This is a 21-fret, standard vibrato bridge, maple neck/rosewood fretboard Fender Stratocaster -- but one with a humbucker. As you may expect this series is made in Mexico. The controls are the same as usual: one general volume knob, two tone controls (one for each of the single coil mics) and a 5-position selector which allows to combine the mics (from top to bottom: neck pickup only, neck+middle, middle pickup, middle+split humbucker, humbucker alone).

The presence of a humbucker makes this guitar suitable for many more styles than a "normal", three-single coils Strat -- don't expect the stock humbuckers to lead you through metal/thrash though.

UTILIZATION

This is a well-made Stratocaster so as far as playibility is concerned I think this says it all... The SSH configuration brings polyvalence, so finding a suitable sound is easy, just tweak the tone knobs a little while and here you go -- too bad the humbucker originally doesn't have a tone control...
Some people will tell you that a Strat with standard vibrato just can't be kept in tune: do NOT believe them, if you take your time and tune it properly then these variations will hardly be noticeable at all.

SOUNDS

First of all let me tell you that the fact this guitar has a rosewood fretboard DOES matter. I once A/B-ed it with a 1991 US Fender Strat with a maple fretboard and guess what -- I preferred the sound that this cheap Mexican provided (both through my SansAmp GT2 and a friend's Marshall Valvestate). Even in using only the single coils, this guitar provides smooth mediums but can also deliver darker sounds, while a "classical" Strat will always keep that brilliance in sound that has made the legend of the model -- but which makes it less suitable for modern distorted rhythm sounds.
I wanted a guitar that could do the job for a variety of rock styles including blues, pop-rock, hard rock and (mostly) alternative/grunge rock. Even with the original configuration this guitar was well suited to my expectations. Then, I had the idea to have the humbucker (which was a bit too bright-sounding for me) changed for a Seymour Duncan SH-4 (the Jeff Beck one) and connected to a tone knob -- now the guitar sounds even better and metal sounds are no longer out of reach (provided you have what it takes). I mostly play power-chords rhythm so I also changed the strings for 10-52s.

I usually play it through several distorsion stompboxes and a Small Clone chorus into a SansAmp GT-2 & ISP Decimator noisegate, then direct to the mixer (yes, I use no "real" amp, and so what?), and I definitely LOVE the way it sounds. I can get from Clapton to Nirvana or even more "modern" metal sounds with no real effort, and the sustain is more than acceptable (hey, don't expect miracles though, this is a Strat, not a Les Paul!).

The single coils are noisy (as usual) but provide a very mellow sound (especially the one in the neck position) which will get you through the most beautiful sounding and/or country-like ballads -- a compressor, a chorus, a good reverb and here you go!

As said earlier the stock humbucker sounded a bit too bright to me, but it really is usable for vintage hard rock. With the proper mics installed on it I can hardly think of a style on which this guitar couldn't take, by the way...

OVERALL OPINION

I've had this guitar for 8 years now, this is the first (and only to this day) electric guitar that I've owned. With the aforementioned mods that I had performed on it this guitar is now perfectly suited to my intense use of power-chords-rhythm with heavy distorsion -- please note that I'm NOT a soloist or "technical" player in any way.
I had tried a few other guitars before choosing this one -- including a "usual" (3-single-coils) Strat and a few Ibanez (which sounded too metal-oriented to me -- I really wanted to be able to play different styles with the same guitar). I paid it approximately 530€ at the time and I think the quality/price ratio was really great. That's a choice I never regretted and most likely would do again.