Mexican V USA Strats

[strat790]

A freind of mine has recently bought a MIM standard strat for less than £400. I was with him at the time and we tried tha USA standard as well. If anything the MIM was better!. I suppose a real pro could tell the difference but for amatauers like myself the difference another £500 would have made was miniscule. Is there a lot of snobbery when it comes to Strats? I have a USA 79 and a squier Jap Hank Marvin and to be honest I prefer the Squier, but overall I like the mexican best.

Has anyone else felt the same.

[Charlie Hall]

I have often thought that the price paid for a Fender is not a reliable indication of quality.
Regards,
Charlie

[shawbridge]

Hi Strat790
In my opinion the Mexican strat is incredible value for money, you get a lot of guitar for the price.
My own findings with live performance both on Mexican and USA the USA has had more of a fuller sound with better sustain /feedback eg on Gary Moor type numbers were the mexican had a thinner sound and lacked body.
This is only my opinion of course but i have found also that the Mexican strat can sometimes be muddy on some sounds were the USA strat tends to be more defimed.
Don't let this put you off, the Mexican strat is a good guitar and can cope with most strat type numbers after all it really does sound like a strat probs best on country type sounds.
cheers

[nivram]

I have a friend who swears by his MIM strat, sold his American one.
I know its all personal choice.
I have a MIM and also an American deluxe. There is better workmanship in the American one I think. I had to change the pups for the sound I wanted. All in All. it was a lot higher price and I'm not sure it was worth it as I am very happy with my MIM. I may change the pups on that as well. I do know that if I was to buy another strat I would probably go for the MIM a bargain at the price.

[ulfe]

Hi.

I'm have an Chris Reha strat made in mexico and this have fine qualite but I have an Amerika
made strat and this is better for make The Shadows sound

Regads

Ulf

[Amanda Hambidge]

Hi,

I had a bout of G.A.S. (waits for funny comments!) on my Birthday and took myself down to PMT where I picked up a Mexican Classic 50's Stratocaster, I bet you can't guess the colour!

It sounds good feels good so I'm happy for the price I paid!

Amanda

[kipper]

i think there is a feel good factor in this thread. i agree with what charlie says about higher price not reflecting higher quality, but when you have a genuine made in the usa fender stratocaster in in your hands it just feels better, ITS THE REAL THING. maybe its all in the mind
peter

[JohnJ]

I had a student who bought a Mex Strat a couple of years ago and although there was a big difference in the sound quality between it it and my usa 62 reissue i thought that it was good value for money although it had a bit of a problem coming back to tune when using the trem, i don't know whether all of them are like that

John

[Deleted]

Going off track I know but
I can only add to this thread by saying that ALL of my guitars including my Strat are made in Japan.

1989 Jap Strat modified with Seymour Duncan pickups, Eggle Trem system and Locking Sperzels and would you believe a black sparkling paint job, looks like a drum kit. Its also rewired for different pickup combinations.

Plays sounds and looks great.

George

[philbarker]

Although we have had threads on this theme before and I have been negative about the MIM, I have come to the conclusion that like most Strat models and everything else for that matter, you can get good ones and not so good ones. I bought my MIM online and was not impressed with it when it arrived. However, if you can try the MIM before buying and find one that really suits you then you can get good value for money.

[shadfan4]

Paid 360GBP for my Mex Classic Player 50`s and couldn't`t be more impressed with it. It gets used on the majority of my posts, with the Kinman equipped original US 76 strat used occasionally.

Mike.

[fenderbullits]

Hi All

I agree with most of the comments made here,my first strat was Mexican and I was very pleased with it.The sound was a bit thin though with the original pup's and I wound up changing them for a set of Seymour Duncans which made for a better sound in my opinion.The point I am trying to make is that I now own a USA Deluxe Strat purchased at a much higher price which to my mind has a higher quality finish but I have not had to make changes to it unlike the Mexican where the cost of the new pup's was quite high making the difference in price negligible.I do agree though that USA made Strats are very expensive but like an earlier comment they are the real thing .

regards

Martin

[93strat]

Hi All.
My Younger Brother has a MIM custom shop strat and I think alround that his had a better tone than the American strat that I once had.I now have a Jap strat and think that the Jap model is alot superior to both but I do prefer the MIM and MIJ to the American strat.
Cheers Alex