I hate Fenders. Personal opinion after playing guitar for over 9 years. But this is probably because I'm not a soloist. For that, I understand why lead solo would want a Fender...for that heavy twang and grind. But for what I play, I'll stick with my el-cheapo Epiphones. Love em to death. I have a 12 string acoustic, a $200 Les Paul Speciall II, and a used SG that I rewired with Seymour Duncans to single/dual switching. One of them needs to be moved to the LP though since they are both too bassy for the same guitar. Good for Blues though.
As a side note: I love my Washburn Acoustic 6 st. and my Fender acoustic/elec. 6 string. It's a T-Bucket. Best $300 I ever spent.
As another side note: If you want to pick up chicks--decent chicks (a little stereotyping probably--learn acoustic. A decent chick probably won't like a "shredder". It's why I never learned. No use for it. I have vocal talent and just needed an "aid" so to speak.
Okay. Here ends the preaching.
/guitar preaching.