I hate to be an elitist or anything....but...many guitars beat a strat. I'm not saying they're bad guitars....they're great guitars....but in terms of neck speed, and general playability, my opinion is that the Strat is inferior to quite a number of guitars.

It gets the job done for me though. granted I'm sooner to pick up a bass than a guitar but it's rather solid (as in durable).

the strat isn't the best thing fender invented. I like telecasters more (for some reason)

Nonsense. Before Steve Vai had an Ibanez, he was shredding on a Fender Strat.
In fact, alot of early Vai material is done on a Fender Strat. It was his first guitar. He played it in Zappa and right up to the Roth albums.
He also played Jacksons.

Yngwie had no problems playing fast on a Fender Strat. Blackmore and Uli ROth also shredded on Fender Strats,

There is no comparison between a 62 Fender Strat and an Ibanez, sorry..it's all in how you set up the guitar.

you're not being an elitist by saying a guitar is inferior to another. you're an elitist if you believe you are above other people, not when your opinion differs with a guitar.

Many people choose Strats because of it's simplicity, it may lack all these cool features other brands have, but people just like the way it sounds... It has a unique "nasty" sound, which is why it's so popular among punk and hard rock bands.

I'm all for Gibsons myself (wish I actually f*cking had one), my favorite guitar has to be the Gibson ES-175.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...175-guitar.jpg

Steve Howe's weapon of choice, and a beautiful, beautiful tone overall, It's also argubly the best Jazz guitar there is... Of course this is off topic for a thread about shredding, but it would be awesome to hear Steve Vai try out one of these babies.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/img/enter...404_aussie.jpg

I think Chris from the Living End uses that guitar. Though... I can see differences, But what would I know, I don't know jack about guitars

Here's a picture of my collection (minus my acoustic). These, in my opinion, are shredders.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d8...collection.jpg