There you go then.
Even my new/old customshop guitar isnt 100% MIA by traditional british manufacture standards. Neither is my vintage hotrod. I suspect my early MIA blues jr is about as MIA as i am.

I wont loose any sleep over it. We british segregate everything in the nicest possible way. If a rover has a honda engine we know about it and freely admit, " the car was designed in japan, in fact the ashtray was made in Okinawa". Diversity is the key to flavour. Imagine if we only ate food from our nations, would i be bored. cabbage sprouts and beef every night, no thanks.

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No no and no

I have a highway one neck, in the back of the headstock it says MADE IN THE USA, so it is AMERICAN lol

boy i bet that torks the american standard lovers $@!.
to hear that most of the parts on that strat is also made
over sea's.

It does not matter were parts are made it is the quality
Sometime to get the quality you have to pay and companies no what they can get and in most cases there is a reason for that. Cost of parts time in takes for the extra labor on one over the other and so forth.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

what i have said many times.

Also when the original post said part Mexico he may have been meaning that parts used on the HWY1 are parts that are used on various MIM models being made. Not from Amer. models parts. I believe things like the single coils in the HSS HWY1 are the same single coils in the the MIM 70's Strat (part#0054594000) by maybe use off shelf parts from MIM's they save money. I never matched up all the parts.

_________________
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

I do not care if my guitar says MIM, MIA, CIJ/MIJ, or made in Indonesia. As long as it sounds and plays good, I will buy it. I love my Highway 1 Stratocaster. Good feel, good sound, nice looks, comfortable to sit/stand and play.

I played several series and several different individuals models within that series. The "one" I bought was better than the rest I played in my price range. I was out for a Fender Stratocaster, I played several Classic series', Highway 1's and MIM's and I got one, "the one" that spoke to me. Most of you know that feeling.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

After reading a couple of the responses here, I just have to toss my $.02 worth in.

A very big portion of this whole MIA vs MIM (or anything else) debate is simply based on nothing more than "pride". We like to think that things made here in the USA are some how better than something made else where and we certainly like to think that somehow our craftsmen are better....we like to think that -we- are better than others. As a Clevelander, I'm subject to this pathetic "home town" dribble all the time...A Cleveland Browns fan will walk around with stupid paint on their face throwing dog bones on the field barking "we're #1" even though the Browns haven't won a Superbowl in how freakin long??? No...wait...let's talk about the Tribe too! Very simply people like to take pride in where they are from and that some how that makes them "special"...unless of course you're just a dumb Pollock like me and then all bets are off! LOL!!!

As far as I'm concerned, this home town pride thing is completely lame...if someone can build it in mexico, over-seas or else where and they can build it equal too or better and build it cheaper, I'll buy it over something "USA" every time. I don't make enough money to waste on the arrogance of something stupid like pride.

Another part of the problem is that people either don't realize or simply don't like to acknowledge that we live in a global world market now a days. Virtually every household in this country has a TV or a microwave or a stereo or boom box or computer or -something- that was made outside the USA and/or was made with parts from outside the USA. If you are sitting there on a computer reading this off the internet, that device you viewing this on has parts in it that were made outside of this country! This is of course a GOOD thing...one planet, one people, one economy. Unfortunately there are a lot of fossils around who are going to fight this until the day they die and who are going to walk around stomping their feet saying "Buy American!".....even though they probably bought some Chinese made bath towels at Walmarts last week. The world's a changin' people...time to buck up campers and simply accept it.

So, is it "deceptive" of Fender to market something like the Highway 1 as "Made in the USA" even though it has parts made in Mexico (or elsewhere)? I think the question should be "Isn't it rather naive to assume that -EVERY LAST PIECE- would be made in the USA in this world we live in?". A great many people do know that the H1 has MIM parts...hell...even I knew that. Doesn't change the fact that their good instruments at all. It wouldn't surprise me for a moment if an Am Std actually had pots or parts of the pickups or something made over seas or if the pick guards or the tuners (someone said Shaller...a German company?) were out sourced. It's not a matter of deception per say as much as simply how manufacturing in a world market works now a days. If it didn't work that way we'd all be paying -A LOT- more for our precious toys. Sure...maybe there is a little bit of a marketing ploy there but if someone is really naive enough to actually believe that -everything- is made in the USA, then they probably have gotten what they deserve. Get over it.

As flplayer said, "if you find a guitar you love then grab it and don't let go". Probably the most intelligent reply I saw on this topic .

Sorry if this all came out sounding a little blunt, but it's just my opinion as always.

Peace,
Jim

Please forgive me here Jay but I'm going to take your statement apart piece by piece...I haven't even had my first cup of coffee yet (got woke up by a bill collector this morning) and that's the only way I can think about it.



"Implications"..."Implied"...."expectations"..."suggests"... Very different than "firmly stated as fact". If we're going to talk about the implications of marketing, let's take a look at a rather extreme case of it. Some time back there was a flare up of the battle between Coke and Pepsi and I believe it was Pepsi who ran ads that showed where a supply of Pepsi had been delivered to an old folks home and a suppy of Coke had been given to a college dorm or something (please forgive me for not remember the specifics of this ad...it was rather ludicrous). Of course the folks from the nursing home were out on the beach playing volley ball and dancing or something and the young college students were sitting around playing checkers. This certainly "implies" that by drinking Pepsi you would be more "youthful and vibrant". Now...do you really think for one moment that -ANYONE- really believed that? At the risk of sounding rude again, it seems to me that only a complete moron would have bought into that type of advertising tripe! LOL!!! People drink Pepsi (or Coke or Dr. Pepper...) because that's what they prefer...that's what tastes better to them.

The same is quite true of guitars...it's a subjective thing to begin with. Some folks prefer Gibsons, some like Rickenbackers, some like Fenders and some are happy with Jacksons...and so on. Gibson has certainly implied that their instruments are better than Fender and I'm sure that Fender has certainly implied the same. My point is, one must use a bit of common sense when things are "implied" or "suggested".

Beyond that, as I said before I really don't think that having "Made in the USA" on the headstock of a guitar implies that ALL of the parts were made in the USA...and it would really surprise me if they were. That just seems like it should be common sense.



Ok...not to sound rude here, but honestly....would you really want to see that logo, "Made in Mexico, but assembled in the USA" sprawled across the headstock of your guitar?



Again here a great many people do seem to know that parts of these instruments were MIM...I certainly did. I remember seeing it in some literature or something when the model first came out. I don't think Fender has been "secretive" with this information at all which is what you seem to be implying....that they are trying to somehow hide this information. Not being forth coming about otherwise irrelivant information and being deliberately secretive or evasive are two -very- different things. More over as I said earlier I think it's rather foolish to assume that -everything- would be made in America to begin with. Do you think every last component of an RCA or Zenith TV or a Ford or Chevy built automobile or a Kenmore or Whirlpool oven or refriderator or virtually anything else that has "components" is going to be built exclusively in the USA?

More over, even if mass produced products such as this did have every last component made in the USA, I think it's also fair to say that very few people would actually buy them because the prices would be astronomical. Yea, sure there are still a few neanderthals dragging their knuckles around who have the money and would spend it on such an item just because it was all "made exclusively in the USA" but the greater majority of people would not...and most large companies tend to cater to the masses, not the select few who have their American Pride wedged up their butts. For better or worse, again it is a global market and mass produced items (including guitars) are typically going to be made with parts obtained from the most inexpensive source possible (within given specifications and parameters)...that's simply how companies compete.

Let's look at it this way...say Fender, who obviously doesn't go out and chop down their own alder trees to build their guitars has a choice between 2 lumber companies from which to obtain their wood from. Now lets say that both companies are relatively equal...similar product (in regards to the quality of the wood) similar shipping and delivery costs, etc.. Now if company "A" can sell that wood at an average of $40 per body blank when purchased in mass quantities and company "B" charged an average of $60 for the same thing....dude...a a major manufacturer, which would you choose? Now let's assume that there's this company down in Mexico that can sell those body blanks in a very similar and consistent quality as the American wood for only $15 a piece....as a company owner are you really going to go with the $40 or $60 product??? It's not a personal issue, it's certainly not a matter of trying to deceive the customer...it's simply good business.



I do not mean that to be directly offensive to anyone particularly -but- I believe it to be quite true. If I were to buy even something like an Amish-made piece of furniture...from the Amish craftsman that built it, it still wouldn't surprise me to find out that the knobs or handles or casters were made outside of the USA. To clarify this though, to assume that every last componant of anything produced in this global market we live in was created exclusively in the USA in my opinion is extraordinaryly naive.



Full disclosure huh? Would you really buy a guitar that had stamped all over it, "The body and neck was crafted and painted in the USA, the bridge was made in Mexico, the tuners are of German origin, the pickups were made with wire from the USA but the plastic parts came from Taiwan, the pick guard screws...well...we found those in a box in the back room...." and on and on? Do you really think that an instrument such as that would sell very well? Again here your statements indicate that somehow you feel that Fender was being secretive about the origin about this instrument and the fact that so many people do know indicates the opposite is quite true.

More over if Fender is less than directly forthcoming about the nature of -all- it's parts, maybe it's simply because they think all of this is simply splitting hairs. If for example a bridge is made by a Fender plant down in Mexico and that bridge is made to Fender's exact specifications under Fender's quality control and direct supervision...why is it so wrong to think that this piece would probably be quite similar in materials and workmanship to an identical piece made here in the US?


Ok...I think this is perhaps a bit subjective. I'm 43 and yes, at one time I remember that guitars made by someone other than Fender for example that came out of Japan, were typically junk. On the other hand, Kramer for example was a US company and they made A LOT of junk back in the early 80's. Fender guitars however that have been made in Japan, Indonesia and today even China are typically very good instruments (for their price). Why? Because they are made to Fender's exact specifications under Fender's supervision. Beyond that I would also have to say that the FMIC that we know today is a very different company than the one we knew in the 70's and 80's...I think it's a very unfair comparison to equate an instrument that's made over-seas now with one that was made over-seas in the 70's when it was a different company and a very different world market.


I also have to add here that I don't ever remember seeing a "new" guitar back in the 70's or 80's that was made somewhere over-seas that went for the same price as an Am Std or even an MIM. Most of those brands such as Lotus, Memphis, Cort, Takai and others were "inferior" instruments because they were cheap guitars to begin with. IF you are only paying $100 for a guitar, regardless of -where- it was made, it's not going to perform as well as a $500 or $1000 instrument...period. It's "unfair" to say such and such is crap though just because it was "made in Japan (China, Taiwan, Indonesia, etc). In other words, you have to compare apples to apples here.



Again see my comments directly above. Beyond that, as soooo many people are fond of saying, "you get what you pay for". If you only spend $100 or $150 on an instrument that was made in Korea and you expect said instrument to perform like a $1000 instrument made in the USA or elsewhere...at the risk of being "insulting" again, you're a fool.



Ok...not to be rude, but now I just feel like we're beating a dead horse. While perhaps a bit unrealistic, I don't think that it's unfair at all for people to apply a little "common sense". I would also add that I think "learning from history" and "being stuck in the past" are two VERY different things. Personally I don't like to live in the past. I know the world has changed and will keep changing. When I go to look at a new instrument (or amp or TV or car or computer....) I simply look at the quality of that specific piece and my purchase decision is not specifically ruled by where the item...or parts of the item...may be been manufactured.

More over I also feel the need to point out that my "Crafted in China" Squire Standard Strat is an excellent instrument. If that exact same guitar had of been made "exclusively" in the USA with every last screw and washer being made here in the US, it would, without a doubt cost considerably more for the exact same instrument. Had that of been the case, I would -NOT- have bought it. There is nothing "inferior" about this guitar at all but because of where it was made and the cost that that plant was able to produce it at, I was able to add a wonderful instrument to my collection. The point is that there -are- people here (perhaps you are one of them?) that would look at this guitar, see the "Squire" logo or the words "Crafted in China", make some sort of guttural noise, think it was a "cheap piece of Chinese crap"...perhaps because it wasn't made in the USA, and NEVER would have played that guitar....all based on their "perception" that something built over-seas and not in the US must be cheap and inferior. Because I'm more open minded and actually played the instrument, I was more than happy to bring such a fine instrument home with me...and I certainly salute the Chinese folks who crafted it.

Lastly, I would again reiterate what flplayer said..."if you find a guitar you love then grab it and don't let go". If "American Pride" or living in the past is somehow more important to you than playing an otherwise wonderful instrument that may have parts from or have been made by another country...that's of course your choice. But it is my opinion that you are not only short changing yourself but that you are also doing others a dis-service with the hair splitting and the nit picking here over issues such as "full disclosure" and/or where any given component of an otherwise excellent instrument such as the H1's were made.



And thank you for yours.

Peace,
Jim

WOW I thought I reading Tolstoy's War and Peace for a moment there

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these posts! Very informative in several ways!

Has not been to much Sniper Fire to cause duck and cover mode.

_________________
The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson