Here are some pictures.
Description first....
My Stratocaster styled guitars: From left to right, based on purchase price, the most expensive on the far left is a Carvin Bolt C, Black Limba body topped with flamed maple. Heavier than the rest but has a great tone similar to mahogany. Birdseye maple fretboard, medium jumbo stainless steel frets, 14inch neck radius, tung oiled maple/walnut neck. Sustain for days. Also my main axe in this category. Out of pocket (Custom order) was around $2,100. The teal green one next to it is a Bolt C I bought used on Ebay. Loved it so much I bought the Moss green one next to it. Paid around $750 and was worth every penny. Has a beautiful birdseye maple fretboard, medium jumbo stainless steel frets on a 10inch radius. Quilted maple over alder body. Gloss finished maple/walnut neck. Order cost would have been about the same as the moss green one, probably in the range of $1500 to $1800 at the time it was made. Has great sustain and has more of a strat tone to it. Both guitars are sporting Seymour Duncan pickups, Installed the "Every thing Axe" set in the teal guitar, opted for something different in the moss green. All of those pickups are the '78 bridge model. Yeah, bridge pickups in the neck and middle, may sound out of place but they sound great on that guitar in those locations. My very first Fender guitar (bought it after the Carvin guitars), MIM Dave Murray Stratocaster, paid $1024 but also bought an SKB case for it. Compound radius neck, fretboard looks more like Pau Ferro than rosewood. Medium jumbo frets, classic tuners (can be a pain but they work just fine), Floyd Rose rests on the body and does not float like the other three. I much prefer a floating Floyd over the body block setup. Changed the neck and middle pickups as I felt the hot rails and JB jr were a bit muddy in those positions. Still like the hot rails in the bridge position. I did have to polish the frets fresh out of the box as they seemed a little rough. Smooth as glass now. Now for the focus of this post, on the right is the Squire contemporary active Stratocaster. Has a 12 inch radius neck, medium jumbo frets ( or close to it). I am impressed that they were crowned and dressed properly. Guitar did not require any fret polishing or removal of sprouts. Not a single sharp edge to be found. Tung oil finished solid maple neck. Flat black and slippery painted poplar body. Yeah, this guitar could easily slip out of your hands. Painted Floyd Rose bridge (not black nickel as I stated earlier). The guitar felt quite comfortable in my hands, sounded good unplugged and even better plugged in once it was in tune. Only change I made to it was the strings and spring tension. It plays just as good as the other guitars in the picture. Active electronics are really nice too. I have no complaints about this instrument to think of.
One last thing.... If you plan on getting one of these guitars to add to your collection or are on a budget and want a decent guitar to start off with, it will not fit the SBK case specifically design for a Fender Stratocaster. The reverse headstock is a bit larger than the traditional Fender Stratocaster. I have one of these cases and tried to see if it would fit, no go. I did get a $60 budget hard shell case for it that was meant as a universal style and it fits fine in that. Note the Squires do not come with the soft gig bag, that is ok as I am not overly fond of those. The Dave Murray signature model (MIM) Stratocaster did come with a gig bag. It is ok but I resolved that issue with the SKB case I bought to go with it.
Some more focus on the Squire: