I picked up this guitar about 9 months ago, and I've got to say, DAYUM. For the money, you can't do much better. I love the neck, the trem, the electronics, and even the natural ash finish. I plan on upgrading to locking tuners in the near future, but overall this thing holds up well even at rowdy gigs. If you're looking for a strat that has a good feature set at a reasonable price, look no further. Truth be told, I'd take a stock Lite Ash over a Highway One anyday.

I reviewed this guitar back in April of 04. Since then I have replaced the electronics, and added a JB Seymour Duncan humbucker in the bridge position and a Jazz Seymour Humbucker in the neck.

The original single coils just didn't cut it for gigging live, especially the neck pickup. It plays great and stays in tune, but I am selling it to buy an American Strat. My American tele just puts it to shame and it is noticeable at gigs.

The feel is just right, I love the neck. The Seymour Duncan pickups are waht I would have put on it anyway. Gobs of tone - tweak the volume knob to clean it up, open it up and let it rip. The only thing I added was a third tremolo spring. This allowed me to set up the trem to truly "float" without going out of tune - yes, divebombs included. I have gigged this guitar for six months and it has proved to be tough, and reliable. Looks great, especially that birds-eye maple neck, and I have always loved the feel and playability of the satin neck finish.

I would like to say that I love this guitar. I've had mine for almost three years now. The neck feels good, and everything works as advertised. The real advantage of this guitar is the pickups: the Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro Staggered pickups are awesome! They're not as harsh on the high end as stock Alnico V pickups, and they clean up very well! They sound very beautiful with a nice vintage appeal. Perfect for Pink Floyd. I've had no problems with it at all, and I've never even had to remove the pick guard. The sound of swamp ash is very musical. I'd buy another if mine was stolen, lost, or broken (unless I was rich enough to buy an American Standard Stratocaster and swap the pickups to these). I also like having the tone controls linked to the neck and middle pickup with the bridge "wide open": I'm not afraid to use the bridge for solos. With 10's and the pickups set 2mm, 1.8mm, and 1.6mm away from the strings (neck/middle/bridge), the pickup balance is great. The only gripes I have are that I'd prefer locking tuners, graphite nut, graphite string saddles, etc. After four years of age and 3 years of constant use, the input jack is a little loose and can't be tightened down, but that's normal with lots of use. The volume pot is starting to make a scratching noise, but it doesn't affect output to the amp. Don't listen to what people say about Korean-made. Schecter is korean made. I've never had a problem with anything Korean made, and I've lived in South Korea before. It's a wonderful place. Bottom line: give it a try. You may walk away owning one! The only other gripe I could possibly have is that they should've used rock maple, not soft ("silverleaf") maple for the neck. But the birdseye pattern is very beautiful.

this strat i bought back in june 2007, i never go out of the american made strats but! this lite ash i had to have and its still a fender. WOW! what tone and feel this guitar has this strat is good for everything played. it stands with the american made strats and in some ways its better, like playabilty just for starts.it just a all around great guitar.