I bought a 2014 American Standard Stratocaster from GC and it came in the standard case. When I bought my AS Telecaster from a different dealer, it came in the molded ABS case. Big upgrade. When I asked the GC about it, they insisted that the Strat was in the case it shipped in. Looking on the website, the specs called for the ABS case. Later on, I saw one of the staff playing a gig with his frankenstrat Squire. He oulled it out of a nice new ABS case. That sort of thing makes me think that the staff at the local GC is skimming the goodies for theirselves.