Is there a difference between the Stratosphere and an OG stratosphere?

[Luckyduck]

They look the same to me, is this just a name some companies put on their Strat "OG" because of the Grandmaster Strat to help decipher between them?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Bumping your post!

 

[littlebigreef]

There's no honest difference.

Strats started disappearing from the US market in 2015/16 after indo shut down. they remained widely available in South East Asian markets. Once indo reopened wholesellers saw they were going for $2k pp and tightly controlled their flow back into the US market. The whole aurora/mystique was based 1) around their perceived value value in 2016 ($400pp - crazy at the time), 2) indo shutting down and 3) the fact people in the US cut frags into singles (and hence oblivion) chasing that $400pp pay day.

The truth is that few, if any strats, can be lineaged to stuff brought in pre-indo shutdown. The truth is also that it doesn't really matter as many of the ones imported in recent years are the same thing. If anything, given the number of yellow/purple/black indo zoas the "OG" designation, at best, separates Strats from Stratocasters and all of the unnamed 'near strains' that aren't quite strats.