to a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge position, and two Duncan Vintage Rails in the middle and neck positions. I've found it to be a very versatile combination: the Hot Rails can sound huge and crunchy in the right situations with tons of sustain, almost more like a Les Paul than a Strat. The Vintage Rails has that classic ringing Strat tone with the "quack" in the middle/neck notch position, but without (to quote Nigel Tufnel of Spinal Tap) "all that muckity-muck" of hum and noise.
The one "classic" Strat tone this combination doesn't get is the bridge/middle notch position, as the Hot Rails sounds nothing at all like a single-coil pup...the tone is way too thick to get that clear, ringing sound. But then, I don't usually need that tone so I'm OK with it, and for my own purposes come close enough with the second notch position.
As far as other guitar suggestions: I've been pretty impressed lately with the Schecters I've played - they tend to have a great tone and feel wonderful, while being fairly affordable. I have their C/SH-12 hollowbody 12-string electric with a set neck and absolutely love it; others I've tried like their C-1 Classic are really nice as well.