• Mixed review on this one

  
  As reviewed by Timbo on 9/8/2011

  I ordered this guitar online from GC, and anxiously awaited its arrival. I had been coveting one for a long time, and finally saved up the scratch to get it. After three weeks of playing it every day for at least a couple of hours, I am trying like crazy to convince myself that it's a great guitar. It's sort of growing on me, but it just lacks a "something-something" I had hoped it would have. On the very positive side, it's a beautiful, well-constructed instrument. You have to see the red finish with the mint scratch plate in person to truly appreciate it. The neck plays quite well, although (to me) it is almost borderline too narrow and thin. The 1st and 6th strings sit precariously close to the edges of the neck even after professional setup. The fretwork is nice, and the rosewood fingerboard is of high quality. Overall, the guitar is quite a joy to play. On the not-so-positive side (again, for me) was simply how it sounds, and let's face it - that's a big deal! I have just not warmed up to the Texas Special pickups. They certainly do have a nice low and middle response to them, but they are woefully thin in the treble ranges, and in my mind that is a huge part of the Strat's unique tonal characteristic. I've raised the pups to Fender-recommended height, lowered them to near flush to the pick guard and tried everything in between. I've even tried several different brands/gauges of strings. It is what it is - to me this guitar just doesn't quite tonally cut the mustard. And at high volume/gain the whole sound collapses into kind of a discordant mud, especially when switched to the neck/middle pups. In summary, I gave it 4 stars mostly because of the positives I mentioned first. Otherwise, I would have given it 3 stars. I'm seriously considering swapping out the entire electronics platform with different pups and switch wiring. It's too nice of a guitar to entirely give up on, so I'm hoping I can eventually get it to where I think it should have sounded in the first place! To be quite honest, I expected more from a higher-end Fender guitar.

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• Wonderful guitar

  
  As reviewed by Joshua on 8/17/2011

  In my opinion this is the finest color combination in the guitar world (the vintage burst PRS Custom 24 would be my second choice). The guitar is light but still present when your standing, and perfect for sitting and jamming. The pick ups are great, I even play some country with the bridge PU and it sounds just fine. The guitar really shines with the middle and neck PU's and you can get every sound you ever wanted from a Strat. The most striking thing about the guitar is the overall feel of quality; it just looks and feels good. Add to that the fact that there is virtually no secondary market for these guitars and you can deduce that MK Strat owners are a satisfied bunch. It's an absolutely wonderful guitar.

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• Solid Rock

  
  As reviewed by Bill Ryan on 7/12/2011

  This is an excellent strat and a great value. It is essentially a hot rodded vintage 62 strat with a 57(ash) body painted in hot rod red. The color is brilliant bright red. It plays like butter and sounds bright and snappy. It has custom shop texas special pickups which allow for humbucking in the 2 and 4 positions. The color is what seperates this guitar from the rest. If you like red(and who doesn't) this is the reddest guitar you can get. I fell in love with this guitar from the minute I opened the case and got a nose full of the delicious lacquer aroma. Its a winner and everything that is great about a vintage era strat much like its namesake MK. Not a big fan of the floating bridge set up though. I had it set up to my taste like a traditional vintage strat.

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