Re: Recommend me some strats.
If you're willing to look outside fender, see if you can find an old Levinson Blade (before the headstock was changed). I bought one off a local musician after watching his gigs for a year... amazing tone.
The build quality is spectacular.
1 piece body. The wood grain on the back follows the "tummy contour" perfectly, but is still vertical on the front and the rest of the back. I doubt that happened by accident... doesn't make a difference but it lets me know that some personal effort was put into my guitar.
It sounds and plays great... Comes with an active mid boost circuit. However, the neck is thinner than most strats, but i'm fine with that.
To me, this is my lifetime keeper.