There are plenty of You Tube and Reddit reviews on this. Some people say it comes with problems, others say its hard to play or the neck is too thick.
The guitar sounds absolutely professional, i recorded John Mayer and SRV and the tone is immaculate.
The neck feels great, and the playability is perfect.
The way i see it is. This is a guitar made for people who actually enjoys a real guitar. If you like modern stuff, care too much about flexibility etc.. go for the Ultras.
If you want something to pass on after you die, want a real strat sounds with some MOJO, wanna see it age with you, specially because of the nitro finish that will allow it to relic, this is for you.
This guitar has the mojo. Sounds special and looks special. Bonus tip: if you play on PC, pair it with the Plini or Cory Wong from Neural DSP, trust me, you wont regret it.
The only "issue" i faced is that the neck came tilted so i had to unscrew the back a little and center it (very easy fix and common thing on strats). I also had to higher the Low E saddle on the bridge after that fix. If you play for years and knows guitars this shouldnt be an issue at all (specially because there are countless youtube tutorials), but if you are brand new to the guitar world, id recommend you taking it to a local luthier to avoid frustration and doing the wrong thing.
Im not sure if this happened on the shipping but if not, Thomman should be checking this, its a pretty simple fix, and if they are going through the luthiers before shipping as you say they are, this is definitely a thumbs down, specially knowing that inexperienced people could buy instruments like this.
To conclude, this is the best you can get from Fender before Custom Shops, without a doubt.
