Excellent guitar. I just received it, immediately tested it on my all-tube Marshall, and I can say it sounds great! You can feel that the pickups have plenty of energy to spare! It's "punchy" like on my Les Paul, but with a Fender tone, it's top-notch! This slightly metallic "wine" red color is just beautiful, and the finishes are very good, even excellent. I didn't notice anything special. The protective plastic on the pickguard and pickups is just a bit annoying to remove because it is applied before the screws, so when you remove it, you have to carefully take it off around the screws to avoid leaving residue. The neck suits me very well, but that's a matter of personal preference. The Indian laurel fretboard is beautiful; I'll put a bit of oil on it when changing strings to bring out its color and nourish the wood a bit. It comes already set up for 9-42 strings, so I'll take the same to avoid having to bring it back to a luthier right away. For the price, I think it's hard to find better in Strat-type guitars. The "lower" models are already very good bases to develop, but this one is perfect right out of the box. The pickups are clearly a notch above, and it sounds like a Strat. I didn't take an HSS, already having a Les Paul, I preferred this one, which is a full Strat. Good sound to everyone!

It will take some time to appreciate its qualities and flaws, but the first impression is that in this Candy Apple Red color the guitar is magnificent (this is obviously subjective), the finishes are excellent (I did not find any fitting defects, varnish issues, or frets that catch as I had read in some reviews) and after a brief tuning and intonation adjustment it is playable right away. And plugged into a Fender Mustang amp, the Strat sound is there, typical...