Fender Standard Stratocaster

It is a Strat with very Strat like features, mine is a maple neck (the only way to go if you ask me), hey for the money you can't go wrong, this is just a great players guitar for the working guitar player, you can bang it, spill beer on it, knock it over and you know what, who cares....Now if your a metal head or something like that, the cool Fender sound is not what your looking for, but for everything else from classic rock to jazz, country to blues it is the guitar of choice for me.

It's you basic strat and sounds just like a strat, mine still has the stock pick-ups and they sound just fine I may change them but right now really don't see a reason to, I play mine through a Marshall amp and you know what, it sounds just like a Strat through a Marshall amp, the only effect I use sometime is a cry baby.

I bought mine used from a hippie guy and it was nasty, dirty, beat up, covered with strange art work when I got it (why would you color all over the pick guard with magic marker????) I disassembled the entire guitar and cleaned and polished every part (by the way WD40 cleaned the strange stuff off the pick guard really nice) and put her back together, gave her a good set up, dressed the frets now I have a real nice strat that plays and looks great. Mine is a maple neck & the body is that deep blue almost purple color

Man, it's a strat there is no more realiable guitar and if you break something they are easy to work on. I play lead guitar in a local blues band here in Detroit City and this guitar just begs to go to the bar and have beer spilled on her. Would I use it on a gig without a back up, would anyone, If your a pro, you have back-ups, acually on stage now I have the strat & the tele and move back and forth between them. This my second mexican strat for the $$$ you just can't go wrong.

Bought it used, do my own guitar work.

OK, I'm 42, been playing since I was a kid, have been in wedding bands, jazz bands, top 40 bands, classic rock bands, blues bands etc. for a long time. Now I am kind of old school my main rig right now is the strat we are talking about a old tele I had for years and a Epiphone Emperior (jazz box), I plug them through a cry baby into a old 50 watt Marshall 2-12 combo who could ask for more. If my stratr was stolen I would have to get another strat

Made in Mexico 1998. 21 frets. Black with white pickguard. Maple neck.

It came with a HSC, 15' ProCo cable and a Zoom 606 pedal. Hard to pass up the deal for $150. I get the feeling that this guy bought a guitar and pedal but never got into learning and playing the guitar and got bugged. The guitar did not show much use.

The original owner had made some adjustments that didn't suit me so I blocked the trem and lowered the action by one full turn on each saddle. Adjusted the P/U's to my taste and intonated the guitar.

Has Vol., 2 Tone knobs and 5 way switch. 3 single coils. Typical standard strat.

I play all styles and the guitar is adequate for most. I play mostly rhythm and the 2 and 4 positions on the 5 way switch seem to satisfy my requirements.

Where it DOES shine for me is the neck p/u with the bass rolled up to max and through a distortion pedal. Clapton's "Woman Tone" type sound is really nice.

Playing clean I find that the neck and neck/middle p/u positons (1&2) are a bit muddy.

I use a number of different F/X units and amps Boss, Carvin, Peavey, Danelectro. I actually like the sound of this guitar with no F/X, just plugged straight into the amp ( Peavey Bandit) with a little reverb.

I might consider swapping out the P/U's for American Strat type P/U's sometime down the road. I think they would sound cleaner. I can live with the original ones for now and they DO have the Strat tone.

The guitar seems pretty solid and the frets are medium jumbo with no problems. they are rounded and seated well and I don't feel any sharp ends on the edge of the neck.

There were a few wear marks on the maple neck but I think this adds character. The body was perfect and not a scratch on it.

I switched the strings to 10's and it caused the bridge to rise up. I decided to block the trem cavity for stability in tuning and it works well. I like using tremolo but have several guitars with Wilkenson and Kahler trems so the trade off was was no big deal.

This is a decent workhorse guitar and I would certainly use it for playing a gig. Besides, there are just some clubs and bars where I don't feel comfortable bringing an expensive guitar to use.

Plus.... it's a Strat!!! It looks cool!!!

No need for support as I prefer to work on the guitars myself. It ain't brain surgery to set up a guitar and the web has all the spec's for all the instruments. Basic hand tools will get you through most adjustments.

Been playing for 36 years and own all Carvin basses and guitars (except for this strat) If it were lost I would buy another.

I have had this guitar for 4 days and am liking it more each time I play it. In truth it is not the quality of my Carvins but it is a good guitar and fun to play. If you set it up to your specs it will serve you well.

My guitar was made in 1994-1995, in Japan.
21 Frets, Basewood body, Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard, normal fender stratocaster electronics, no clue as for the pickups (haven't checked), SSS passive configuration, Vintage Fender Tremolo bridge, and locking tuners (no brand on them).
The finish in Aged Cherry burst, semi-transpert, and i have no clue as for what the top wood is. It have a lot of color differents in strips, and very light flame. Not a light wood like maple, and not a dark one.
Bought it with a used cheap Fender hardshell case.

Just nothing but the standard strat with 21 frets, decluding the basewood body and vintage bridge.

I play rock \ funk \ pop \ blues and pretty much anything, and its suits me great. Great bass respond for a fender, and less crunch comparing to todays american strats.
I play it with a horrible BC Rich 10W amp. raising funds for a new amp.
The guitar is a bit noisy. Yet, its non-noisless singles, but nothing outstanding.
Great clean, with a balanced bass and mid, and not that much treble.
Although you can't make it crunch as hell in funk like todays strats, it serves you way better in blues and rock.

The clean nocks me off my sit everytime I play it. The distortion is decent.

Don't have a normal amp yet, so can't really tell about the distortion.

I bought mine for a shop who had it second handed. The set up was pretty good at all means, but I like overdoing it to get the best of any of my guitar.
The top wasn't bookmatched all that well.
No flaws found, considering its cost. some paint dings, not all that clean routs, but hey, its a no-cost guitar!

I'm not the gigging player, but yet, I would take it as my first guitar out of the 7 I own currently.
Everything looks fine, but you always need a backup guitar. Its not a monster Ibanez that will last forever during shows, but it isn't bad at all.

Never dealt with, hopping will never do.

I've been playing for 3 years, and I own 1 classical guitar and 6 electrics.
Found this guitar when I went to buy picks. Didn't had the need for a guitar, but couldn't resist it.
I would buy this guitar anytime again, its a great product for the money.

2004 made in Mexico. 21 frets, beautiful maple fretboard, c-shaped maple neck makes it real easy and smooth to play. 5-way pickup selector, 2 tone controls (one for neck pickup, one for middle pickup), 1 volume control for all pickups. All single coil pickups. Vintage tremelo style bridge; not that same as the American strat bridge and I actually like this bridge better because the saddles are easier to palm mute on.

I replaced the strap buttons with dunlop locking buttons. I wish I would've bought schaller ones but these work.

Sounds gorgeous both clean and dirty on all my amps and almost every amp i've tried(marshall MG10CD, guitar research 60 HS). If you are playing around a lot of electronics like computers, flourescent lightbulbs, TVs, ect, you will get a lot of buzz on the single coil settings. The middle pickup sounds great, it's my favorite one and I don't think i'd ever change it out. The bridge pickup was a little too harsh for my tastes so I replaced it with a GFS lil' killer and wired it to a 500K tone pot and now it sounds great! I plan on replacing the neck pickup because it sounds too dull for me. I pulled the bridge all the way back and the sustain increases like crazy! The tone that this guitar makes cannot be beaten!

Everything was well done at the factory. I had to adjust the action a bit, and now theres virtually no fret buzz. I've heard that mexican strats are hit-or-miss and sometimes frets are put on crooked or the neck isnt dressed right...but mine was perfect. Best feeling neck I've ever felt.

I've played dozens of gigs with it, without backup, and I have no reason to ever believe that it will ever fail on me. My friend has knocked it over a few times and I've bumped it into stuff and it still sounds fine.

If I lost this guitar I would buy it back in a snap, its my prized axe...although I might get the fat strat version with a humbucker in the bridge instead, that way I wouldnt have to replace the bridge pickup again. I like it better than the american standard definitely. My favorite feature is the tone. Unbeatable, unmatchable.

Black Made-in-Mexico Standard ("updated") Strat. Bought new, date stamped under pickguard January 20th 2006, so I guess that indicates it's age. Alder body, maple neck, rosewood board.

Features are traditional Strat - 1 volume, 2 tones (neck and middle only), vintage tremolo, 3 "Standard Stratocaster" pickups.

It's difficult to score for "features". Minus side - no coil-taps, no tone on bridge pickup, no locking trem. On the other hand thousands of people have made great music with the Strat and I can't think of any basic "feature" (as opposed to improvements that don't alter its' basic character - the Strat is the most versatile guitar ever) I'd want add to it, so I'll give it an 8

I currently need a clean sound through to pseudo-synth textures. For blues/blues-rock gigs I want a straightforward tone and use a basic setup of guitar-Twin Reverb(or Cyber Champ for gigs where I can't crank the Twin). At the other extreme: a bunch of filters and overdrives and modulation fx dating from the 1970s to now, into a Cyber Champ(several good usable amp tones plus a ducking delay, tremolo and reasonable flanger in one box) - mic - PA. For recording either mic a speaker or NI Guitar Rig.

I chose this guitar out of about a dozen Strats - MIM and American Series, primarily because it has a good, woody unamplified tone and excellent sustain. The amplified sound was less important in decision making (you can always change pickups, which I now have, but the wood fixes the most important part of the tone). None of the four American series I tried could match the MIM on this. One MIM was louder, but also very bright indeed. All 12 Strats sounded different.

The stock pickups have ceramic magnets, with the middle wound in reverse to give hum cancelling in positions 2 and 4. These pickups are amongst the ugliest I can remember seeing, with the pole pieces very proud of the covers. When working on the guitar I discovered that the stock pickups are wax potted, and sprung by Fender's usual rubber tubes (unlike a 1999ish MIM Jazz Bass I've worked on where foam rubber stuck to the bottom of the pickups was acting as the spring). The p/us are decently made with no obvious flaws.

I assumed that a cheap guitar meant I'd need to screen it. On opening it up I found the pickguard screened by foil and a volume-pot to ground wire screwed into the cavity (these look like they're just screwed into the paintwork - Fender put a layer of screening paint on under the finish so you can't see it. Experiments with a multimeter indicate it's there alright). Well done Fender.

On to the sound. It sounds like a Strat (it is a Strat...). It's very sensitive to the amplifier used. Through the Cyber Champ it's bright and a touch clangy, but not too bad at all, especially through clean and crunchy settings. Through the Twin high volume gets a bit painful and hum rears its head a bit too much for comfort. Through a Class A Laney LC15 it's hum city (though the pickups don't cause the buzz - they're simply responding to EMF emitted by the amps. If you have this problem playing near your computer don't blame the guitar, switch the monitor off or get a TFT). The pickups are a bit inclined to squeal if too close to the amp, although the "infinite sustain" trick is dead easy, and a heavy pick hitting the strings is clearly audible as a click. I've played (and owned) vintage Fender that was worse.

On the plus side the tone is generally pretty good once you get the amp set up right (and the Cyber Champ works well on its' stock settings), with good depth and definition. It's very much a modern sound, slightly agressive and cutting, but still quite flexible and the neck pickup can be made to sing. If you expect to sound like you're playing your Grandad's guitar you won't. If you want a modern-sounding single-coil sound it's OK. Just don't get too close to a loud amp. Through British-style amps (which tend to be treble heavy) it's too bright for me. Pickup output is fairly high for a Strat single coil - as loud as my Duncan 54 Tele Bridge and very close to P100s.

I've now changed the pickups and pots for a Fender Vintage Noiseless set (I'll post a few comments about them in the pickups reviews) which have tamed the treble down a bit, and have more of a "traditional" Strat sound. Apart from saying goodbye to the hum and a noticable drop in output(and treble)the main difference is a kind of "filling out". The Noisless are better pickups, but the MIM is a far cheaper guitar than any US Fender and often plays as well or better, with a stock sound that's very acceptable for the price, especially if you've yet to find your own voice, and a pickup swap is easy. Mine has a body routed to accept a bridge humbucker by the way.

Incidentally, those of you who want the bridge pickup wired into the middle pickup's tone control (and are willing to lose many classic Strat sounds in the process), take a look at www.fender.com. Look at the wiring diagram for any basic Strat with that control setup (e.g. the Lone Star). See how it's done? You link two switch terminals and there you go.

I'd best mention I've been setting up my own guitars and other peoples for over 30 years now, so I'm familiar with the principles involved in getting a guitar to work well.

Finish. Body is black. Very black, a good paint job. All routing tidily done, parts accurately fitted. The neck is light maple with a nice wavy grain. The neck and head lacquer looks to be clear and is applied as a very thin satin coat. It almost looks and feels like there's no finish. Personally I like the feel this gives to a neck, others may not. Neck is a C profile (but I've yet to find two exactly the same, which is a good thing), 9 1/2" fingerboard radius.

The pots are 250K, and the wiring is tidy. The cable is a bit cheap-looking, but does the job perfectly well. All soldering done properly and neatly. No treble-bleed capacitor on the volume pot, but these pickups don't need one.

Tuners are nothing special but do the job.

I'll give this a genuine 8 - my two Gibsons would score higher on the finishing touches, but no better on the action and playability).

Frets are smaller than many modern profiles, seated well, with no file marks, loose ends, mis-shaped crowns or ends sticking out of the side of the board to lacerate fingers. The nut is cut a bit unevenly, with the B string a little lower than the others, but not enough to cause fret buzzing or be noticable when playing. I'm replacing the nut with a GraphTech one to aid the trem but the stock one sounds OK and plays OK. The nuts differed on all 12 Strats I tried, and two or three were all over the place (on US guitars as well as MIM).

This neck is one of the best I have ever played (and I don't say that lightly). You may hate it, but I love it. Fast runs up the board and position changing are really easy and I can bend a string further than on any other guitar I've owned.

The "factory" setup was OK, but the pickup heights, tremelo and intonation needed adjusting (note - Fender *do* set up instruments before despatch, but as the manual says, they regard the final setup pre-purchase as the job of the retailer, in case anything's moved out of spec. Many retailers don't bother with this, so don't blame Fender if the shop can't be bothered or don't even know how to set up a guitar). I've lowered the action a lot with no problems (changing to Fender 150 10-46 strings helped with this and the sound) and the bridge intonates well.

The trem is a right **** but so are all trems of this type. Remember, when Leo Fender invented his "Synchronised Tremelo" "light guage" strings usually meant a 12thou+ top E and a wound third. In the 1950s/60s/70s Fender trems were the best there was. They were designed to give a gentle Hank Marvin warbling effect, and they do it very well. Dive bombing till the strings go slack was unheard of. This particular trem, after extensive tweaking of the springs, will comfortably and predicatably give about a large semitone upbend (depending where you are on the neck) and a third downbend, and returns to pitch plus or minus about 5 cents most of the time and never so far out that I have to stop mid song to retune. I'm happy with that, it's all I need. Fender supply the guitar with three trem springs in the cavity.

One hint. The trem arm wobbles in its thread unless you tighten it up hard, when it ends up poking up your sleeve - neither makes it any easier to use. What it needs is a small spring in the bottom of the hole the arm screws into (like the American series has). Try one from a ballpoint pen.

Reliability? I've a 1994 Mexican Telecaster (came with a 5 way switch, TBX and a neck h/bucker) and that's still going (needed both pots and the switch replacing after about 8 years sweaty use and that's all). I've a 1974 Tele - that still works. I had a dreadful 1974 Strat, but MIM Fender now better the CBS/Fender period hands down. Fenders are simple, with very little to go wrong and easy to fix if it does (that was part of Leo Fender's design intention).

Durability? I've only seen one Fender get its head broken off (it got trapped in a luggage lift, out of it's case. Body in lift, head out of lift. Lift goes upwards, neck meets ceiling, lift doesn't stop....).

I routinely gig with this guitar. I'm paranoid about breakdowns so carry a variety of spares - and it's rare for me to only carry one guitar (I play slide as well so I need a guitar for that, if nothing else). It's always a good idea to carry spare pots, switch and jack socket if nothing else.

Dealing with Fender by email, no problems. For local support in the UK we rely on Fender's approved dealers, who vary vastly in quality. We also have to contend with the importer, but that's another story.

A bit of background. Been playing electric guitar since my 13th birthday (in 1974 in case you're wondering). Never stopped since. Been gigging around the UK for a very long time; pubs, clubs, town halls, that kind of thing. The field I work in won't make anyone rich, and is live performance orientated rather than huge CD sales, which is OK with me. I've had long-term relationships with a CMI Les Paul copy, Gibson SG, 135 and 125, a couple of Teles, a couple of Strats (one, made in 1974 in the US, that I got cheap second hand in 1982, was total crap - I had to file down paint lumps in the neck pocket plus plug and re-drill the screw holes - the original owner had hardly ever played it. And it wasn't a particularly poor quality example from that period - why guitars that many people avoided when they were new now fetch collector's prices is beyond me.

I've also been setting up and reparing electric guitars for about 20-odd years, so I've played, tweaked and examined a lot of instruments.

Amps - Marshalls (early 1970s Superleads and more modern), Fender (valve and solid state), Laney (modern valve), HH, Pignose...

If it were stolen I'd claim on the insurance and go and try a few more Strats.

Finally - lots of negative comments about MIM Strats (and other guitars) seem to come from people who bought them sight-unseen via mail order. Never EVER buy a guitar you haven't tried unless there's no alternative at all. They all vary, they are all different despite mass production (thankfully) and one persons meat etc....

And always remember - there's more bullshit talked about guitars than anything other than hi-fi and politics, and the law of diminishing returns sets in early. If a guitar is right for you that's all that matters.

Rating is based on bang per buck rather than comparison with esoteric Custom Shop stuff.

standard 21 frets, 3 not bad singlecoils, trem which i have set like it is a hardtail, very nice neck and body, mine is arctic white which looks just the best. fender tuners. tonnes of versitality. suits basically every style (well of course not death metal!!).

sounds great how ever it would of been nice to have noiseless pickups. clean through a valve amp, is at least to say, orgasmic. very versitile. can play all styles especially rock and blues. my style is funk/rock/metal and i wouldnt think twice about changing guitar to get the sound it makes. lacks a bit of beef in realy heavy amp settings but i suppose we can all get over that..

firstly went it arived i set the trem flat to the body, i feel you get more tunnibg stability and sustain like this. i then fiddled about with the nut and set the action lower and it now plays the same as a strat worth #2000 in a shop i recently tried- no joke! very nice finish. nothing really more to say. plays like a dream now.

played many gigs, never faulted me, havent snapped a string on it for nearly 2 years and still counting. used without a backup every gig iv played since ive had it.

never needed

man i like this guitar

Made in 2004 in Mexico, 5 way switch with 1 volume and 2 tone knobs, 3 single coils. Mine is an alder body with an all maple neck, the "midnight wine" paint scheme looks sweet with the all maple neck, much better than the mahogany freboard in my opinion. It has your basic strat trem system, which is a great thing even though I don't use it much. I give it a 9, it would be nice to have those noiseless pickups but a dang good sound for the money.

Excellent sound. I play all kinds of music, classic rock, alternative, hard rock, a little punk here and there, and praise band at my church every week. I always use Dean Markley Blue Steel strings on it, which give it an amazing sound, and I have used many amps with it, mostly Fender solid states and Marshall Valvestates, but I've also played it through Marshall TSL's and a Hot Rod Deluxe 4x10. On any clean channel it sounds amazing, sparkling highs and defined lows. It also does distortion great - classic rock, alternative, punk, and any light to mid distortion I can get away with at church. Of course it's at its best with a crunchy blues sound, especially on the Hot Rod, truly the best bluesy sound I've ever gotten out of any guitar. It can't exactly crank the metal and hard rock like something with humbuckers, but it does pretty well - no one will laugh at you. The 5-way switch provides a lot of variety in the sounds it can produce, it does hum just a little on a couple settings but not too bad. Great sounding guitar, especially with the right strings and amp.

It was new, so of course after about a year I had to have a set up done on it, but nothing major. The finish is great all around. The neck is awesome, I have an all maple neck and it felt worn in and comfortable from day one, and in my opinion it feels much cleaner and faster playing than a mahogany fretboard - but that's probably just a personal preference. I prefer the way this guitar plays over any expensive LP or SG, or pretty much any other guitar, it's so smooth and fast.

I've had this guitar for 2 years, I use it every Sunday at church, and play a lot during the week, and have never ever had a problem with it (except a set up, but that was just regular maintenance). No broken strings, no loose wires, nothing. The hardware is solid, and the finish will stand up to pretty much anything. The strap buttons were great but I got locking pegs because this guitar is my baby. I would definitely gig this thing without a backup, but isn't it awesome to have a bunch of guitars to play anyway?

Fender sucks. Don't get me wrong, they make awesome guitars, but you'd be best off parting with them after buying the thing. I had a Fender acoustic replaced because of a neck defect, and it took almost 4 months to get a replacement. I called them to see what was taking so long and they they seemed annoyed that I wanted to know why I hadn't received a replacement in 3 months.

I've been playing for 5 or so years, and I would say strats are the best overall guitars you can get. I use mine with a Zoom 606 effects pedal and a Rocktron Zombie Distortion pedal. The best thing about the strat is the way it plays - way smoother and more comfortable than a Gibson. I wish SG's played like a Strat, that's what holds me back about getting a SG is that they just don't feel as good. Granted, mine doesn't have all the fancy features of the American Series strats, etc, but I love it. If someone stole it, I would get another without hesitation. Here's what I want you to do: if you're stuck between buying a standard strat and any other kind of guitar, forget the other one and buy the strat. You won't regret it, there's a reason the strat is an American legend.

a 1993 model... maple neck, upgraded trem block, woodstock kinman pickups...maple neck, tortoise shell pickguard on a black body, .022 sprague orange drop caps, the old ones made outside of boston, ma...
sounds great unplugged, unbelievable plugged into an amp. don't be afraid of the polyester coating on these. warmoth seals all their critically acclaimed bodies in polyester before they get the nitrocellulose coating. these guitars are great, if you plan to upgrade them.

can you say wow? i prefer it to my american strat.

when buying a mim strat, shop around. they let the so-so ones and not so so-so ones through the filter and that has always been an issue. i got lucky, but i doubt if someone would have upgraded it, if it were a lemon.

i gig with this with a vengeance. no problems, always have backup, but i don't worry about it too much.

smoking, quiet little strat with all the tone and output you would need and none of the issues associated with a strat. i would never buy one new, and i waited until i found a good one that had been upgraded, deluxe. shop around, though. there are some lemons and issues with the neck and frets on some mim strats.

Mexican made Fender Stratocaster. Im assuming this is the standard version. Made in 1996, 5 way switch, volume, 2x tone... the whole shabang. Fender 'f' style tuners. Pretty much your average Fender Stratocaster. Came with gigbag.

Im using this through my marshall valvestate 8080, or my pearl solid state amp (practise). Guitar tends to get a bit noisy at some settings, but its a single coil guitar so thats pretty much what you always get. Guitar suits my style (alternative/rock). I can easily get that sweet The Cure tone with a flanger, or a Smashing Pumpkins Gish era crunch. Giving it a 8, pretty good...

Guitar was set up pretty good. I got it 2nd hand, so this aint the factory settings. Cant really find any flaws, looks solid.

Ive been using this guitar a few times during practise now, and it stays in tune very well. I`ll definately gig with it one day.

Never dealt with them.

Ive been playing for allmost a decade now. Ive owned strats, prs style guitars and les pauls. Im a stratman, i just really like their feel and sound. This mexican made fender does the trick well. At some settings it sounds a bit muddy distorted, but either you like that or you hate it. Clean sound is outstanding. Im giving this a 8, good value for the money, especially for those among us who cant afford a expensive custom shop fender (including myself).

I bought this guitar 7 years ago--it's a '98. It's the brown sunburst and rosewood neck, poplar body, vintage frets. Since owning it I put in Fender Fat 50s pickups (alnico) to replace the ceramic ones, although, truth be told, the ceramic ones sound good too, as I've been able to tell from playing a few in the shop. I also wired the bridge pickup in with the middle pup's tone control. Added a string tree and grap-tech saddles. Even stock though, this guitar has 100% strat features and can make good music if you can. Has the features you expect from a strat for the most part. Although the 2006 models have been upgraded to alder bodies, medium jumbo frets, and heavier trem block which supposedly is more stable and gives better sustain(but mine has always been stable and I have good sustain/resonance); They even include a gig bag now. They cost about $80.00 more than what I paid for mine 7 years ago, so with inflation and the upgrades, I say they're an even better deal than they used to be--I'm definitely considering buying another with a maple fret board--the only thing I'd have to change is wiring the bridge pup to a tone control and maybe adding a string tree.

I have run this through several amps over the years, both tube and solid state. JC-120, Blues Cube, Reverend Hellhound, Epiphone Valve Standard, Crate Palomino, Trace Elliott Custom Shop 4x10 Bonneville, Fender Custom Vibrolux, Hiwatt Bulldog 40 etc,etc..Really sounds great with all of them. I run the guitar through the following FX--Dunlop 535Q wah, Arion Tubulator OD (GREAT), Marshall Guvnor 2, Dano EQ, Dunlop Jr. volume pedal out to Boss EQ, Voodoo Labs Trem, Arion Delay (Great) Boss CE-5 Chorus. Works great with all of these too.
When I picked up this guitar I chose the one that had the best sound and feel unplugged--that's what I always do, electronics can always be changed later-this was the best of about 8 or so standards I tried around town and even beat out some of the much more expensive American Deluxes in this regard. Anyway, the Fat 50s pups strike a nice balance between brilliant,'glassy'and warm. It takes overdrive and distortion well and since I've wired the bridge pup to the tone control, I can use all the selections and cover a Huge range of sounds, which I need to do since I primarily play every weekend in a praise and worship band which covers every style from easy listening to border-line 'pop' metal--if you have the right pedals you can do it. On my own time, I play blues and rock primarily. Stock, I'll give it an 8, but with mods, a 10.

I can't remember how it was from the factory, other than I knew it felt and sounded the best of what I had played unplugged. I had it set up with 10s right away and since then, I,ve learned to do setups myself primarily on this guitar. I can get it right where I want it--neck almost flat, comfortable action, good resonance with no string buzz with the bridge floating just right for my tastes (I like to do Chris Isaak's guitarist type trem work--mostly for vibrato, although I have done some dive bomb heavy metal type wanking and it springs right back in tune). I like the tuners--their tension is adjustable, they're enclosed--they stay in tune quite well.

Well, the vintage frets are nickle and so have developed some pretty good grooving over the first 7 or 8 frets, but I don't have intonation or buzz problems yet nor dead spots, so I'm not complaining. This thing has been knocked over several times--on its back, on its face and, until this last time, never needed anything more than a retuning and a little bit of a spring adjustment in the bridge. Well the last time, I knocked the bloody thing out of my guitar stand face first and the guitar hit the stage toward the headstock end. In fact, I think it hit hardest at the nut. Anyway it ended up that the neck and headstock were fine (which probably wouldn't have been the case with my Gibson) but the a, d, and g strings were out of tune with the rest of the guitar exactly by a half step--almost like the first fret was a zero fret for those strings. My guitar tech changed the plastic nut to a bone one and that fixed it. He figured that the plastic may have been compressed or something during the fall, changing its radius. Anyway, everything else has lasted and she still plays and functions a.o.k. NEVER gig without a backup, especially with a floating bridge strat--you break a string and the whole tuning goes wacked.

I also have a Les Paul Classic with Duncan Antiquities which I love and really is a better quality guitar--but it cost $1250.00 too. I also own a Big Baby Taylor Acoustic. The main thing I like about the strat is that it is a solid performing workhorse which you don't have to baby (but you really shouldn't knock it off its stand either). It covers a lot of sonic territory--you can play almost any genre on this and use it with almost any amp--it'll still sound good. Even though I love her, my Les Paul is more finicky with what you hook it up to--I think it must be the difference btw (good) single coils and humbuckers.
Heck, for the price they're asking now with all the upgrades, I rate this guitar a solid ten--A fantastic value.