AXL Collection Series Leopard Strat

This strat copy was made in China (shangai)and has the traditional settings ,you expect to have on a strat . I choose this one for the 'leopard' finish which is quite fun ( for me ,question of taste ,of course)and of course for the EMG designed PU ,and for the price!
- three pieces of alder body
- good finish : the graphic is quite good ,well done ,not too cheesy
- S/S/S configurations
- Emg designed PU by Axl
- maple neck with rosewood fretboard ,shunk striped in black at the back
- 3 ply white pickguard
- Fast neck ( C shape) with low action
- 21 vintage frets ( my favorites)
- Tuners are Gotoh type made by AXL
- standard vibrato

I wanted an all around Strat to take with me everywhere ..
my setting is a Vox Pathfinder 15 tr ,a Digitech Bad monkey ,Nobels Odr1..
so the surprise is : this cheap guitar has a fantastic sound ,low noise , in clean with a light overdrive it's a very Gilmourish sound ( pink floyd) ,but this baby can overdrive also very well !!
the sound kick ass ,great for blues and blues-rock

it's ok from the factory . Just (on the pickgard) a screw was a bit unscrewed and I had to fix it
as i don't use the vibrato , I can't judge if this one do the job

The strap buttons are cheap , I will replace it with strap locks
i am sure this guitar withstand live playing ,if you are not snobish to play wih an Axl/johnson guitar..

I have been playing since 6 years now , and I had since this time tried different guitars ( G.A.S) cheap ones and some more expensive
I have now A fender Sambora Strat (mexican) An Esp ltd Mv 200 (with new Pu : Gibson p94 and Dimarzio Dp404)a Peavey generation Exp with piezzo ,and this one..
I you are really into 'blues' as i am ,you can play on every guitar ,if you really feels the 'blues' ;you don't need to have an expensive one ,if you want to have one it's your problem ( I am not jealous)
The playability on this one is good ,and the sound excellent and the price so cheap.