24 fret mandatory?
You are pretty much exclusively looking at custom orders, short runs, or more obscure models. Most of them are going to be double locking too.
The Warmoth shit is actually great, but the lack of name cachet is off putting. I'll be the first to admit I think the Warmoth stuff I've had was great, but I'm not clamoring to go out and trade my fancy brand name guitars for their stuff.
Also, as a guy with an HS guitar he loves, don't bother with the shit with weird slant neck singles. The whole point of HS over HSS is having shit not in the way. Not only does the stuff with slant neck routes put it back to being sort of in the way, it looks ugly unless there is a matching angled end to the fretboard it is flush against.
Maverick shit is a huge no. Most people looking at those don't realize the vintage era Maverick stuff is its own fucked up body shape. It's a wonky super strat derivative.
There are loads of Jackson custom orders in that vein. You'll have to wait around though. Not that it's a problem. It's basically strictly aesthetic obviously, there's no functional advantage over an HSS over the nice feeling of paying a premium for something without shit you don't need in the way. There is no functional difference between an HS guitar and an HSS with the middle single dropped to a height where it is out of the way and disconnected. :lol: There are actually quite a few HS guitars out there that have the HSS form factor. The Blackmore signature strats have dummy middle singles.
