Ok sorry for wasting everybody who is looking at this's time, but I've been playing a squier for the past three years, and frankly, i'm getting sick of it. So the choices i'm looking at this year for my birthday and christmas presents combined are the Schecter C-1 Elite (love the HB-102's), Fender American Strat, or ESP ltd H-250 (also HB-102's). I play in a ska band, but that's about once or twice a week practice, and at home, i play anything from blues to metal. But what I love are shredding solos. Just playing a solo for an hour and a half straight and incorporating everything i've ever learned... sweep picking, pinched harmonics, rakes, etc... learning new stuff and putting it in solo form is my pasttime, what I do for fun. So thanks a whole lot to anybody who gives an oppinion.