You kinda get what you pay for. The whammy bar is kinda crappy, but otherwise the pickups are great, and its a very light guitar. Great for rock and metal. Great starter guitar for sure, and it holds its own. If you're short on cash, this is a great deal for what you get.
I wouldn't gauge the strings too much, because as I said, the whammy bar setup is kinda crappy. The whole mechanism is held in by a few screws that are drilled straight into the wooden body, so too much tension could possibly rip the mechanism out, and then you're pretty much out of a guitar. I play in drop C# tuning and it seems to work well for 10-13 gauge strings, but I wouldn't go higher.





