Mexican Teles

HELLO, I own a Mexican Strat. I have a friend who has an American tele. He also owns a Mexican strat. As far as I am concerned (my friend agrees) the Mexican made instruments are every bit as good as the American ones, given the price difference. I suspect that there are subtle differences in the electronic components but I am not even sure about that. I have owned mine for over a year now and I love it. Go for the cheaper one, you won't regret it.

Busyguy0779
 
I have owned and played mex strats and am. strats. While I think the mex strats are very playable and gig worthy instruments...the American made ones are better quality. The Mexican strats pickups...while they sound pretty good, they are kind of chezzy. Pull one out of a guitar and taken off the plastic cover and look at it. The quality is not in the ball part of the pickups am strats are equipped with. The pots also tend to fail more on the mex strats than on the am. strats. While the necks are good on both, the am. strats usually have more choice rosewood for the fretboard....darker with a tighter grain. (even the squire necks feel good though.) The am. strats have better keys and a more expensive bridge/saddle setup. (though not necessarily better). The Mexican strats used to have poplar bodies but now they are alder. The American strats are probably one or 2 piece alder while the me strats are probably 3 or 4 piece alder. (I'm speculating on this...I haven't stripped down one of each to see.).
The frets are different. the mex. strats have standard frets while the am. strats have medium jumbo. Some like the standard frets while others, like me, prefer the medium jumbos. The American strats have better finish work on the frets than the mex ones.

I'm no Tele player and not as well versed on them as I am strats, but I suspect what is the case for strats you can ditto on teles.

I will say this though....
American and mexican strats and tele are much closer in quality than Epiphone Les Paul's and Gibson Les Pauls. In fact I think squires are closer to the quality of am fenders than episode are to their Gibson counterpaets
 
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I had an hour spare at the end of the day yesterday and ended up visiting a couple of shops so played on a bunch of Telecasters - Mexican ones, American "specials" - these are a step down from the standard but above the Mexicans. I also played on a 52 reissue.
1. They all sounded great.
2. The difference between the USA Special and the Mexican was apparent, just felt better in your hands and under your fingers - the USA also had a rosewood board as opposed to maple. I was a bit gutted about this - I was always telling myself that the USA made thing was just marketing bumph but the difference was obvious - nothing wrong with the Mexican ones really - just weren't as nice as the USA one.
3. The 52 reissue was horrible.

If I get one of these I need to make it fairly quick as our imperial credits are in freefall against your American War Dollars. When the shops re-stock they'll be going up in price.
 
I had a Roland ready Mexican Strat a few years ago.I'm not able to compare it to an American Strat, but compared to the Frankensteins I'm used to playing, this thing was world class.
 
Setup has a lot to do with how you respond to a guitar in the store. GC, a big box music retailer over here, is famous for the lousy setup on their floor models. You are left to guess how the guitar will feel if you buy it and do a proper setup. Some people like to claim to MIM or even Squiers are as nice as the American model. It isn't true as you discovered. But with a proper setup the MIM Fenders play well and are worth owning. But if you can swing the price tag for an MIA, you will never regret it. The 52 reissues are a different thing. I would love to own one, but don't expect the sleek feel and low action of the modern Fenders.
 
My neighbor is a scrapper/junk collector...whatever.A couple weeks ago he asked me to take a look at a bass he came across for $100. Turned out to be an early to mid 80s(that's as accurately as I was able to date from the serial#)cream colored American P-Bass.Other than 1 slightly buzzy note, the thing was immaculate.I wanted so badly to gyp him and tell him it wasn't worth shit,so I could buy it, but I don't roll that way.I told him my best guess it was worth 4 to 6 bills. He ended up getting $450. Some people have all the luck.
 
beezelbubba said:
My neighbor is a scrapper/junk collector...whatever.A couple weeks ago he asked me to take a look at a bass he came across for $100. Turned out to be an early to mid 80s(that's as accurately as I was able to date from the serial#)cream colored American P-Bass.Other than 1 slightly buzzy note, the thing was immaculate.I wanted so badly to gyp him and tell him it wasn't worth shit,so I could buy it, but I don't roll that way.I told him my best guess it was worth 4 to 6 bills. He ended up getting $450. Some people have all the luck.
Click to expand...

You could have told him "It's worth at least $200 and we t ahead and offered him that. You wouldn't have been lying....It IS worth at least $200.
You would have gotten and really good deal and he would have doubled his money.
win/win
 
jimistone said:
You could have told him "It's worth at least $200 and we t ahead and offered him that. You wouldn't have been lying....It IS worth at least $200.
You would have gotten and really good deal and he would have doubled his money.
win/win
Click to expand...
I'm too much of a schmuck!
 
Robus said:
Setup has a lot to do with how you respond to a guitar in the store. GC, a big box music retailer over here, is famous for the lousy setup on their floor models. You are left to guess how the guitar will feel if you buy it and do a proper setup. Some people like to claim to MIM or even Squiers are as nice as the American model. It isn't true as you discovered. But with a proper setup the MIM Fenders play well and are worth owning. But if you can swing the price tag for an MIA, you will never regret it. The 52 reissues are a different thing. I would love to own one, but don't expect the sleek feel and low action of the modern Fenders.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the 52 had a neck like a bat, little frets and really sticky lacquer on the neck. It also had that weird low pass filter on the neck pickup.

I totally get that people want to our a classic replica, I think those old blackguards look cool, but for me their just way to compromised when it comes to playability.
 
I actually dig the fat necks. Those low, vintage style frets make it harder to get a grip on the string for bending. Then there is the 7.something radius neck, which can cause notes to choke out when you bend up the neck. Then there are the vintage style saddles with compromised intonation, etc. None of that would really bother me though. It would push me to toward a different style of playing, which is what I'm looking for when I get a new guitar. But man, that sticky lacquer! Who thought that was a good idea? I hear you can sand it to make it smoother.
 
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