It's entirely subjective, so I'm almost reluctant to offer yet another perspective. But I've played dozens of strats over my 40 years playing. I've gone off them, and back for all the reasons others have cited. I now have an American Fatstrat, plus a Gison ES339, PRS CE-24 and Baha Tele. Love'em all, but for gigging,a when I don't have room or hangars for more than a couple, the Strat is always #1 as it's just a bit more versatile. You definitely have to get comfortable with pickup changing on the fly, using theS1 system and making lots of tone knob adjustments. But when I do, it remains a fantastic guitar that can fatten up nicely, though not to LP proportions, while also offering shimmery and out of phase options.