I've played both and owned the LA Strat for a while (sold to help fund another guitar purchase). They are decent guitars for the money IMO. The pickups in the Strat I swapped out for some noiseless ones (the hotter/dirtier SD pups just aren't my thing - I like a really clean Strat tone in pos. 2 or 4). My advice, if it feels good in your hands and you like the looks/sound then go for it.
Good guitars for the money. I was never able to get really good action on either of them, and I got a lot of squeal out of the Strat's pickups. The Tele particularly, sounded really good.
I've spent some time with a LA Strat (not mine did a set-up for a friend.) As others have said, nice guitar for the money. Pretty, one piece body, decent bridge, overall construction was great - neck pocket on this one was perfect - very tight fit. The pick up and electronic are ok, the pickups are quite hot. Set-up out of the box is pretty good, could use a level and dress to make it really nice. But I could get it playing good at 5/64E and 4/64e without touching the frets. I like the neck - modern oval with a 9.5 radius - but - I have to say I've never seen a birdseye fretboard like this before - not bad just different, it has a kind of matt finish to it, not shiny and super smooth like a normal Fender maple fretboard, so it actually feels quite like rosewood. The one I set-up was made in Korea, I believe the current ones are made in China - don't know if that woukd make a difference, though.
Iactually played both and the tele had a thigker tone than the strat - believe it or not. I'm not sure about these guitars though. The fingerboard is glued to the neck like a rosewood - an indication of cost cutting. Some of the frets didn't come to the edge of the fingerboard - not all but a few. I'm toying with getting one but just not sure - that's why I posted this. D.
I had one of the Teles. I thought the birdseye on the neck was a bit gaudy, but it felt great, played great, and sounded fantastic (but that was with a '51 Nocaster bridge pickup and a mini-bucker in the neck). I bought it used and I felt like it was one hell of a Tele for the money. Here's a pic of it:
Here is mine, which I just sold in order to help pay for another guitar. It was a great guitar, I had the nut changed to bone, and the pots changed out, but it really ripped. I think I'm going to miss it.
I had a Strat, it looked great, played well and was really light but I never bonded with it and ended up trading it in on an R7 Les Paul. Here it is when I first bought it, a modest collection at the time. This is after I swapped everything to white.
I've got a LA strat... It was my main strat for a good 2 years until I got my wildwood 10. I still play it alot. The neck's killer, IMO... it's a light guitar, too, and the stock SD pups aren't that bad. Mine's all stock. Awsome for the money. The tele's are great, too! That said, I think I'm gonna' sell mine soon, in order to help fund another strat or tele
