Congrats on the new guitars Gents. I saw a local shop I drool over had some come in so I sent an email to inquire about Canuck pricing and model availability, but hadn't heard back from them as yet. I headed out tonight to a local retailer to see if they also had them in stock yet.
I found a candy apple red model, and as luck would have it... the little sournd booth they have was also free. I'm not sure I was thrilled with the factory setup on the guitar, but I haven't played a strat in a long time... so don't let me hold you back from checking one out for yourself. The neck and fret work were very nice, and the Texas Special pickups sounded good, but I'm not sure they would be something I'd be happy with in the long haul (personal preference only).
What I did like was the 'Greasebucket' tonepot wired to the bridge pickup in favour of the centre p/u... this made for a very useful combination of tones. The trem was floating with the three springs in the 1-3-5 holes, and held it's tune reasonably for a Strat. I've seen Gibson offer 335's for a lesser price with a less labour intensive finish, so I'd imagine these guitars will likely do well in this current market as well. I'm looking forward to trying one out again in the near future.
Gearlist:
Electric: Ibanez 'AS103', Fender Dlx Nash Pwr Tele, Fender Squier '62 JV Strat, Squier '51, Squier 60's Classic Vibe Strat, Epi Elite LP Studio, Hagstrom Swede Acoustic: Larrivee LV-03RE, A&L AMI, Yamaha FG340-T Bass: Yamaha BB 450 Amps: Roland JC-120, JC-50, Peavey Classic 30, Fender Super Champ XD Pedals: Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Danelectro Cool Cat Drive, Transparent Overdrive, Digitech Digiverb, Bad Monkey, Ibanez TS-9, Boss AC-2, CE-5, CS-2, DD-3, DF-2, DS-1, FV-100, GE-7, OC-2, PSM-5, SD-1, TU-2, DVM~BYOC 'Lush Puppy' Chorus