If you want a Tyler guitar having all the good stuff, buy an Ultimate Weapon with three humbuckers, mid-boost with bypass/preset, lead/rhythm circuit and the Floyd Rose trem.

For extreme tastes Jim offers this model with a full 2-octave "shredder" neck and a tilt-back reverse headstock.

Wow! He has a locking nut, the locking bridge and I bet a $5000 price tag!

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Seriously... have you ever tried a Variax guitar?

No. Like I said, was jamming this past weekend and
a buddy brought his Custom Shop Stratocaster.

I mean, it was one of those $5000(+) Strats that he bought from
a friend for $3000. I just cannot tell why they are so much more
valuable in "non-Hall-of-Famer's" hands.

This is the reason I sold my vintage Strat & Tele.
Until one is great, what is the difference?
There is more on the subject, but another story.

Also, I'd much rather have amps, pedals & effects
be top notch at this time in my life.

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If you're looking for something different, try a James Tyler Variax. You'll get 29 amazing sounds into a single package!

The JT Variax line consists of three modeling guitars having their own distinctive body shapes and specifications. The JTV-89 is the most radical.

The JTV-89US is the more expensive Custom Shop version of the JTV-89.

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Then there are those 1980s Strats produced by Fender for metal- the HM Strat, the Contemporary Stratocaster Japan and then the Showmaster, introduced nearly 15 years too late. Does anyone own these? Or even replicas? I've thought of getting one done from an American Strat base when I can.

For classic metal, how does an American Special/Standard Strat stack up? I've seen some (YouTube-d) covers of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, and the Strat holds its own against the made-for-metal guitars in those covers.

Back in the late 1990s Fender produced an "American Special Strat with Floyd Rose" which handles aggressive musical style to perfection. Two Delta Tone single coils and an Atomic humbucker or dual Atomic humbuckers with a special 5-way pickup switching system allowing a wide array of fat humbucker and cutting single coil tones. This guitar is no longer into production.

I'd like to have this built. Unfortunately it's out of budget for me presently.

American Standard Strat in Charcoal Frost Metallic, with a Blacktop look. HSH with chrome pickguard covers, shiny black pickguard, black switchtips and Fender amp knobs.

I caught this demo of an American Standard Strat modded to HSH by 'SunnyRose', and it sounds good. Not too many HSH strats in action on Youtube for anybody to catch.

Anyway, since a Fender Strat and Jackson Dinky are built using the same wood, what makes the Jackson so different, so much more a high-gain instrument? The 24-fret neck? The pickups lodged in the wood and not hanging from the pickguard? High-end pickups?