(For future reference)
I have the Japanese version: great build quality, love the body shape, size, and weight. Easy on the shoulders. Love the maple neck, don't care too much for the small frets. Playing way high up on the neck can take a lot of digging in. It's definitely a one trick pony, so I won't keep it long. Pickups don't do it for me; they definitely don't give you the dynamics or the single coil-esque quack of the low output pups Eddie used on the early albums, but YMMV. Speed pot can get easily bumped out of place, which makes it fiddly at any setting but wide open. I really appreciate the glow-in-the-dark markers on the knobs when playing on a dark stage. I have it in gloss black, which looks classy but reveals imperfections. Speed pot can get easily bumped out of place, which makes it fiddly at any setting but wide open. Despite the low cost, I think the Special gets the chemistry right, it just depends on your needs.
I have the Japanese version: great build quality, love the body shape, size, and weight. Easy on the shoulders. Love the maple neck, don't care too much for the small frets. Playing way high up on the neck can take a lot of digging in. It's definitely a one trick pony, so I won't keep it long. Pickups don't do it for me; they definitely don't give you the dynamics or the single coil-esque quack of the low output pups Eddie used on the early albums, but YMMV. Speed pot can get easily bumped out of place, which makes it fiddly at any setting but wide open. I really appreciate the glow-in-the-dark markers on the knobs when playing on a dark stage. I have it in gloss black, which looks classy but reveals imperfections. Speed pot can get easily bumped out of place, which makes it fiddly at any setting but wide open. Despite the low cost, I think the Special gets the chemistry right, it just depends on your needs.