Thought I'd do a little bump of this as I'm the new owner
I got this the other night from my friend for what I'd consider quite a steal.
And here's a link to some gut shots from a while back when he wanted me to rewire it.
All in all it's a comfortable guitar, slightly chunky neck with a good weight to the body. All solid wood, no ply or mystery material here. I believe he said his kid bought it from a garage sale although I'm going to ask him again about it's origins for my own curiosity.
The only problems I can see with it are a few frets on the bass side could be filed down. It feels like they are poking out of the edge of the fretboard. Not really noticeable when playing, just if you run your finger up the side of the neck. More then likely won't do anything with that though.
The other issue is a dead middle pickup. No idea what's wrong with it but I'm guessing it needs to be rewound. It puts out sound but it's uber low compared to the neck and bridge pickups. I'm debating how I want to handle that. I have a nice set of Kent Arnstrong pickups I may put in it. Or perhaps a vintage WRHB that needs some work, a la the Wayne Kramer strat. I figure I'll play it as is for now and get it set up before I proceed with anything else. I'm kind of hesitant to route it for anything purely for sentimental reasons. I would like to eventually change the switching to the GFS Brian May set up though. Not sure what color pickguard I'd go with if and when do that.
All in all I'm extremely happy. I've lusted after it since the first time I saw it at his house. Plays great, feels great and looks awesome.
Still can't figure out the brand but that's of no consequence I guess. Being as I'm bumping this and all, anyone feel free to chime in with ideas on this particular strat copy.