Strat-alikes: Fret-King Corona Fluence, Fender american Professional stratocaster & Suhr Classic antique

Though PRS was heavily criticised for its Strat-derived Silver Sky, the truth is that the Fender Stratocaster-inspired market is already huge… and getting bigger. We pick out the main contenders

The release of PRS’s Silver Sky Strat-alike earlier this year resulted in a huge amount of debate that bordered on the hysterical. It seemed like every guitar player on the planet had an opinion on the right of PRS do such a blatant clone of someone else’s design. But as we also observed, companies ‘doing a Fender’ is far from new or rare and the history of the electric guitar is littered with lawsuits and cease and desist letters.

Today, it seems, that so long as you don’t directly copy the iconic headstock or, of course, steal the name ‘Strat’ or ‘Stratocaster’, it’s fair game, which has resulted in a huge choice at virtually every price point imaginable.

In the following feature we split the S-type market into three bands – sub £1,000, £1,000-£2,000 and £2,000-£3,000 – picking out our main choice S-type and highlight another six contenders to suit your pocket.