American strat vs Mexican strat

It's as if Fender goes out of it's way to make the Mexican strat crappy. Does it really cost more to manufacture good pickups? Probably not.

I play an American strat and I love the sound, sustain, tone, flexibility. Another guy in my band has a mexican strat and it sounds tinny, thin-without tone-utterly disgusting when directly compared to my ax (he's the singer-doesn't know any better).

I agree with some previous posters that said they would not pay a lot for an American strat. I got mine for around $600.
 
they're talking about fender guitars not squire...and for 100 dollars you cant expect a good bridge, pickups, tuners, frets, neck and body, which is why you get crappy plywood
 
I actually had a nice mexi strat I picked up used for 200 bucks... It played well (after I set it up and polished out the frets) and sounded great... I ended up trading it for an amp :(

I've since purchased a 50th Ann. strat.....it was $1300.00 bucks, but played like a dream right off of the rack........unlike all of the other MIA's I had played (About 50 of them....I was on a "Strat Quest"...)

I'd still like to get a nice MIM strat, but I've not been able to find a decent one as of late.........wish I could by my old one back...

Rick
 
Old thread about something timeless

OK this is a very old thread but the subject is as valid as ever. Although Japanese strats were not mentioned, I think it is very relevant to mention them for the following reason. In about 1985, Japan bought the Fender guitar company. One of the conditions was that a new USA Fender guitar company could be set up, but this took years because not only did the Japanese buy the designs, specifications, and the name, they practically moved the factory to Japan. All the old tools that were used to make the classic strats, teles etc left the USA. Japanese Fenders were made with the same materials to the same specifications and by the same methods as the vintage Fenders. The new USA Fenders were not.

So the Japanese purchase is pertinent to the thread because it shows that American Strats are not one category of guitar.

Fender USA built 2 factories 30 miles apart with the Mexican border between them. You can make all the parts in Mexico, 40% assemble the guitar in Mexico, drive it over the border, have other Mexicans finish putting it together, send it BACK to Mexico for painting, bring it back again to the USA, and call it an American Strat. But is it?

The new company exports American jobs rather than pay decent wages, exploits a loophole in environment protection laws rather than spend on filters, uses mass production techniques to stamp out guitar bodies like biscuits, and then appeals to your patriotism.

Why not get a local guitar builder to hand make you a Strat style guitar with your name on it?
 
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DropD said:
I was browsing through Fender's website, I noticed that an American Strat is more than twice the price of a Mexican Strat. What is the difference between two? I can understand that the American model is probably better built, but we're talking 1500$ vs 650$ here (for a Deluxe Fat Strat). Is the Mexican strat an American Strat at a bargain, or is the American Strat really worth such an expense?
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No bif diff except as noted:
Body, neck,tuners,bridge,pickups,pickguard,nut,frets,workmanship and stock stickers.

The rest is the same.
 
Viking said:
SCREW FENDER (CBS) BUY A G&L!!!!!!!!!!

G&L guitars are GOD! And they are reasonably priced for the wares. I would say that they are closer to a vintage strat than any american standard made since about 70'. And they play better.

Viking_______________________________________
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Yeah Right! Their floating Bridges are the shits, they stick up and get the way and their pickups sound way too sterile. If you are buying a G&L their tele repros are good but their strat copy is not even close to a USA Fender Strat.
 
johnfingers said:
OK this is a very old thread but the subject is as valid as ever. Although Japanese strats were not mentioned, I think it is very relevant to mention them for the following reason. In about 1985, Japan bought the Fender guitar company. One of the conditions was that a new USA Fender guitar company could be set up, but this took years because not only did the Japanese buy the designs, specifications, and the name, they practically moved the factory to Japan. All the old tools that were used to make the classic strats, teles etc left the USA. Japanese Fenders were made with the same materials to the same specifications and by the same methods as the vintage Fenders. The new USA Fenders were not.

So the Japanese purchase is pertinent to the thread because it shows that American Strats are not one category of guitar.

Fender USA built 2 factories 30 miles apart with the Mexican border between them. You can make all the parts in Mexico, 40% assemble the guitar in Mexico, drive it over the border, have other Mexicans finish putting it together, send it BACK to Mexico for painting, bring it back again to the USA, and call it an American Strat. But is it?

The new company exports American jobs rather than pay decent wages, exploits a loophole in environment protection laws rather than spend on filters, uses mass production techniques to stamp out guitar bodies like biscuits, and then appeals to your patriotism.

Why not get a local guitar builder to hand make you a Strat style guitar with your name on it?
Click to expand...

This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. The Japanese did not buy out Fender in 1985 and they do not own Fender USA today. In 1985 a group of CBS Fender employees bought out Fender with the help of investors. Fender Japan was started earlier in 1982 and is really nothing more than a license agreement with several Japanese guitar manufacturing companies - that make several brands besides Fender.

As far as manufacturing processes are concerned: Fender does NOT make all of their parts in Mexico and ship them to the USA to be assembled like you say. All USA guitars have bodies and necks made in the USA.

Fender Mexico only makes bodies NOT necks. All Mexican necks are actually made in the USA and shipped to Mexico to be painted and assembled with Mexican bodies.

As far as Mex and USA electronics are concerned, US model pickups are sometimes found on Japanese and Mexican guitars depending on the model, but generally inferior pickups are found on these guitars. Switches and pots on Mexican and Japanese Fenders are generally much cheaper than their American counterparts.

Hardware is a real mixed bag. Mexican standard Stratocaster bridges have 2 1/16 screw and string spacings and only fit mexican standard bodies. Mexican 50's 60's reissues and USA Highway 1 strats have 2 3/16 screw spacings and 2 1/16 string spacings with zinc blocks. They'll fit USA 57 and 62 reissues but they sound like crap. Japanese Strats mostly have 2 3/16 string and screw spacings with the inferior zinc blocks. USA 62 and 57 reissues have 2 3/16 string and screw spacings with steel blocks. One or two Mexican models use the correct American reissue bridge with the steel block.

Reissue Kluson style Fender tuners are a mixed bag as well. I believe they're all made in Japan but use either metric or imperial standards. The ones that say Japan on the back and are found on Fender guitars are superior to the ones found on American Fender guitars IMO. Various after-market Klusons exist as well. The originals of course, are total garbage.
 
If you're going to get a Mexican strat, I would look at the Jimmie Vaughan Tex-Mex stats that are built in Mexico. They are excellent and have incredible necks.
 
On a sort of related note, I bought a Mexican Tele yesterday at a flea market for $130. I’m a bass player and I wanted a cheap Electric guitar to write songs with. Not a bad deal in my opinion. It has decent string action and good tone for my purposes.
 
First of all I would buy used and let somebody else take the "dirving it off the parking lot" hit of the value.
A used american strat is worth $450 and a used MIM strat is worth $200...I don't care if you bought it this morning...that's what it is worth when you get it home.

If I were going to spend $400 on a strat, I would buy a used american strat before I spent it on a brand new MIM strat
Why?
Because, on a MIM strat you will want to upgrade the pickups ...$150
You will want to upgrade the electronics...$50
You will want to upgrade the keys...$70

Thats about $270

If you buy the MIM strat used it will run about $200...so, with the $270 in upgrades you're looking at $470 cost on the guitar.

Even after doing all this you'll have a guitar that you could sell for $200.

On top of that it has cheaper wood and craftmanship, a chezzy assed trem block, and a thick poly paint job that IMO sucks.

You could take the same $470 and buy an american strat that already has the good pickups, the good electronics, the good keys, a steel tremblock, the good wood, and a quality paint job.

Not to mention THAT guitar would always be worth the $470 you invested in it and possibly quite a bit more in the future.

You can apply this same formula for upgrading to brand new guitars also.

In other words you will end up spending close to $300 bucks to get a MIM strat close to an american...but no matter what you do to it ...it's a $200 guitar when the dust settles.

My 2 cents
 
FWIW I have 4 Fenders knocking around here. 3 Made in USA, 1 MIM. The only one I've had shit with is the MIM. Even when I got a replacement from the shop, the nut was chipped. Not a massive deal but still, the nuts on the others are just fine.
 
Seems we got a lot of stuff made out of the country nowadays... It's sad but true, can't hardly buy anything all American made, but IF I can I will, cars, trucks etc included, but that's just me and its a challenge.

What I am seeing here about MIM Strats is, you buy one, take it home, completely dissassemble the guitar, throw away all the cheap stuff and put USA quality stuff back in it...or just settle for the fact it is what it is and play the guitar. I don't think there is anything more humbling than saying you own a Japanese, Chinese, or Mexican guitar. jmo

I bought my last "new" guitar in 1987, a PRS Custom 24 for $1100 smackers, alot of money at the time, run and duck from the wife. But its value has increased.

So, depending on what you are going to do with the Strat, makes a difference in what you should buy. I went to more than a dozen music stores before I found my PRS, suggest you do the same, play 'em all.
 
foo said:
Better pickups, better tuners, better frets, better fret job, better wood, better paint job, better bridge, better elctronics, better assembly, better case, better resale value, better get the American Strat!

foo

[This message has been edited by foo (edited 01-02-2000).]
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All of that is, more or less, true. Frankly though, I think that the one which is of the most value is the resale issue.

The other thing, though, is that with an American, you get a complete guitar, and all it will need to play and sound great is a setup. (ALWAYS expect to need to get a brand new factory instrument setup - it will need it.) With any of the Asian or Mexican ones, you will need to get ALL of the electronics replaced to get a really useful instrument, and I'd want to replace at very least the bridge. Also, the American made ones tend to be of more consistent quality.

In the end, though, if you can get exactly what you want in the American made stuff, go for it. It will probably end up costing about the same as getting a cheaper one and upgrading everything. Maybe a little more, but not all THAT much more.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Oh, and if you don't care about resale value, don't buy a Fender. Get parts from USA Custom or Warmoth, and build your own.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Strats

I've read all of these posts and I am stunned at all of the replies. I have owned both Mexican and American Strats. I now own only a Mexican. Everyone always says that the American strats are far better made but you can't prove it by me! I sold my American strat because my Mexican played so much better. The American strats have a little bit better feel, and I mean a little. I have recorded both guitars side by side and I simply cannot hear any difference at all. The American strat probably will hold up better to abuse, but do you plan to abuse your guitar? I say buy Mexican first. You can always return for the American. Just my opinion. I don't care that musicians in the audience can tell by the headstock that it is Mexican. It sounds good.
 
chrisrouviere said:
I've read all of these posts and I am stunned at all of the replies. I have owned both Mexican and American Strats. I now own only a Mexican. Everyone always says that the American strats are far better made but you can't prove it by me! I sold my American strat because my Mexican played so much better. The American strats have a little bit better feel, and I mean a little. I have recorded both guitars side by side and I simply cannot hear any difference at all. The American strat probably will hold up better to abuse, but do you plan to abuse your guitar? I say buy Mexican first. You can always return for the American. Just my opinion. I don't care that musicians in the audience can tell by the headstock that it is Mexican. It sounds good.
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Um, dude, this thread originally dates from 2000, and hasn't had a new reply in almost a year. :lol:

Every once in a while you'll run across a truly exceptional Mexi strat, but a lot of the others are anywhere from decent to garbage. Every once in a while you'll find a US strat that's garbage, but most are pretty consistant, and some are absolutely amazing.

And yes, I plan on abusing my guitars when I buy them. I mean, I buy them to play them, and I don't want to have to think about babying a guitar while playing, you know?

Anyhow, the advice I've always given to anyone who wants a strat is to play everything in the store. Then, buy whichever particular guitar you played that felt "right" to you, regardless of model, color, origin, whatever. Nothing speaks to you? Find another store. Strats are weird, sometimes you just find the one, and that's it.
 
I'm planning on getting a Fender Strat DEC for Christmas. Does anyone have one?

Also I am getting a talkbox!
 
To give you my experience as a guitar player. NEVER buy any guitar unless you played it, and i mean that one not one like it. this tread is full of people rightly saying that fenders are variable, americans are more likely to be good but if you find a good mexican, japanese or even korean one buy it or look for a better one, personally i play a aria stg 004-7 strat copy. It is good, has an alder body and i've never played a standard strat better than it, mainly because they don't have humbuckers and the weak sound you get from a single coil just doesn't cut it for me.

I have played really good strat copies, the most important thing for me is the build quality first.
Second the material the body and neck are made of, alder is good mahogany is good too, most ibanez's are made of basswood which i like too, forget about anything else its probably bollocks. (have one made of plywood, eek, the lack of sustain scares me!)

Everything else either doen't matter or it is interchangable.

The bottom line is if you haven't played the guitar assume it's rubbish. Trust me i have played many other stg 004's (not the -7, i have never even seen another one) and they have all been a pile of crap.
 
a good Fender Factory link


Rough guitar necks and bodies are shipped from the Corona factory to be sanded, painted and assembled. Amplifiers are assembled and completed with circuit boards and metal chassis that are manufactured in the Corona Factory.

http://www.guitarstop.com/tour/guitar.htm

I agree you gotta play them, there's so many flavors to choose form.
 
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