As it arrived I've done the common setup (changing strings to ErnieBall hybrid slinky, intonation, action) and the tone was very impressive. It has the tone I was looking for. Playability was ok, but overall I had some minor issues on this guitar, blissfully these are easy to fix: intonation problems due to cheap tuners and the nut was too high, glossy neck was a bit tacky, trem bar was too loose in the thread of the cheap monkey metal trem block.
But the rest of the guitar is made in a good quality: neck shape feels right, body and paint are nicely done, the electronics, pickups, pots work fine. The stock ceramic pickups have a really nice tone, you don't need to replace them. The electronics are shielded and I have no hum.
Well, it was easy to turn this guitar to a perfect strat-like instrument and still didn't cost much. I've bought locking tuners, also ordered 2-point trem bridge with stick-in bar and with brass block and brass saddles.
I've taken the guitar to the workshop and they made the bridge-replacement, polished the neck satin finish and made frets leveling by reducing the height a bit. They have also set the nut gaps height (actually the nut is made of a decent bone-like material) and they’ve put a lubricant there as well. Setup of low action of course. I soldered a small bridge-wire on the pu-selector, this way I can control the tone of the bridge pickup as well. I took out the shorter string retainer from the head and installed only the longer one to the highE & B strings.
So now… This plays like a dream and the tone is really beautiful, sustaining also longer. Holds tuning very well. Now the tone is clean, warm, has plenty of low end.
The guitar is made in a good quality: neck shape feels right, body and paint are nicely done, the electronics, pickups, pots work fine. The stock ceramic pickups have a really nice tone, you don't need to replace them. The electronics are shielded and I have no hum.
Chrome hardware quality like tuners or bridge is poor