I was wondering the same thing. Can someone suggest a good set of pickups?

the craftmanship on the MIM strats are fantastic.
from 2006 to present the body and neck constrution
on these strat rival most MIA strats. the MIM strats are
now cut from the same type of machines the MIA strats
are cut from. and the MIM strat uses the same alder woods
that most MIA's are useing. if you have a 2006 to present
MIM strat you have a well crafted guitar. also since 2006
i have read that more and more pro strat players are useing
the MIM standard strats. change the stock pu's to what you like
and you have a strat that will stand with any MIA strat.

OK, so how can I tell if I have a Mexican Made or USA Made Strat?

It's a '78, I believe, and originally had a six-pivot Trem system, that was replaced with a 2-pivot Fender Trem system in '91 or '92. String spacing at bridge is 2-1/16", 1-5/16" at nut. Serial # on headstock is S 927379. 3-bolt neck, ash (i believe) body. TIA

A friend of mine came up with a very quick, basic and frighteningly accurate assessment. Here it is:

"Question any guitar that comes to you in a gig bag"

The premise being that either a) the maker considers it of lesser quality, less in need of proper protection, and it's just plain cheap and this cuts cost even more...or b) the person you got it from was not into proper transportation and protection of the guitar.

Your further evidence on this theory will be that really great guitars come with really great cases. Guys?? This isn't hard. We keep knocking around the same old dumb questions, boys...and let's be honest with ourselves. Good instruments cost good money! I know one guy spent 3G on a boutique amp and then brags to me how he saved so much on his $500 MIM. He's a dumbass.

HaHa!! Very true Pete!

TY Mr Hopkins. You told me to be bold and keep talkin' plain and simple, so I let it fly! Fellas, Mr Hopkins is a professional player, and I'm a retired guitar tech. If you're gonna get some advice stay on this channel, OK?

We might be the Howard Stern of guitar forum contributors , but at least it's no BS!

ha ha how wrong you are. since i joined this forum i have noticed
that some of you on this site who think they know it all realy know
very little. i have a relative boys and girls who works for fender and
i'm not at liberty to say who i find the level of knowledge to be
very low here. the MIMS since 2006 have been compared to the
MIAS as far as craftmanship/construction. the MIMS are very well
construted. i would not suggest anyone to take most of these opinions
to hart. there not even close to being correct.

what kind of pickups are used in the american series? how are they "better" than the MIM's?

Call me a communist, but many Americans -are- greedy, over-payed, lazy, capitalist pigs. I live here in N. Ohio right between a struggling steel mill and a (now dead) Ford factory. I used to be a PC tech and used to do repairs at both and when I see guys sitting around for 6 hours out of an 8 hour shift playing cards or when I have to go out and install larger hard drives because someone ran out of room for their PC games....you get my point. More over, many of these folks make upwards of $20 to $30 an hour or more and if you try to make them actually work, the union cries "Strike!". I'm sorry my friend, but that's simply not right...in -ANY- country. I'm not saying that people shouldn't earn a "fair" wage for their skills, but very often in this country that concept is very much out of balance. The way I see it is instead of crying about loosing jobs and such to "cheap over-seas labor", maybe we Americans should re-evaluate our priorities so that we can compete. Honestly...do we really need a brand new car in the driveway every four years? Do we really need to spend $400,000 on a house when a $120,000 home will do? Personally I really don't like spending extra money just so that some company exec or CEO can spend 2-4 months a year down in the Bahamas. I'm sorry my friend but this is definitely a perspective issue...sure, some folks seem to think they can't live without that really expensive steak dinner once a week but some of us are happy when we can just get some hamburger occasionally.

To that I also must add that my wife and I do work very hard for our money and we don't like to waste it too frivolously. Very simply I find it hard to justify the differences between an MIM Strat and an Am Std...just because the Am Std is "made in the USA". Yes, there -are- differences, but the question in my mind is, do they really warrant as much as a $600 difference or more in that price tag? Everyone is welcome to their own opinion on this but in my mind the answer is a resounding No! Personally I don't care where the instrument was made or what under-payed, over-worked, heavily oppressed cheap labor force created it. I can't afford to spend that much extra money on something as blatantly silly as "American Pride"...give me the less expensive instrument and I'll spend the difference on an amp or effects or something else .

Now I do agree with you completely in regards to the neck. Let's face it, as long as it's a decent solid body, once you strip the paint off, one strat body feels pretty much like the rest. The neck however is at least part of what makes you want to wrap your hands around that instrument and start playing. I would also mention that the neck on my MIM is perhaps the single biggest reason I bought it! As I said before, it is the best neck I've ever had my hands around, bar none. I haven't played a new MIM in a few years so I suppose something there could have changed, but at least with my '96...I would honestly take that neck over anything out there today...Am Std or otherwise.

In the end, this is again all subjective...it's a taste and perception thing. I will say that I do honestly believe that if you "think" something like an Am Std is somehow "better" you will tend to believe it and/or find ways to support it. That said, I think that for a great many average players, once they put the blind fold on, they really wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference.

These are -strictly- my own personal opinions and should only be taken as such.

Peace,
Jim

I used to work at a guitar shop when the mim's first came out. The first ones were really awesome, the fender rep explained it to me that the wood all comes from the same pile (the necks). basically the hardware was what the 80's americans were, if you remember that's about the time they started with the wilkinson style trems and stuff like that. You will also notice that the wood in a mim may not be as dry as the americans, shrinkage often occurs so you have to dress the sides of the frets on a mim most of the time. but i'll tell you, i kinda like tinkering with my guitars anyway, so i'm not gonna spend $1000 - $1200 on a guitar and then take it all apart and start rebuilding it. That's exactly why I got rid of my American Standard Deluxe.

What are you saying ? Only your opinion is valid! Everyone has a right to express thier opinion on this forum . What makes yours better than anyone else? I respect yours and many others! Chill a little and don't take everything so personal my friend!

Lighten up Francis!

Seem like the MIM boys need to lighten up. No one is saying that a MIM is not a good guitar! They are always building them up to be the best and if someone has a different view they take it personal so maybe it's you who should lighten up! Son! BTW I don't even own an American Standard!

OK, so I'm new here. I just read the short history of Fender here, and found out they opened the Mexico factory in 1987? Also, a closer look at the headstock on my Strat revealed a "Made in U.S.A" under the Stratocaster® logo

oh yeah the serial #'s on mim always start with "MN"