SX SST 57 Vintage

This is yet another strat copy. Compared to the ones they sold when I grew up (80's) these new knock-offs are simply wonderful. But please don't expect the quality of a real Fender no matter what you read. I'm a little disappointed that so many fellow guitarists say this is as good as a Standard (MIM) Stratocaster - I think that is very misleading. Featurewise, this guitar is set up like all basic strats. My thoughts below are based on owning several SX strats.

Okay, by it's very design it sounds close to a strat as you'd expect. Higher volume levels on your amp will expose some of the pickup's limitations but at practice level volume they sound decent.
Each of the 5 pickup settings are fairly distinct and demonstrates
the versatility this style of guitar posesses.

This is where I really want to put my 2 cents in. I'll go over both the good and the bad:

First, these guitars look very nice. I have a LPB and 2 sunbursts. I like the colors, the durability of the finish and even the wood grain, when it shows, looks attractive. The aged/yellowish knobs and covers are a nice touch as is the look of the neck. You see one you'll want to play it. Very nice for a $99 electric. Okay, now the flip side...

The pickups are even cheaper than those found in older knock-offs. Try taking one apart and you'll see what I mean immediately. The wiring on one of my guitars was shoddy - positions 4 and 5 were the same. The frets on another SX stuck out a bit on the sides. In general I find that SX maple fretboards feel better than their rosewood counterparts. The tuners aren't too bad but the string trees were sticking pretty regularly, making tuning a constant problem. Of course the trem wasn't very good either so I locked them out. Even so, the saddles had problems of their own (getting stripped, cutting strings, etc).
For $99, yeah you'd expect these things. They have to cut corners somewhere, right?

For who and what this guitar is designed for...yeah, absolutely. A gigging musician? no. A collector? no. This for playing in the house and garage not the stage.

Rondo is easy to deal with. Return anything you don't like. Every guitar player needs to check out their website. I've come to find that Agile electrics are VERY good and not very expensive (best bang for the buck). SX on the other hand are pretty good and very cheap - a lot less bang but a lot less bucks, too!

Who is this guitar for? Great for beginners - I'd say the quality is better than Squire Affinitys and about equal to Squire Standards but for a lot less money. If you only have experience with humbucking guitars and want to try the single coil sound for cheap, it's a good option. And finally hot-rodders like myself - SX is a good way to go.
I bought a left-handed one so that I could do the ol' Hendrix conversion to it (found that I hated the knobs and jack up top!). I bought a blue one to slap in a JB humbucker with coil taps and finally a third to take on vacation without fear of damaging or getting stolen. But you know what? You really need to put in a decent amount of money, time and trouble to get these up to even MIM Strat kind of quality and I found out it's not worth it. To those I mentioned above I'd recommend one of these cheap beauties. But for you others I'd recommend a real Fender Stratocaster (Mexican made - U.S. made are great but a little pricey). I got one used for just under $200 and there is no question it has a little something even a souped-up SX version doesn't. It bugs me to think a decent player out there bought 2 of these instead of a used Fender because of what some have said in these reviews.

Strat style, made in China, 21 medium/jumbo frets, 1 volume 2 tones, 5 way pickup switch, s/s/s configuration, solid alder body with individually routed pickup cavities ( not swimming pool routes ), gorgeous bolt on maple neck & maple fretboard, vintage style bridge. The finish is exceptional, especially on the neck and fretboard.

Great sounding & musical; playing thru Peavey Ultra 112 tube amp and Boss GT-6; didn't use middle pickup position on strats until this one. Sustain was surprising.

Strings & pickups were on high side, and both were lowered. Have to deduct a point because switch stopped working and had to be cleaned. Might have to replace it in the future. Very slight movement in one of the tuners, but stays in tune( I don't use the tremolo however). No fret problems. Bridge set screws and hardware worked fine so far.

Should withstand live playing but would be concerned about the switch dropping out; strap buttons are decent. Don't gig without a backup !

Rondomusic.net is pretty responsive, but I never had any serious problems. They seem willing to work with you. This is at least my fourth guitar from them.

It's a great guitar for the money, and stands up to or surpasses my Mexican Strat, probably closer to my Lonestar Strat. Have been playing since the seventies on/off. Part of this section of the ratings is the value factor( IMHO ), and this one deserves a ten easily when compared to what else is out there for a hundred bucks !

This is an update to my entry from November. Now that I've been playing this guitar for a few months I can say my inital great impression of this guitar has not changed. It still is one of the best playing Strats available anywhere. One observation I've made is, this instrument reminds most of the Japanese made Fender Vintage Reissue guitars. Almost the same exact feel. I've been gigging and recording with this guitar. Except for the 5 way switch, the guitar has held up well. The neck has not needed adjustment, the pickups sound great! It actually sounds more like a Strat than Fenders from the last several years. I've been playing it through a variety of tube amps and modeling amps with awesome results. I still can't believe this thing was only $99! I suggest replacing the 5 way switch, (mine broke) and you might want to consider installing a graphite nut like I did, as the plastic one tends to bind a bit. The heavy laquer finished neck plays better than my $1000 American Standard Strat and my $1400 Zion as well. Great guitar!!!

The features are typical strat style - 21 fret, 1 vol, 2 tone, 5-way selector, 3 single coil, maple neck, classic trem bridge. As far as features go, this has everything you'd want in a strat-style guitar, unless you want a locking trem.

I play lots of different stuff - punk, metal, classic rock. Right now I play at home through a V-amp2. I've sold most of my gear and wanted a cheap guitar I could leave out and not worry about my two small kids dinging up. I have a Rickenbacker that I wasn't playing much because it's hidden away under the bed in it's case so they can't do any damage. If I have the V-amp hooked up to the computer the pickups make a good amount of noise, but otherwise, they are actually fairly quiet for single coils. The pickups have some good character. You can get a nice twangy sound or a smooth bluesy sound from this guitar. I do think that the neck pickup is a bit muddy. I have needed to change a few of my amp settings for that pickup, but they were set for my Rick, which is very bright. I don't use the trem too much, and I haven't had any tuning probs.

Action was a little high and there was a slight bow in the neck, but a few turns of the truss rod and adjusting the string height and everything was playing nicely. It came with D'Addario strings, which I left on. No buzzing. Overall pretty good.

This guitar seems to be a pretty capable little strat. I don't play live anymore, and if I did, I'd probably still use my Rick, but this seems pretty dependable. If I were gigging, I might change out the switch and the pots and rewire just as a precaution, but for a beginner or home use, it's really sturdy.

I haven't had to deal with them at all. From what people say here, it sounds like they are pretty easy to deal with.

I've been playing for almost 20 years, but hadn't played too much in the last few. I was looking for a cheap guitar that I wouldn't get too upset about getting dinged up and I'm really happy with this litte thing. If I keep playing I might get something with a humbucker to cover some more styles and I will definitely look at whatever Rondo has to offer. I'd much rather buy 2 or 3 guitars and have an arsenal of sounds than pay a lot for something that is almost the exact same thing. As I mentioned before, there are some things that could be improved upon, but those things don't cost a lot. Overall, it's a real deal. If you want to tinker with a guitar, it would be great for that. If you need a backup, it's more than adequate. I was a little wary, but I'm glad that I finally went ahead and got this.

Strat style, made in China, 21 jumbo frets, 1 volume 2 tones, 5 way pickup switch, s/s/s pickup configuration, solid alder body, beautyful bolt on maple neck, maple fingerboard, vintage white finish with aged plastic parts, vintage style bridge (cheap bridge).

I like to play blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavey metal. This guitar can fit any style; sounds like a $1000 or more guitar.
I use it with a Peavey Triumph 120 tube head, 2x12 celestion 70,80's equiped cab, and a lot of pedals. Trust me, you gonna be impressed with the guitar sound.

The action out of the box was perfect, low and no fret buzzing. Good intonation.
The bad part on this guitar is the bridge, dont use it or you gonna be out of tune, dont work. The nut is cheap, im gonna replace it with a brass nut. (ok what do you want for $99?)

You can use it in a live playing, just dont use the bridge or you gonna need a retune. I dont care if the finish last, i like the abused finish guitars (like Steve Ray Vaughan guitar).

Kurt is very fast answering your emails. I think is good.

I have playing for 6 years, i have a Washburn 335 style guitar, Fender Musicmaster II (the ebony fingerboard one, very rare), Takamine acoustic, a year back sold my american strat.
If lost or stolen im gonna buy it again, never gonna buy a brand name guitar again.

Standard Strat stuff, trem arm allen wrenches, single coils, 5 way switch a beautifully tinted deeply flame maple neck and excellent tuners.

LIKES,
I've got a Custom shop 58 reissue Les Paul a 1982 American 62 Reissue Strat and a 52 tele Reissue and I was looking for a fender 50's Strat(I LOVE THE NECKS ON THE MEX 50's STRATS) for some pickup experiments but I didn't feel like paying $500+. I stopped in Rondo Music to buy a case for my Tele and started fooling around with the SX and I figured for $99 how could I go wrong.
The guitar sounds great thru my Vox Tonelab as well as my AVT 50 combo and my Mode four 1/2 stack, when I play it thru either of my Marshalls and kick in my Univibe I very easily get that lush TROWER sound you don't hear anymore. When I run it thru my stack with some echo and the gain on about 5 think BLACKMORE playing Mistreated live.
The funny thing is while this strat is very light sounds great acoustically and has incredible sustain.The tonal range is quite good and with a tweak of the tone knobs you can dial in a variety of sounds.

DISLIKES,
The switch sucks not to mention it was wired wrong the pots are garbage and the wire used is about a hair thicker than a hair, that sounded stupid but you get the drift.None of the things I mentioned was a surprise to me because most of the Asian manufactured guitars with Dillion being the exception have garbage electronics.

A PLEASANT SURPRISE,

The surprising thing was the pickups which tested from 7.9-8.3 on my meter and sounded great.
Well I scrapped everything except the pickups put in a Fender American made harness, cts pots, cloth formvar wiring a vintage capacitor and a few peicies of copper shielding.
Well $55 and about an hour for the install and setup I had created a tone monster that blows away my 62, go figure.

The set up out of the box was perfect, nice low fast action.
Pickups were a bit low but no biggie and the bridge was surprisingly tight and well adjusted.
I bought the Olympic white and the only reason I chose that was the Candy apple red one had a scratch on the back and they didn't have another in stock(I'm picking up the candy apple this week.
There were no flaws in action fit and finish department.

Other than putting on a set of straploks and maybe having to change the bridge saddles, the chrome always wears off the import stuff
I have no fear of working this guitar heavily. I'll be putting my 62 on my wall at home after I get my CAR SX 57 this week.

For $99 I'm not going to be putting in any warranty claims, LOL!

If not for the crummy electronics I would have given this guitar a perfect 10 but I'm going to give it a 9.8

2004 SX SST57 1957 Strat copy, usual features. Includes allen wrenches for truss rod and bridge saddle adjustment.

I've been playing for thirty years (yikes!) and own some really nice guitars. Zion Radicaster, Fender American Strats, Fender American Tele, Gibson Les Pauls Standard and Classic, SG Standard, Flying V, several Ibanez guitars, Steinbergers, etc. I know good gear and have been a USA guitar gear snob all my life. This Chinese guitar plays, sounds and feels every bit as good and better than most USA Fender Strats!!! Over the years, I've owned probably two dozen USA Strats, Strat Pluses, new American Series Strats, etc. All I can say is save your $ and buy a few of these. They are that good! I play everything from blues to funk and Metal. I'll usually use a guitar with humbuckers for metal, but for everything else, this is the way to go. Everything is authentic from the tone of the pickups, (even better out of phase than most Fenders) to the feel of the heavy laquer finish, which gives these a great vintage vibe!

Action was bit high, truss rod was loose when it arrived. Intonation was dead on. Set it up in ten minutes and now it's perfect! An added bonus is they use jumbo frets, which were dressed extremely well, and should give many years of life even with occaisional fret dressings, (which I like to do every few years). The alder body had an excellent finish, although they did use three pieces of wood. Still for $99, you usually get press board. The fact that they use alder and hard rock maple for the neck is astounding.

There' no reason this won't hold up. Go for it!

Rondo music has legendary support.

i've spent the last 30 years with the best gear on the planet. The SX is easily included in that group. I plan on buying a few more for the heck of it.

I don't know when it was made, but it was made in China. 21 frets, laminated top, I'm sure. Standard Vintage Style Strat setup, with one volume and two tone controls, 3 way selector switch and three single coil pickips. Make and model of pickups? Who the fuck knows or cares? No place for a battery, so I figure they are passive electronics. Body is solid alder, neck is maple. Beautiful 3 color brown sunburst finish, stratocaster style body - can't tell the difference between it and the real thing as far as body style and thickness are concerned. Standard tremelo bridge, string through body, tuners are vintage style tuners, just like the ones on the Fender'57 Stratocaster (Made in USA price $1,200) and the Fender 50's Strat Reissue (MIM - price $649.00)that I have. The only difference is the tuners between the Fenders and the SX are that the two Fenders which together costed me over $1,800 do not stay in tune worth a fuck and the SX which costed me $99.00 does stay in tune - for days I can play it without retuning. I'm lucky to make it through two songs on the Fenders without having to fuck with the tuning. Neck is nice and thin, very fast, maple fretboard. It came with a cord, which wasn't much good, but hey - for $99.00? I did not give my two Fenders 10's when I rated them on here, because they costed so damn much money and were a letdown. I'm giving this SX a 10 because it has all the strat features and STAYS IN FUCKING TUNE.

I play mostly rockabilly, classic rock (late 50's to early 70's) and blues, everything from Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, the Beatles and Stones to Hendrix, Zeppelin and most things in between. Occasionally I will have an AC/DC type mood or something like Jackyl. Lately I've been getting into the "alternative country" sound and the twang on this thing is great, I also play a lot of what you call "biker" music as the places I play at tend to be biker bars, because I'm a biker, and yes it is true that Yamahas, Kawasakis, Suzukis and Hondas are made to keep assholes and faggots off of harleys. It actually has more of a vintage sound than either of my Fenders, but it handles all the music above except the heavy metal stuff very well. This is not a heavy metal guitar just through an amp, but I do have a ZOOM 606 Pedal and you can put that fucker on the Marshall Stack Amp mode, max the distortion and gain on the pedal and this guitar will sound just like a humbucking Les Paul for Zeppelin or even Metallica, but my moods for the Zeppelin and Metallica are not so frequent now that I'm 50 something. However, my son is in to the new stuff like Nickleback and Creed and he can get their sound perfectly with this guitar, although he has his own Les Paul. I'm using this on two amps one at at home being a VOX Pathfinder 15R and the other where I gig (not my amp - but the clubs) which is a Fender Super Reverb. This guitar sounds great on both of them, however, I wish I had a big VOX like an AC30 or something because I really love the VOX sound. There is very minimal of the single coil hum with this guitar, and it isn't because of weak pickups because I've compared it to my two Fenders and the output is just as good, better actually than the MIM Fender. The bridge pickup gives you a nice bright twang which is good for country and rockabilly and that Jeff Beck type sound and if you are into something like Tom Delonge, the ZOOM Pedal has a Fat Strat setting and my son can make this thing do a perfect Tom Delonge imitation , if you cut back the tone a little on the amp's treble, it is great for hard rock riffs. The in betweens are great, 2d position doing really good Dire Straits type sounds and Hendrix stuff and the 4th position does very good Clapton type bluesy stuff. The neck pickup is where it does really well on heavy metal through the pedal. It can go from twangy and bright on the bridge pickup to a rich full sound on the neck. It is extremely versatile and like I said, only $99.00!!! I love everything about it. I brought it for a backup for my Fender Strats and now, I'm gigging primarily with this one because it stays in tune so much better.

Now this is where it won't get a 10. I used to be a guitar tech before I joined the military back in the 70's, so it was no problem for me, but the setup sucked. It came with Diaddario strings, which were great, but everything had to be adjusted. Some of the strings were too low, some too high, the intonation was off and the pickups needed to be adjusted and the neck was slightly concave. It took me about 30 minutes though and it was perfect, even to the point of being perfectly in sync with standard tuning open and fine tuning at the 12th fret. The frets themselves are excellent. One of the reviewers said that the neck pickup wasn't as powerful as his Fender, but check the distance from the neck pickup to the strings. If yours was like mine, the neck pickup was too far from the strings and I had to raise it a tad, both on the treble and bass side and then it was perfect. No flaws at all on the finish, bridge was routed perfectly, wood is excellent quality, to be honest, I don't know how the fuck they do it for $99.00. I've got a few strat and tele style guitars that I made myself, and they sound good, but I couldn't build them here in the North Carolina mountains for $99.00. They both costed me over $300 each to build from scratch. I gotta take a few points though for the setup. I don't expect a guitar that is shipped to be perfect, but I do expect it to be playable out of the box. This one was not, it was badly in need of adjustment, so SX only gets a 7 here.

This guitar does withstand live playing three nights a week in several places between Black Mountain and Boone North Carolina. The hardware is just as good as any, finish is great, it's tough, strap buttons are plenty solid, it is dependable, but there is no musician with any experience that would gig with any guitar without a backup. Like I said, I bought this guitar as a backup for my two Fender Strats, you think I'm gonna gig with a $99 guitar without a backup.

I got this through Rondo Music, ordered it online. It arrived within two days, packed very nicely, and to be honest, I've never even looked to see if it had a warranty. My Fender's both have warranties, but I still had to pay everytime they had to go to a better guitar doc than me, which incidently, I've had this guitar for over a year now and it has never crapped out on me, everything is as solid as the day I brought it. Both of my Fenders had to go to better techs than me within 3 months of purchase because of something going wrong on those fuckers. When this thing was so outta whack out of the box, I emailed Rondo music about it, and they offered to send me a new one, no questions asked. I had already fixed it to my preferences though.....but the offer was very kind. Looks like they love to keep their customers happy. I am, and I plan on buying one of their Les Paul copies one of these days.

I am 54 years old, and been playing a guitar since I was maybe 3? My daddy played guitar as did his daddy before him, so it's a family thing. Over the last 40 years or so, my music preferences and guitar preferences have changed quite a bit. I'm a pack rat, so I never get rid of anything so I have everything basically. I've got Les Pauls both Gibsons and Epiphones, Strats both Fenders and Squiers, several Ibanez and Washburn Electrics and a shitload of copies and acoustic guitars. I only use Gibson and Taylor Acoustic guitars though, so I don't have as many acoustics as I do electrics because price wise Gibson and Taylor acoustic guitars are a big fucking OUCH to the billfold. I can't find good quality off name brand acoustic guitars, even tried a few Takamine's and I didn't care for them much. Fender, Epiphone and Ibanez Acoustics are not my cup of tea either. However, I have one Washburn Acoustic that is quite nice. I find however, that I have run across several extremely inexpensive guitars that are copies of Les Pauls, Strats and Tele's that are excellent. For example, I have a Nelsonic Les Paul Copy, one of those Lesert Models and a Nelsonic Telecaster Copy and they are awesome. I also have a not so inexpensive Yamaha Studio Pro which is a Les Paul copy and it sounds better than ANY Gibson Les Paul out there. So, folks, my advice as an old musician is don't get stuck on the name of a headstock or the shape of it. There are a lot of inexpensive guitars out there that are just as good and sometimes better than the real thing. This SX SST 57 is one example of that. It is awesome, and yes, I would get another one if this one was lost or stolen, however, I ain't gonna lose it, it ain't gonna get stolen from me at one of my shows because I am 6'7" tall and weigh 275 pounds and ain't saying I'm bad, but the bad don't fuck with me, and in order from them to steal it from my house, they are going to have to get through one German Shepard, one Rotweiler, one Doberman and one each mean as hell pit bull. It is their job to guard my house and everything in it, as well as my Harleys. If they get through my dogs, I've got a few surprises for them in the house if I'm home and if I ain't, my wife can shoot the head off a match stick from 50 ft. She might be a little bitty lady, bout 5'2 and 100 lbs, but I've seen her knock out big bad ass bikers at a many of the events we go to to party at and play.

2004 Cream model made in China. The features have been well described. Pretty much a straight Strat copy.

I have this guitar for a couple of weeks, playing through a Traynor YCV-40. Just got done comparing it to my 1986 MIJ Strat.

In positions 3,4, and 5, the SX just exudes the strat tone and vibe. The neck pickup, however, is considerably weaker than the one on my strat, and also lacks definition.
Middle and Bridge pickups are excellent.

I own two SX's. Both arrived very poorly set up. If you purchase an SX of any type, be prepared to pay for a set up or to do it yourself.

The overall quality and workmanship of this SX strat seems wonderful. A beautiful finish, upon which I have found no flaws.

Neck and fretwork are very nicely done.

Finish seems durable.

I didn't really have all that secure of a feeling doing the intonation. There was this nagging feeling that you don't want to do this very much, I just had the feeling that I could strip a screw pretty easily.

That being said, nothing untoward has happened to it yet, everything works.

Tuners are not very high quality, however. I find myself having to tune more often than with other guitars. These will be replaced.

No idea.

Been playing over 30 years. Own some Gibsons, a couple of Fenders, a couple of Ibanez, and half a dozen various Asians. I like the name brands, but am also fascinated at the overall quality of the "cheap" guitars available these days.

It wouldn't break my heart if it was stolen (heck, that's one of the reasons why I BUY some of these Asian instruments) but it's a lot of fun to play so I might get another one.

All in all, respite some reservations, I'd rate this guitar a screaming value for $99 bucks. It looks great, feels and plays like a real strat, and can hit, right on the nose, about 60% of the sound.


Always hard to rate these cheap guitars. Do you rate them with exactly the same parameters as an expensive unit, or do you rate them within the universe of inexpensive models.

"10" means, in this category, "fantastic value." But while the SX is exactly that, it really isn't a "10" guitar, because of the neck pup and the tuners, and the "percieved" softness of the metal parts.

Universal classic strat features: 3 single coil, one vol, two tone, 6-pivot trem, plain sealed tuners. Mine has a maple neck and alder body. I give this guitar a 9 because most low-end guitars, like low end software, have what some people call "box features" - features that a piece of software <i>does</i> have, but only for the sake of advertising that feature - e.g. pop can metal bridge on every cheap import strat. Everything but the nut and trees on this guitar worked to my satisfaction out of the box.

Wow! This thing has strat vibe in spades. Let's put it like this: judging from MIM standard and Squier, Fender doesn't "get it" - but the guys who made this SST 57 do. Even the pickups have strat mojo. No kidding - if I had a set of these a la carte, I'd try them in an expensive guitar. This guitar sounds very loud and bright acoustically - lots of depth, sustain, definition.

Here's how I think about Action, Fit, and Finish on budget guitars: (1) I can't afford a classy finish; if I want a John Suhr beauty, I'd probably have to pay Suhr prices. (2) I assume that any guitar under $500 or so is going to need a lot of TLC right out of the box. I don't expect a $99 guitar to have had much attention anywhere in the chain from China to my home. It's just not the same kind of thing as when you buy a "pro" type guitar and you have a relationship with the store and their tech and you expect them to service the purchase until it's right. Apples and oranges.

<BR><BR>Having said that, (1) The finish is plenty nice enough - better than any Squier I've noticed, and (2) all I did with setup was new trees and nut, (flat bottom, 1/8" - graph tech pre-slotted, center foot took about 5 total swipes of the file to make it really good), saddle height and intonation, and my favorite strings. That's it. Now it's a total player.

<BR><BR>BTW - it has jumbo-ish frets and a flatter neck, so if you're a purist classic strat type guy, just be aware. If you like that feel the SST 57 does it very well. I would have been happy getting just the neck for $99.

I asked about the bridge on the HC guitar forum because people were saying it's cheap - which didn't match my aural perception. The only specific example anyone offered was stripped threads on the trem bar. If that happens, I'll just replace the block and bar. So far so good with the tuners - no plans to upgrade. Everything else feels very solid. Everything about the guitar suggests that the people who made it really care about guitar.

My order confirmation got lost somewhere in the back alleys of Hotmail, so I called Rondo Music. Very helpful. I don't know whether I'd pick up the phone if I sold guitars in this price range - LOL. Oh, yeah - one gripe: the guitar came with a totally different headstock than the one pictured. You might ask about that in advance if you think you really need a specific look.

This is THE all time bang-for-the-buck low end guitar bargain in my book. It really sounds decent compared to anything - not just Squiers and the whole sea of Christmas Gift Lumber that fills the floors of general interest music stores. <BR><BR>Oh, yeah - tho I am currently between bands (except church) and I have a joe job, I'm not a high school kid with no frame of reference, overly impressed by the first guitar in my path that can be set up with acceptable action. My education is in music (BM, guitar performance), and I've been in a few *working* bands and I continue to add to my resume of a bazillion freelance gigs (I read and improvise okay). I've had my fair share of good, expensive guitars, including real-deal Fenders. <BR><BR>My SST 57 - with my own setup, remember - could stay in the pack with any random sample of expensive strats from a big factory. And in its own league, it just kicks so much ass for $99, it's unbelievable - surreal.