Me too. Mine was the black one. Beautiful (the tinted neck is darker on the earlier VMs, is yours?) Quality. I'd actually put it up against the 70's Fender that Squier was looking to commemorate. The Seymour Duncans are great on these guitars. I've never felt they bastardized the sound of the original Stratocaster. They're simply quieter with regard to background noise. I now own 4 VM Strats. I'm sorry to see the line discontinued. By the way, one complaint on these guits was the trem arm not "fitting". I had the same prob but figured out they need to be threaded very carefully. Slowly, while adjusting the angle of entry. They'll thread.