Perhaps he should of just called his builder and had a blackstrat made up for himself.

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No no and no

I'm not sure why theres a ravalry over MIA and MIM. I'v played on lose of MIM's what have just been as good, maybe even better, than my American one. Same goes for American strats.
The only difference for me, is if you buy a Mexican strat, play it before you buy it.

[quote="JimmyGuitarist"]I'm not sure why theres a ravalry over MIA and MIM. I'v played on lose of MIM's what have just been as good, maybe even better, than my American one. Same goes for American strats.
The only difference for me, is if you buy a Mexican strat, play it before you buy it.[/quote
Mate i do that with every guitar.

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No no and no

I dont know, I just think that the 2 point bridge really really sucks. Though the ceramic pickups are really bad as well.

_________________
One of God's own prototypes. Too weird to live, too rare to die.

Fact: The neck on my 2008 MIA feels better than my 2007 MIM and there is much more sustain on the MIA. The maple on the backside of the neck on my MIA also doesn't have the ugly "freckle" marks my MIM has. There is a pretty obvious difference in wood quality that shows in the maple. The Nut on the Mexican also overhung (which I had to file down quite a bit after my wifes hand got snagged by it). The tremblock is heavier and of better quality on the MIA.

That's just off the top of my head. I paid $200 for the Mexican, and $970 for the American. Honestly, I enjoy playing them both equally. The Mexican still has that Strat feel I love. But side by side..there is no doubt the American is crafted better and composed of higher quality parts. Now is the difference worth the $770 I paid...

yes! The guitar sings!

no problems like that with my 2006 MIM STD.
shure i made some changes/pick ups/bridge change.
2006 was the year fender made the big changes on
the MIM strats, i cant complain on the craftmanship
3 piece alder body thats flawless, the neck is smooth
and the jumbo fretts have no rough edges. the whole idea
of the MIM strats is to give you a well quality crafted body and
neck and its up to you to make the changes to higher
quality parts such as pick ups and bridge. but as far as
the quality and cratmanship of the body and necks on
the MIM strats they match up very well to most MIA strats.

_________________
sombody get me a doctor!

To me it sounds like the guitar was more of a sentimental thing than the guitar itself being his favorite (ie the note written by his family).

Anyone who is still putting an argument that MIM's are equally good or better are straight up kidding themselves.

"....and all day we opened presents. My favorite was a white mexican stratocaster with a gold anodized scratchplate that Melia had seen me eyeing up in a local guitar store. On the back of the guitar she had written a lovely dedication, and all the girls signed thier name. It's the best present I ever got."

That clearly states why he loves the guitar

In all honesty, I wouldnt be surprised if he owns many of them- he has squidillions of cash, and a love for guitars- I wouldnt mind betting he has quite a collection, of both old and new

I wonder if he prefers MIM or MIA? kidding...

_________________

Well, as so controversially mentioned earlier on this thead, I saw him live the other day, and I couldn't help noticing his new pale blue Strat said Squier on the headstock.









And once again, that is a joke...

Cheers - C

Well, as so controversially mentioned earlier on this thead, I saw him live the other day, and I couldn't help noticing his new pale blue Strat said Squier on the headstock.[/quote]

I stand corrected- MIK

Note to all, we're kidding so please dont blow this one out of proportion








And once again, that is a joke...

Cheers - C[/quote]

_________________

clapton probably has at least 2 to 5 strats from each year that they were made up until 1983.

Then he has 10 or more for each year heh.

_________________
One of God's own prototypes. Too weird to live, too rare to die.

He did play the white one for a few songs at the Chicago Crossroads Fest. I don't know if it had been upgraded yet or not, but he did play it for a while.

i have a 2006 MIM standard strat. did some
changes to it and i would never sell it.
she a jem. also david gilmour own's 3
MIM standards so if there good enough for
him there good enough for me.

_________________
sombody get me a doctor!

I'd wish I had the good experiences of other MIM Strat owners...I just returned the Blackmore Signature Strat I got last week to Guitar Center.

And I'm a HUGE Ritchie Blackmore fan. Machine Head is the reason why I picked up the guitar back in the 70's and to this day I'm still playing his songs from that era.

So I waited three months for that guitar to arrive and had great expectations. But it just couldn't hold a candle to my MIA Malmsteen model. It was noticeably heavier, less resonant when not plugged in, the high E string buzzed when bent at every fret below the 12th position, the finish of the body had little "wavy" reflections compared to the mirror-like finish on the YJM, the contours of the body and headstock were irregular and the edges too rounded compared to any other Strat I've owned or seen. The bridge plate and saddles looked of considerably lower quality than those on the MIA guitar. Even with the scalloped neck, bending was "scratchy", definitely not as smooth as on the Malmsteen. The tone when unplugged was lacklustre and don't even get me started on the Seymour Duncan pickups that came with her. I paid $1200 for it so I guess it must be one of the top of the line guitars coming out of Mexico. It didn't even have a real guitar case, just one of those shameless gig bags. On the positive side, the guitar had perfect intonation and was really well put together.

But all in all, I wouldn't touch another MIM Strat if Ritchie Blackmore himself signed it for me and brought it to my house.

BTW, I don't mean to offend anyone here, I'm just very disappointed with this long-awaited guitar and with Fender for building the signature model of my favourite guitar player in Mexico. John Freaking Mayer's and Billy Corgan's models are MIA for crying out loud...