I say 5, because once I put new tuners on and string saver bridges, it will be perfect. I least like the soft intonation screws, but i realize that prevents stripping the bridge rather than just a little screw. I most like the sound of the guitar in general.

Sound
I settled on one of these after alot of shopping for an ash guitar. The American Standard is made from alder, typically, which doesn't quite have the ring of the ash tree woods. This Mexican Strat seems well put together, as far as the milling and standard Fender assembly line joinery, and the solder joints seem solid enough. The pickups in this thing are really swell! I have regular gigs these days. We do just about any genre of 'rebellious' music from the 50's and 60's-from surf, to beebop, to country and western. So I pretty much need twang and warmth and a wammy bar. This Strat's got it. And the 7- way switching gets some nice tones if you have the pickups lined up just right. The out-of-phase tones you get when you push the little button (a cool feature on so many levels for playing live) seem more full and musical to me than the typical between- settings on a 5-way Strat. But you've got those too on this little Mexican job! I love the sound and feel of it more and more every night... but you know how Fenders are. You have to break 'em in, but they're pretty much built to be used. I did raise the action quite a bit right out of the box and put heavier strings on it. Strats are happier… read more that way, especially for playing slide. The light strings and low action they set em' up with these days so kids can play Metallica or whatever, aren't what I prefer.

Features
Eh? Gold-plated hardware? Goldplated imported hardware this thing's got. Some goon is going to rip this guitar off someday thinking it's worth about four times what I paid for it. Ha ha! The honey blond finish shows the woodgrain- and the seperate slabs of wood are matched very well on mine. That finish looks pretty classy with the brown- red bevelled pickguard.

Quality
I did worry about the bridge saddles a little bit, but if you keep the saddles buffed and oiled, they're fine. I have an old Squier for backup if a string breaks or something- which they do, but my picking can get out of hand sometimes. It's funny, though, the old Squier has better quality stock tuners on it than this guitar.

Value
They could have shaved off a little overhead by nixing the gold-plated hardware. I mean- gold plated screws? Come on. But the thing is solidly built. I think I made a good purchase on at least a body and neck and some nice pickups. Compared to Gibson's overpriced garbage, this is by far the better deal on a guitar.

Manufacturer Support
Never dealt with Fender.

The Wow Factor
It's a sophistocated looking guitar. The hardware is flashy and the finish invites you to look close at it. I wear it with a black leather strap with a Sherrif badge on it. The ladies love it!

Musical Style:
Jazz, Surf, Country, Rock, Latin read less