I have a mexican fat strat deluxe.
i could have got american standart instead but i think that my fat strat is just a better guitar because of the HSS configuration and the tex mex pick ups which allow me to play anything from heavy metal to jazz..
i played on this guitar with fender's prinecton (sp?) amp
and i could get about any sound in the world, from SRV to yngwie malmsteen to jimmy page.
the only problem im having with this guitar is that the high E string gets too close to the fretboard after some time and i dont know why..
if you are speed freak this guitar probably wont suit you much , and you should get anything which is not fender but for anything else this guitar rocks (and its pretty damn cheap in american prices).