I purchased mine from Guitar Center for $600 even including the Gig bag. It is available in Daphne Blue, Olympic White, Black, Dakota Red and Surf Green. 1 pc Maple neck and fret board 7.25" radius with 21 vintage style frets. Vintage style syncronized tremelo Bridge, Vintage Fender Ping style tuners, 3 single coil Strat pickups with staggered Alnico Magnetic Poles. Single ply pickguard (what was used on the origional Strats) and aged plastic knobs and pickup covers. Mine is in Surf Green and was made in Ensenada mexico in 2002. Being a Made in Mexico after 2000 it's body is (as per the Fender catalogue) Alder, the finish is near flawless, and as I bought the display model, the few finish (VERY VERY Tiny) flaws may have been from store handling. The neck fits very tight to the body (a problem with some older MIM 50's classics)and the Frets are smooth and well fitting. The Bridge and the Nut are assembled well and no excess glue can be seen. The tone is "classic" Strat and some say closer to what Leo Fender had in mind than the modern American and Custom Strats. The Bridge pickup is clear and bright, and the Neck pickup with some "crunch" on the amp, sounds great. I play everything from Pink Floyd's "Wish you were here" to Black Flags, "No Values" and the tone is either sweet and pleasing or rough and raunchy depending on which pick up combination I use. The finish on the neck is flawless and the fit of the 7.25 radius is perfect for my some what small hands. Mexican Standards are known for weak and noisey pickups, but these vintage style ones are good to go, you still have some 60 cycle hum but not much and comparable to American Strats I have heard. Some experimenting with pickup height and switch position and I believe you will be able to capture that early Strat sound I tried 5 other guitars before I decided on this one and I have not been disapointed yet!
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