A year ago, I brought home a 2008 MIA Standard Stratocaster. I have always been a Les Paul/ SG man, but have owned a handful of MIM and MIA Stratocasters and a Tele or two over the last 20+ years. With the exception of a 95 MIM black/ rosewood strat that was #3 in the rotation for several years, I have never owned a Fender that felt like it was "made for me".
After some gear swaps all of my strats were gone, and I found myself lacking a guitar with single coil pups. A trusted GC employee convinced me to try my soon to be American Standard (I had convinced myself not to buy another Stratocaster), and next thing I knew, it was home on my guitar stand.
I got a hell of a deal on it, and half expected to keep it around for tinkering and eventually sell it, but after a month of not touching another guitar, this baby fell firmly in the #2 spot. White Strat (original name, I know) has become my work horse, and an irreplaceable piece of my arsenal. The gritty single coil snap and silky smooth neck inspires me to play, and experiment with new tones that have broadened my style. After a pup swap and a hardtail conversion, I am convinced that this unit was built for me.

sorry for the crappy camera-phone pix


...and my #1 fan, Ajax

It's nice when that happens! Glad for you my friend.

My favorite color combination too! My first Strat is a 3-color sunburst but I've been looking at a 2009 Olympic white one with maple neck. It's beautiful!

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Custom Shop '59 Stratocaster
AV Hot Rod '52 Telecaster
AV '56 Stratocaster
'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

Just think of how much better it would have been with a rosewood board. J/K.I did the same thing , i bought a strat in 01 and ended up selling it because i didnt care for the maple neck.I have 2 with rosewood boards( actually the srv has a pao ferro) and i thought i would never warm to a maple neck.When the new ones came out i tried one with the glossed neck and was prepared not to like it , but i was suprized.Loved the feel of it and the look.Ended up buying a charcoal frost metallic one.I am amazed as how the upgrades make for a nicer playing and nicer sounding strat.

Seems alot of us dont start out at Strat fans, but tend to come around after awhile.

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...