hey all.
For someone who is somewhat new to playing the guitar but who wants an MIA strat, which model would people recommend that would provide a good all around platform to start with?
I've been playing lots of guitars at shops lately and they all feel different, but I'm too inexperienced to understand what feels good or right. They all just feel different. So I figure I should get a nice all around guitar to get comfortable with before branching out in custom feature territory.
The two that come to mind are the American Standard or the Highway one.
Any suggestions which would be better for an inexperienced player?
Thanks for your opinions!

Well, I'm relatively new at this too having played for 1 year. If I were starting from scratch again I'd get a plain American Standard Strat. Several color choices, rosewood or maple fingerboards, etc. It's upgradeable if you want but it will serve 90% of players as it comes from the factory.

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

American standards play great right out of the factory. I've also had great highway one guitars, which are less expensive but a good deal. I would keep trying different guitars till you find one that really feels, sounds and looks good to you, and have a friend with more experience look it over.

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2012 American Vintage Telecaster 1958
09 Fender american deluxe strat.
97 Gibson les paul special P90's double-cut
65 Princeton reverb re-issue
2010 Guild Gad-F40e

If i were you i wouldnt go for an American in the first place. Mexican strats perform just as good if not sometimes better than their american brothers and cost half. Buy a mexican and get a good amp for what you would have paid for the american.

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--Hillbilly
Proud member of the 2 or 3 club

What kind of music would you like to play with your new guitar?

Thanks for the replies!
As for the type of music I like. I love to play the usual suspects: blues, rock, alternative, pretty much anything except heavy metal. (I have no idea how to "shred").

The reason I'm looking at a MIA is that I already own a MIM. It was one of the first generation of MIM I think that came out in the early 1990's. It's fine and I love playing it but I want something a little better built to continue playing on. (And I'm not saying MIM are poorly made, I'm simply saying the MIM I already own has a few quality control issues. I'm sure the newer MIM are great, but since I have the money I would prefer to get a MIA).

If the price tag doesn't deter you, you can not go wrong with the MIA stratocaster. I have a '98 MIM (Midnite wine/rosewood) as well as an 08 MIA (sienna burst/maple) and, though MIM's are great guitars for the money they cost, there is little comparison other than body shape to an MIA. You will not be disappointed with the MIA "icon", I guarantee.....

Being as though your fairly new to playing guitar you may want to go with a guitar thats got a humbucking pickup in the bridge possition. A Hss configuration. You get to cover a lot of ground with that setup, something that will benefit you as you find your feet. You can get a American Standard or Highway One in that confiuguraion.

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No no and no

I say go with the HWY 1, save the extra cash you would spend on the Am Std and at the end of the day you still have a made in the USA guitar. The HWY 1 is a killer guitar for the price and you'll have extra cash to put in the bank or buy something else with.

Hey niki, just curious why you think a HSS strat would be a better choice than SSS for a beginner?

IMC

At the moment said beginner doesnt like certain styles and doesnt know how he wants things. That like everything is liable to change. No one can predict how it will change. I find HSS setups to be really good for covering all bases. The bridge pickup in SSS guitars is usefull for a handfull of applications. A decent bucker will cover almost every style though. Ok a single coil beats it hands down for country and 50's, 60's stylings. But a bucker will still get a rough approximation of them sounds. Certainly close enough for a beginner.

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No no and no

If I already have a SSS strat, would you recommend me getting a HSS configuration, as I was thinking about buying a guitar with humbuckers like a gibson or something, but I have gotten used to the strat.

I'd recommend you buy a humbucker or two depending on the guitars routing.

Most strats are routed HSS,some are routed HSH. Its a lot cheaper to buy two humbuckers and put them in a guitar you know than buy a new guitar that you dont know. If your still a little fresh to the whole shabang. And you can always put the singlecoils back in should you not like the buckers. You can even get singlecoil sized buckers should you not wish to change the scratchplate. They do sound a little different from their fullsized counterparts though.

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No no and no

Thanks guys. This has been very informative.

Originally, I had thought I needed a guitar with a thicker neck becauase I have larger hands. I was afraid a normal necked guitar would leave me with hand fatigue or cramps. So, I auditioned all the thicker neck guitars I could find, eventually settling on the '62 hot rod.
I went down to purchase it last friday. Before purchasing it, I decided to play it one last time to see if it was REALLY what I wanted. It was then I realized I had no idea what I was looking for. Sure the neck felt nice, but I couldn't say it felt BETTER than any other strat neck I tried. To my inexperienced hands, it just felt DIFFERENT. It was then I figured I should problably get a good all around strat until I had enough experience to better understand what I wanted and/or needed.

And based on your responses I'll be getting a HSS for sure!