Real difference b/w MIA/MIM Fenders

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nate_dennis

nate_dennis

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I'm trying to sell my strat to fund a hollowbody. I had an interested buyer. He asked if it was made in America. I told him, no, the parts were made in America but it was assembled in Mexico. (This is true of all Fender MIM stuff from what I am told.) He was not interested, not even in hearing it. Is there really that much of a difference QUALITY wise in the two or is this just a marketing thing? I know a lot of it is subjective, I'm just curious what you all think.
 
nate_dennis said:
I'm trying to sell my strat to fund a hollowbody. I had an interested buyer. He asked if it was made in America. I told him, no, the parts were made in America but it was assembled in Mexico. (This is true of all Fender MIM stuff from what I am told.) He was not interested, not even in hearing it. Is there really that much of a difference QUALITY wise in the two or is this just a marketing thing? I know a lot of it is subjective, I'm just curious what you all think.
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It's all subjective, but the selling price of a MIM Strat will usually be less than a MIA one. But really, the most important thing is full disclosure; post it as a MIM Strat up front and ask a fair price for what it is. There are plenty of folks who love MIM Strats.
 
Sure, I was honest and never marketed it as an MIA. But I just don't understand his logic. Is there really that much of a quality difference? I don't know, but I doubt it.
 
nate_dennis said:
Sure, I was honest and never marketed it as an MIA. But I just don't understand his logic. Is there really that much of a quality difference? I don't know, but I doubt it.
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Like I said, it's subjective, and logic probably had nothing to do with it. There are folks who actually prefer the MIM Strats over the MIA ones. I wasn't accusing you of trying to pass it off as a MIA Strat, but did you say that it was a MIM in your posting? Doing that might avoid the kind of experience you had with the guy who wasn't interested.
 
It doesn't matter if there is a difference, because if people didn't care Fender would quit making any in this country. When selling a Fender that is 100% need to know information, not because you think it plays as well as an American, but because the buyer is gonna wanna know if he is getting a smoking deal (or with my negative though process....something must be f'd) on an American, an over priced Mexican.
 
I was told that the electronics were made in Mexico......I guess that's not true.

I have a Mustang that was crafted in Japan, so it says on the neck, the pickups were terrible, wound on plastic bobbins, I don't remember any Made in USA fender pup's being wound on plastic bobbins.....
 
leaningpine said:
I was told that the electronics were made in Mexico......I guess that's not true.

I have a Mustang that was crafted in Japan, so it says on the neck, the pickups were terrible, wound on plastic bobbins, I don't remember any Made in USA fender pup's being wound on plastic bobbins.....
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A MIJ Mustang may be a worst case scenario. It's a budget version of a budget guitar.
 
I love the mustang, it was my first electric guitar, I had a 1973 competition model. They re-issued the 69 version in 2005 which is what I have, then a couple of years later they re-issued the 65 version.

For a student guitar you could do a hell of a lot with them, they can be great player guitars if they're set up right. I set mine up and I can bend the tremelo like a mad man and it stays in tune.
 
ggunn said:
A MIJ Mustang may be a worst case scenario. It's a budget version of a budget guitar.
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Hold your horses there pal. I've a MIJ Musang. I've also two MIA Strats and two MIA Teles, and one heavily modified MIM Tele. There is absolutely nothing, I repeat nothing, between the build quality of the MIAs and the MIJ. From what i've heard and from what I've played, the MIJ Fenders are top drawer.
 
nate_dennis said:
Sure, I was honest and never marketed it as an MIA. But I just don't understand his logic. Is there really that much of a quality difference? I don't know, but I doubt it.
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I think it's all down to quality control. In my experience, the MIAs get preferential treatment when it comes to set-up and cosmetic perfection (I imagine they also get a little special attention in-store). A few of my mates play great MIMs, but in my experience, for every great MIM Fender you play four or five sub-par guitars. A Yamaha Pacifica 412 - and possibly some of the 212s - will, in my opinion, outplay a MIM Fender any day of the week.

Just to add further credence to my point; I went looking for a MIM Jazzmaster/Jaguar some months back. I played four different models, and none of them played right. IIRC, three out of the four had neck issues (two had high frets and a third displayed a sticker of a repair shop where it had obviously undergone some work). The electronics in the fourth weren't working. In the end, I opted for a MIJ Mustang, which is fantastic. I also spent several hundred dollars getting my MIM Tele Deluxe up to scratch...it too plays pretty well now, but only after a good deal of work.

The last thing I'll say with regard to your situation is that while you should never buy a guitar without playing it first, you shouldn't turn down one without giving it a try. There are some really fantastic guitars out there whose sounds have nothing to do with the name on the headstock or country of origin.
 
TelePaul said:
Hold your horses there pal. I've a MIJ Musang. I've also two MIA Strats and two MIA Teles, and one heavily modified MIM Tele. There is absolutely nothing, I repeat nothing, between the build quality of the MIAs and the MIJ. From what i've heard and from what I've played, the MIJ Fenders are top drawer.
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No offense intended; didn't you see the "may" in what I posted? It was in response to the claim of substandard pickups on a MIJ Mustang someone else made. I was proposing a possible reason for it. I also said that I thought the differences were subjective.

Aren't the MIJ and MIM Fender less expensive than their MIA counterparts? That in itself is enough to convince some folks that they are a cut below the MIA instruments.
 
TelePaul said:
Hold your horses there pal. I've a MIJ Musang. I've also two MIA Strats and two MIA Teles, and one heavily modified MIM Tele. There is absolutely nothing, I repeat nothing, between the build quality of the MIAs and the MIJ. From what i've heard and from what I've played, the MIJ Fenders are top drawer.
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I do have to say that when I played the MIJ mustang, it felt like I was playing my 1973 Mustang. It had the same feel and was set up very nicely, I did have to adjust the tailpiece so it would stay in tune better but once that was done it felt very nice, If I had an original MIA Mustang and a Japanese Mustang I wouldn't be able to tell the difference, except in the knobs, the knobs are much smaller than the originals.
 
Just wanted to post that every MIM fender I've dealt with has terrible rush job wiring, poorer quality hardware and much less attention to detail than a MIA fender (with regards to the fretwork, pickguard fit, etc).

There's a reason why MIA fenders cost more, and it's because they use better wood, better parts and better workers and take more time on QA.

While the MIJ fenders are very good build wise, their pickups are largely terrible. A MIJ + new pickups (and wiring, they like to use those chinzy little pots) and you're almost at MIA territory IMO.
 
The big difference is that the MIA ones were made by the mexicans that were able to get across the border.
 
nate_dennis said:
I'm trying to sell my strat to fund a hollowbody. I had an interested buyer. He asked if it was made in America. I told him, no, the parts were made in America but it was assembled in Mexico. (This is true of all Fender MIM stuff from what I am told.) He was not interested, not even in hearing it. Is there really that much of a difference QUALITY wise in the two or is this just a marketing thing? I know a lot of it is subjective, I'm just curious what you all think.
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Well, a couple thoughts...

1.) In general, quality control DOES seem to be better on the American Fenders. You always hear stories about "that one MIM Fender" that just destroys everything else, but "good" American Strats are quite a bit more common than "good" Mexican ones.
2.) There are a few small, but potentially important, spec differences. The American strats have 22-fret necks, 2-point trems, and better pickups, for one, versus 6-point trems and 21-fret necks on the Mexican strats. For some people, that extra fret matters, and I definitely prefer 2-point trems, if nothing else because it's a heck of a lot easier to pull out the American Standard trem and pop a Wilkinson in in it's place. :D
3.) This may be the biggest - at the end of the day, this is an economic transaction, and the American guitars are simply worth more. They're more expensive new, and hold value on the secondhand market at a comparable ratio to the Mexicans. So, what would seem like a "good deal" for a thousand-dollar American strat used would suddenly be not so attractive at all for a Mexican. I don't know what you're selling it for, but if it's, say, $400, that'd be a steal for an American and quite a bit overpriced for a Mexican strat. This doesn't have as much to do with quality as it does with the fair market value of the guitars in question - the Americans are, for whatever reason, simply worth more.
 
Yesterday I picked up an American 60th Anniversary Strat in tobacco-burst w/rosewood for $750. Virtually unplayed it even came with a cheesy little Randall amp and a couple cables. I wouldn't have paid more than $300 for a Mexican. Not true. I wouldn't have bought a Mexican.


lou
 
Having both MIM and american standard fenders, I can definitely tell a difference between the two. The general playability of the MIAs are more to my liking as well as the tones they produce. Is MIA worth the extra $$$s over the MIM? It is to me as they allow me to get that little extra something out of my playing. That being said, my two MIM's (sambora strat, nashville tele) are fine playing instruments although I had to spend some $$$s to get the frets leveled and a new nut cut for the nashville to play right.

A few years back, there was a much more noticeable difference between the american and mexican standards, but fender has stepped up the MIMs. They now have better pups in them and have upgraded the neck profile and added larger frets to help close the gap.
 
if it was assembled in mexico from martian parts, it's still a MIM. Just admit that it is a MIM and price accordingly.

I have a mim p-bass. It's nice, I think. It was also like $230 used.

I have played alot of used mim strats and teles and I was surprised at how shitty some were.

That said, I wouldn't spring for the extra money to buy the mia. I would just probably keep looking and find a cheaper squier. I'm not paying a premium for a fender branded mim that plays as bad as a MIK or CIC squier.
 
Is there really that much of a quality difference?
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Yes, there is. It is quite discernable. Always prices reflect quality as well.
There's the old adage about Eric Clapton making cheap guitars sound good, but, I ain't no Eric Clapton!
I also wonder what Eric would think if he had to live with the MIM Strat day in and day out.
 
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