American Strat or Mexican Strat? (Page 1 of 2)

NICE, my wife will go nuts if I can get what I want at a bargain price.

Did you get it on-line? or from a guitar shop?

In the MUSIC STORE they will tell you in 90% of the stores that an AMERICAN FENDER IS BETTER.
About the end of the production line: I've been in the GIBSON plant in MEMPHIS, a few skilled guitar players perform the ultimate test: playing every guitar of the production line. I suppose this happens to Fender too.
- Mexicans are cheaper workers AND THIS IS WHAT I NOTICE MOST IN THE ETERNAL RECURRING QUESTION ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE.
WOULD ANYBODY DISCUSS ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE IF A MEXICAN STRAT SHOULD BE MADE BY US CITIZENS WITH AN US SALARY, I don't think so. The price will go up with 200-300$.
- There is a difference between a stratocaster MIM and a Stratocaster MIM, just like in the USA.
A lot of people won't her much difference between a top Mexican Fender and a regular US Fender. Wherever you go to find a difference, you will find different opinions. ADVISE: go and look the reviews on www.musiciansfriend.com or www.zzounds.com
Some custom made fenders are made in Mexico.
ABOUT THE SINGLE COILS: I found Mexican fenders with the same coils as in an American Fender.
US Fender coils: magnetic poled alnico magnets (a mix of Aluminum, Nickel and Cobalt,)
TO SEE BOTH FENDERS NEXT TO EACH OTHER (US VERSUS MEXICO) here is a link
www.bothner.co.za/products/fender/mexvsus.shtml
There are too much Fenders, but on that site they compare very well the 2 Fenders

andros67,
22 vs. 21 frets doesn't mean that the neck is longer, just the fingerboard. The length that really matters is the distance between the nut (top of the guitar) and the bridge. On all (well most) Fenders, that length is 25.5" . Exactly half-way in between is the 12th fret. The position of the frets is calculated from a formula and the precision of the fret placement "makes or breaks" a good guitar (Check www.stewmac.com for a fret calculator). The frets cannot be closer together on a 22-fret guitar -or it would not play in tune across the fretboard. But when building a guitar, it might be possible to add a fret on the lower end of the fingerboard. This is done mainly for aesthetic reasons, because the guitar would need quite a deep cutout for the player to reach that fret and play it reliably.

Mexican or American Strat? Tuff question! I've got both and honestly I can tell the difference when I play them.  Quality control at Fender Mexico seems excellent. A few weeks ago, I played an American Highway One Strat -no good for this player. On the other hand, I don't think that Fender would compete against itself with equally well-made Strats from south of the border. Guess which guitar I take to bar gigs? The Mexican one. It's good enough for Rock'n Roll.

I've have a Mexican Strat that I've changed out the pickups and hotrodded...just absolutely love playing it... It currently has a set of Seymour Duncan pickups and sounds great! I keep hearing good things about the GFS pickups...

:::All the American stratocasters are good. Especially the Fender American Deluxe Strat Ash:::

I have a MIM classic 60's Strat that I paid £360 for, my mate has a US Strat that he paid £900 for. Both guitars have been professionally set up by my luthier. Can I tell the difference? Yes. Is it £540 worth of difference? Definately No. There is a lot of snobbery surrounding US and Mexican Strats that in my opinion has no justification whatsoever in fact.
I've played very good Mexican Strats and US Strats and crap Mexican and US Strats. In fact when I bought mine I tried it up against a number of US Strats and preferred my Mexican guitar.
Save your money, buy the Mexican guitar, fit a set of bare knuckle pups and you'll still be quids in.

Jerry

The difference in the USA, MIM and Squires are the "STANDARDS" to which they are built. Not the actual build quality of an individual guitar. With the custom USA's having the highest standards, and the Squires having the lowest. This is so Fender can offer a "strat" at multiple price points. With that said, it is possible for a Squire to be built as good as a MIM or a USA for that matter, its just not the norm. There are a lot of variables that come in to play. Wood for instance. Squire sources the cheapest basswood for the body. Thats right Squires are not made of alder. Fender Mexico uses alder for thier bodies but the grading is not as high as US. Fender Corona sets aside the best alder for thier custom guitars and uses the rest for thier American standard series. Although Mexico's "STANDARDS" are not as high as USA's they continually produce the best finishes. If you've ever held a Squire in one hand and a MIM or USA in the other you would know that they are two completely different guitars. By about three pounds. Taking all this into consideration, "Sound is Subjective". What sounds good to you may not sound good to others. This is why whenever someone asks on the forum "whats the best guitar?" everyone replies, "try as many as you can in your price range an let your ears decide". I've played a few Squires. The set-up is always unacceptable, but that can be adjusted. The neck always seems a little too fat for a strat. The tuners are always crap, they can be changed. The electrics are spotty, they can be changed also. BUT, they never sustain. You might as well be playing a Kramer. Good enough to learn on, but once you start thinking about tone, time to switch. MIM is probably the best value. Especially if you are a modder, or like to play out in smokey bars, spill your drink on your guitar, play places where your guitar might get stolen, or just generally don't take care of your equipment the best. There's really not much difference in tone. Thats not to say that you couldn't have a good looking, playing , sounding guitar from Mexico. USA is probably best for someone who wants a nice guitar that will hold or rise in value. Probably won't do any modifications to it. A collector. And the Squires.....Well I have a Squire that I got fo 50 bucks. I keep it under a welding table in the machine shop where sparks land on it and coolant from the machines sometimes gets on it. I don't care what it looks like. I play it at lunch through a Crate amp I found in the trash. The machines are running and I can't hear it so good anyway, so I don't care what it sounds like either.  I also have an American standard that sounds like butta. LIKE BUTTA I said!

I bought my grandson a white, new looking, Fender Squier Strat from a friend with a nice little practice amp with built-in effects - all for $150 U.S.
The guitar has a nice neck, low action, is super easy to fret and the pickups sound like Eric Clapton's Strat I heard on u-Tube. This is a nice guitar for a beginner. It is easy to play and sounds great. I haven't compared it with a $4,000 Strat but I think we got a good deal.
toots

There goes your rhythm section! Looking forward to seeing the Cas-o shredding vids!

i bought my mim in 1972. from the outset i wasnt completely happy with it....but i didnt know then that there were different standards!

the paint work is cracked (i put that down to constant gigging) and by the time i stopped using it, the fret board was worn behind the neck frets. and some of the frets themselves were worn. i never liked the sound i got, unless it was cranked right up through a marshall amp...which i hate cos they can only play dirty, i like to play clean occasionally!

i do like the shape of the neck though.

having said all that, i resisted buying a new fender for more than 10 years, using a crafter, that lost it's tune so easily, and just didnt feel right. eventually after searching for years, a telecaster was put in my hands, i decided i was in love before even strumming it. it was reassuringly heavy, the neck was a dream, it played like an angel and gave me that sound i've been looking for, for 30 years.

happiness is tele shaped.

i'm thinking now of getting a new neck put on my strat....any thoughts?

phill

Are there PRS freaks???
1) I have a custom/bird inlay
2) I have 3 different PRS EG models, made from 1991-1992, s-s-s, s-s-d and d-s-d
3)They play way better than a Fender, smooth, easy fretboard.