Bringing the thread back. I have finally received my HM Strat from GC about a week ago. Initial thoughts are pretty decent. My main gripe with it is the bridge pickup tone is not the greatest (and i could tell this from the youtube videos) and the Floyd Special is total ****. SO, i will be upgrading the bridge pickup (A super rare SH-9 Silverbird will be the choice) and to a floyd 1500 (stainless appointments. The single coils are hot but have a very nice snappy, bright tone to them. Build quality overall (minus the **** floyd) is super good. Overall im happy with the purchase-i went into it with the mindset it would be a minor build platform in terms of the bridge and bridge pickup. Looking forward to my results.