Nicely Said. I love my MIM 57 Reissue. It has a Carona neck and 3 piece body, sounds great, and plays better than my 86 MIJ Squire Strat (http://www.x31.net/strat/strat.jpg), and my 77 MIA. I thought about it when i was buying it... looking at the words Made in Mexico, but i couldnt deny how well it played. It was a 2001 model i picked up this year, dont know if that had anything to do with it because i have no idea what the difference is between 2001 or a 2006 or prior. Either way, I've rarely had a guitar where my fingers feel so light on the fretboard. This MIM 57 Reissue is just that. Cant speak for the standard models, never played one.

This is my first post, but I had to say something because I just got my new MIM standard Stratocaster yesterday and it is incredible. I can't believe how far the Mexican factory has come.

I have some perspective on this as I also have a 1995 MIM Telecaster. It's one of the rare "Squier Series" guitars (black Fender logo) that were the precursor to the Asian Squier line. From what I've learned in my research, while Fender was getting their Indonesian factory ready to build Squiers, they built these low-end Squier Series guitars in Mexico using MIA necks and bodies and Asian-sourced hardware. In fact, the hardware was the only difference between the Squier Series and the Standard Series.

Anyway, the build quality of my new Strat is so far ahead of my Tele it's not even funny. Take the neck, for example. The neck on my Strat (all maple) has a beautiful satin finish and the frets are well finished and buzz free. My Tele's maple neck, on the other hand, has a thick finish, sharp fret ends and tooling marks on the fretboard. None impedes playing (the tooling marks give it character, I think) but if I run my fingertips along the edge I'd end up scratched to hell. There's also some buzz when I bend on higher frets, but again, not enough to make me want to get the frets fixed.

The hardware is another area where my new Strat is worlds ahead. The Tele's top-load bridge, weak tuners and slightly thin pickups are magnified by the high quality hardware on the Strat.

I'm not here to put down my Tele, which I love. In fact, I thought it was a pretty good guitar until I brought home my new Strat and really saw the difference. Granted, my Tele was built as a budget guitar, but the fact that I paid almost exactly the same for both but 13 years apart says something (the Tele was actually more expensive in inflation-adjusted dollars). I just want to let anyone who may not totally trust MIM Fenders know how far they've come. I wouldn't hesitate in the least to buy another MIM Fender. Hell, I have two already.

Welcome to the Forum (cygnus) glad to have on board. You also have to remember that the have been making Fender Squier's since 1983 well before Mexico production. They started with MIJ in the 80's and they are very nice guitars then since the late 80's various models have been made in Korea , China, Mexico I am not aware of any bodies and necks being made in the U.S. then sent to Mexico to be assembled though.

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Thomas Jefferson

It could be that my facts are wrong. I was all over the Web trying to find out about the Squier Series that I don't know where I got that from. I know I found some info from a real book (Google books scan). I know my guitar isn't really a Squier, as it has the Fender name on it. "Squier Series" is written where the Contour Body logo usually is on Strats. The part about them being pre-Indonesian-Squier budget guitars is true, but the MIA neck and body could be disputed unless I find my source.