[island_dude]

I have a Squire 51 made in Indonesia. I had some major issues with intonation and tuning. For a long time I assumed that it was just the fact that I sucked. My instructor messed around with it and decided it was the instrument. His tech played with it and got it better, but it still had major issues with certain notes. I ended up buying a Goden and put it aside for a while. I was traveling and took it with me on a business trip. While their a friend from work pointed me to a guy who was a fantastic tech. He figured out that some of the frets were too high (in places). After sanding them down and doing a full set up, it plays as well or better than my good guitar. I paid $150 for it plus about $100 in setup costs. List is about $250.

It has done everything I could have asked for of a guitar at the time. I am sure that s real strat would have better build quality out of the factory. Now that its fixed, it is a viable alternative to my much more expensive guitar. Besides the name, what you get with the real thing is generally more consistent manufacturing and better all around quality. This formula breaks down after a point. When you start taking about factory customs you might as well get something hand built for you for less.
I am not a collector or very serious about this, so I can afford to not be jaded by the name plate.