocaster just mold to a person's body anyway, and this thing fits like a glove.… read more It comes with a real nice owners manual that covers a lot of maintenance and repair, but it should go to a luthier with anything major.

Quality
There's just no difference to me that it was made in Mexico. These are American Fender parts and with a nice alder body and maple neck/maple neck, I could not be happier. I'm not at all worried about anything breaking on me, and I'd take it on the road without hesitation. It's solid!

Value
Like I said, for $400, it's a supreme deal and I would have paid more for something with this quality.

Manufacturer Support
Never had to deal with support.

The Wow Factor
It's black and it came with a white pickguard, white knobs, and white pickup covers. All the white parts have been replaced with black and it's a sexy black beast now. I adore it's looks!

Musical Background:
20 year hack

Musical Style:
Rock, Blues, Fusion, sometimes a little Metal read less