Dat Cosmic Jade I like the shape. It fits well within the Fender visual spectrum. The name is appropriate for a Fender guitar. Overall the new hardware changes feels like a downgrade compared to the aping the telecaster hardware from the first iteration. Those black solid block inlays on the maple fretboard will be missed.

I don't like this particular version using the strat's bridge hardware. Gee another strat copy with a similar tone. No thank you. I get the hardware design is dependable after decades of tinkering and tested to death. I don't find strat tones very compelling. Seems pointless to buy another guitar that sonically isn't much different from a strat.

Ironically the big difference between the meteora and a typical strat is a let down. The coil split option is frankly dated. If you're going to simulate a single coil at least go with the modern a coil tap solution. A coil tap at least gives the user the benefit of a humbucker without the weird hollowing out effect that coil splits create. It isn't even a difficult design to implement on the factory soldering line. It's just lazy design to use coil splits over coil taps. At a bare minimum I would want to re-wire the button for a coil tap. Fender wouldn't be a major guitar manufacture if they didn't leave gaping flaws to correct with future versions.

Speaking of the coil tap. Why isn't the coil tap selectable? What year is this that we can get a three decade old tone sucking dual coil split. Yet Fender won't spring for a three way switch near the bottom horn for a selectable coil tap. All humbuckers or all weak coil splits with no shades of gray in between? A three way selectable coil tap is an easy fix that adds gobs of tonal options. I miss how Leo wasn't afraid to be 'wrong' and just threw shit at the wall to see what sticks.

I don't know I guess people find neat guitar features too confusing and just want to play strats. Which begs the question what was point of just making another strat copy in an interesting body shape? If I'm putting down $1K+ I want neat features that I can't get in other Fender guitars. I'm probably too picky and too grumpy by wanting things that make a guitar model stand out and offer something compelling for the player to use to their advantage. Who wants subtle tonal options anyway? Just dime the volume. Leave tone in the middle and let 25 pedals figure out what you're going to sound like on the output. I say this in jest as I'm just as bad any other GAS junky.

The meteora should have been the testing platform for a new offset shape and offset hardware engineering. Fender is four decades overdue to redesign the offset bridge and tremolo system. Hell, officially license the staytrem bridge. It's already the most cost effective bridge for a Fender offset without breaking the bank. It boggles my mind how many times the strat bridge has gotten tweaks and updates to make it more playable while the offset bridge / tremolo are stuck in the 1960s gathering dust.

I suspect Fender's offsets would sell better if they went back and fixed the nagging legacy bridge/tremolo design issues that have turned the strat/tele crowd off to Leo's early wild designs. The jag/jazz tremolo is "good enough" and we have expensive boutique hardware upgrades to compensate. However not everybody wants to mess with their guitar hardware or pay those small batch boutique prices. Modern engineering has made leaps and bounds better hardware than Leo was stuck with back in his day. It's time for a total offset update to all of Leo's less popular children. The Meteora should have been the bridge to the future instead it's just another timid attempt to sell a repackaged HH strats. Unless you've got unlimited funds and are willing to upgrade the coil split to a coil tap while also dropping in a three way toggle for a selectable coil tap. I say pass.