I don't usually write these, but the below review is skewed and plain wrong. The picture is the wrong blue. Go to fender's site and look up this guitar. The Sonic blue is very light, and looks amazing. The big turn off for anyone would be the price tag on this MIM guitar. I scored mine in GC for a clearance price. I actually prefer the playability of this guitar to my 2000 American Standard. The quality, action, fit and finish is excellent. The 69 CS pickups sound great, but not great for (all) hi gain applications (IMO). I gave it a 4.5 on features because this guitar should have come with the bridge tone pot activated. The bridge gets overly bright after you have dialed your amp into the neck or middle position. The neck is perfect, with a nice tint and high attention to detail. It has a big fat vintage trem block, comes setup with .10's, looks amazing, plays even better. I think Jimmi went thru my hands the other night! The bridge sounds like a half cocked wah to me. Great guitar, price a bit unattractive. Don't worry about any of the Arizoners comments, My 93 MIM standard was subject to the same 'conditions' and still looks new to this very day. These have a thick poly finish, so I'd find it very hard to relic it without the intent to do so. But, I don't put my guitar away sweaty, wet, etc. It gets wiped down if wet...and lives in a case. Bottom line is that this is a very special professional guitar. I'd hope it goes on sale, since I don't' think I'd pay more than 8 or 9 for it on a good day. Rock on.

I can't believe Fender is charging so much for this guitar. It's made in Mexico. and features extremely cheap hardware.

I love the neck, in fact, that's the only part of this guitar I kept. The neck feels like a Custom Shop piece. It's a little fat, with a great feel. The fret edges do not stick off the edge like some other Fenders. this guitar needed a basic setup (as do 99% of all new Fenders...Shame), but the frets were leveled very nicely leveled. I also owned a Highway One USA Strat, and the frets hung off the edge of the fingerboard like a Chinese-made squier.

The body's weight is "right" at about 5 lbs, but it has the thickest polyester finish I've seen since my 1977 Tele.

The pickups are average, closer to Jimmie Vaughn than SRV. They are comparable to a set of GFS or Mighty Mite Vintage-style. A bit clang in the high end, but not terrible.

Now the bad: The tremolo bridge looks great, but the saddles on mine rusted within 2 years...in Arizona, where it's very, very dry. The entire bridge is non ferrous, as is the trem block. That means that pot-metal is used. This is the same type of metal used on the Chinese Squire guitars; the tolerances might be better, but it's the same cheap metal, not steel. Any good-quality guitar has a ferrous, machined bridge, as do all the US Fender, and Gibson models. I think the bridge actually makes the pickups have that nasty thin clang.

I use a Fargen amp, and an SG, or 52 RI Tele as my main guitars. I wanted to use the Fender Classic Player '60s Stratocaster as a basic platform, and just swap the pickups out for Lollars, figuring I'd have a cool Strat for cheap money (I bought in 1996, long before ever raised the prices).

The only part I kept from this guitar is the neck, which I still love.

I can't believe that Fender now charges so much for this guitar. My advice would be to buy a used Am Std

I just got this, in Sonic Blue. I never write reviews, even for products I like a lot, but I had to for this one. This is my third MIM Fender, and second strat. I kept my Tele, but sold the Strat, which was the other '60s MIM strat. Let me go on record here and say that this is eons better than the other '60s Strat. The other was a very good strat. THIS one is up with the best strats I have EVER played, (American, vintage...). It completely gives my American Strat a run for the money. The '69 pickups are outstanding and the neck is ridiculous! I've been playing guitar 26 years and it feels like I've owned this guitar for twenty of them easily. I don't know if I just ended up with a gem off the line or what, but of all the many guitars I've owned in my life, I literally have never felt so comfortable with a guitar so soon after getting it. Think about it. Try it.

I started out a strat guy. I've owned several and currently own three. But I found myself wanting a thicker tone and had pretty much decided on getting a les paul. I own the faded Gibson SG studio and love it, so I went into the store to buy a faded cherry lespaul. Loved the sound and hated the feel of it. Had decided to leave the store with nothing and this guitar caught my attention while I was walking out. Picked it up, plugged it in, and walked out with this guitar. Out of all my strats, this one has the sound closest to what I've always been after. Action was great, neck is incredible, playability was miles ahead of the les paul. Every pickup produces it's own unique sound. I own a 2001 Am. Strat that I'm in love with, but I got to tell you, I'm having an affair with the 60s strat. This guitar made me put my les paul wishes on hold - for about 1/4 the price of a LP standard. I simply gave the features a 4.5 because, let's face it, the Gibsons have more control over the pickups than the strats do across the board. But this guitar is nothing but versatile. After almost 15 years of buying strats, this is my favorite.

I was looking to pick up a back-up Strat and bought one of these a few months ago. It's been a great addition to my collection.

Anyone looking for a basic, no frills Strat should definitely try one of these out. The finish and set up were very good, the neck is very easy to play and the Custom Shop designed pickups are great - pure Strat tone as you'd expect.

Overall, this guitar is excellent value for money.