First, the aesthetics:

Finish a beautiful satin red, looks almost purple depending on the light. Not glossy; soft look, very nice. A little ding/crack on the face of the body; barely noticeable unless you look really close- looks fresh; I think someone dinged it while packing it; otherwise, pretty mint.

The single coil pups are black, as are the volume and tone knobs (1 master volume, 2 tones.) Looks really nice. Scratches on the pick guard; was expected, no big deal to me. A few very minor nicks on back of neck; no big deal. Maple neck/rosewood fretboard. Thinner neck than my Standard Strat; very fast neck. Strings are very close, a complaint I've read about in online reviews of some MIMs.

Hardware: Seems to be stock everything. Tuning gears seem to be in good working condition. Only 1 string tree. for the 1st and 2nd strings only. Find that kind of odd. But no screw holes for a 2nd.

hardware,playability, tone, etc.

When I got the guitar, I opened up the box in my office. Soon as I touched it, my initial feeling was, "YES!"

The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. Action super-low- too low for me. Neck extremely fast due to the width (or lack thereof); almost feels like my Ibanez RG. Frets could be filed down a bit on the hige E side, as I can feel it scraping my fingers at times; I can adjust to it. The nut is some cheap plastic thing. May or may not have it replaced. The high E is as close to the edge of the fretboard as possible, while the low E has a bit of room. Still, don't find this a major problem (for me.)

The tuners are stock, with "Fender" stamped on it. I believe the bridge is a Wilkenson bridge but not sure. I've noted somewhere else that my American Standard has a Wilkenson, but it doesn't- I can't remember exactly what the bridge is called, but the 1980's era American Strats are kind of strange. On the MIM, there's a hole for truss rod adjustment near the headstock; on my American, I can adjust both from the headstock, and at the bottom (from neck plate on the back.)

Bridge has 6 individual string saddles, unlike my American that has 3(correction; my American has 6 saddles- I was thinking about my Tele) ; 2 strings per saddle. I think it's a tune-o-matic bridge. Didn't come with a whammy bar (seller didn't advertise providing one.) It's a screw in whammy; my American has a "snap in". I can get to the trem springs from the back like most Strats; however, on my American, I have to remove the whole scratch plate off.

There's a 5-way switch, and I can hear the subtle tonal differences on each setting. The tone is a bit warmer, as I expected with the rosewood neck. The strings are really old, but still, the tone with the bridge pup was very telly-like when cranked up, but the tone wasn't as biting as my American Strat or American made telly. Playing totally clean, the tone was warmer as already stated, but the lack of a really sweet ringing tone I believe is due to the age of the strings- old and dirty. The string gauge is extremely light- definitely 9's or possibly lighter; felt kind of like Super Slinky 8's. I'm positive the overall tone will be much better when I re-string it, but I'm debating whether to put 12's on this one and tune it Hendrix style, or just slap 10's on them. I know there's a definite tonal difference 'tween my American and this MIM- not a bad thing as far as I'm concerned- what's the point of having different guitars if they all sound exactly the same? Playing this MIM definitely makes me want to rock out, but I'll know better when I re-string it.

The single coil pickups are responsive enough, and doesn't have "stratitis", meaning I don't get that whooshing sound no matter how far I am from the amp.

Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase. I won the Ebay bid for $260.07 + $40 s/h. For $300, I'd take this guitar over any MIM on sale now that sell for $399 at Guitar Center. Even if I found a guitar locally for the same price, I'd be paying about $24 in taxes. So, I feel I got a great bargain.

Just can't wait to put new strings on it. Will do so this weekend, and hopefully find a trem bar. And the guitar came in on Valentine's Day! Great gift to myself. To wrap up- no complaints, this is a keeper.

To round out my guitar collection, I'd like a Gibson Les Paul, and a 335. I may sell off some of my other guitars, unless I get a bigger place to live in.