Vintage Hot Rod 57 Strat

Jam10

The Hot Rod 57 Strat has peaked some of my interest but none of my local music stores have them in stock so I haven't tried one out yet. I really like the color and the shape of the neck. I was wondering if anybody has played one of these and what you guys honestly think of them. It's about $600 - $700 more dollars than the Standard Strat and was wondering if it's that much better and that much more guitar?

I was also wondering what the Tone Zone means.

ianvomsaal

- Okay, we are talking about the Vintage Hot Rod '57 Strat with the DiMarzio Tone Zone bridge
pickup (which is a great alternative)? http://www.sweetwater.com/images/items/750/StratVH57CAR-large.jpg

- I do like this VHR '57 guitar quite a bit better than the Standard Strat, but then again I'm
not a real die hard Strat guy - I like the feel & available tones from this VHR '57 guitar more.
If you needed to choose between one or the other, the Vintage Hot Rod '57 is the one.

- I like the bigger frets for bending, & the feel of the neck (it's kind of like a softer V feel), &
it's nitrocellulose finished (but then I like nitro - I actually spray the guitars I build with nitro
because it allows the wood to still breathe - and nitro also helps to maintain the tone of the
wood better than the poly finishes, you just need to be careful of rapid temperature changes).

- The things I'd like to see different are: More color options - I'd also like my fretboard wood
to be rosewood or ebony - I'd rather have 22-frets instead of 21 (I do like to use that missing
D note that you get with 22-frets) - and I'd actually like big stainless steel frets on my guitars.