Every player should have a Strat in the arsenal! I've got a few nice guitars, PRS Artist, USA Deluxe Strat (with some great hand made pickups), a Fender Player Tele (MIM) that is a lot of fun to play and sounds great, but the guitar that's done the most work and the most gigs since about 1990 is a MIJ Squier Strat I paid $300 for. It has a shitty Kahler trem that I always wanted to replace but never have (I've locked it down solid) and a set of Kinman noiseless pickups, the early ones. Maybe its the way the neck feels, I don't know, but a good setup can do wonders, and some guitars just "have it" when you pick them up, regardless of pedigree.