Im a strat fan myself. I have a american telecaster and the quality of build is great. Hardly goes out of tune and is very playable. I can only assume that the strat is the same way as its american counterpart. I have played them in the store...but id prefer a older type strats with smaller necks...however it was very well built, hopefully fender learned there CBS lesson, and stop making degrading crap. Also the american strat has more balls then traditional strats with a fatter sound.