Can you hear a difference? I tried both the other day and couldn't tell them apart. Almost did one of those old coke/pepsi blind tests and failed.

I own both. The mexican guitar is very heavily modified, has suffered years of constant tweaking and tinkering by me. My American strats are relatively new and the cheapest of which was 5 times the cost of my MIM, so thats not a fair comparison.

Yes I notice a big difference between new MIM's and MIA's.

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No no and no

I have an '00 MIM lefty Strat and a 50th Ann. Strat,there is a big difference in the sound and feel.Even though the MIM was $1,400 cheaper there's no mistaking it's Strat sound but the 50th Ann. Strat has a much fuller tone,way more sustain,it just sounds bell-like when you hit a harmonic or us the 2nd or 4th pup selector setting.Either way they're both great guitars but one is much greater.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

I have an American Vintage 62 Hot Rod and I just picked up a MIM Classic 50's Strat. I have Dimarzio's in both guitars along with a Callaham bridge and block. And I'm gonna have wide/high frets installed in the Classic 50's Strat to facilitate bending.

Soundwise they are a bit different but at the same time very close. Both sound good. I really can't say that the Mexican does not sound as good because that's untrue. It just sounds a little different tonally than the Hot Rod 62 does.

I'm happy with both.

Yep.....huge difference in tone and playability between the two. The question that usually must be asked is : is it $700.00 "better"? To some (like me), the answer is a definite yes!!! But I am fortunate enough (and old enough) to have saved my pennies and was able to cough up the dough. I suspect that - even though most would not admit it, the difference in price has more to do with the "is it or isn't it better" than anything else. Because, to me, playing the two side by side without thinking about the money I spent, there is no comparison...like comparing a Corolla to a BMW...both great cars, but that's where the comparisons stop.

Nice post. There is a difference in my opinion as well. It's common sense. That's not to say there aren't some kick a-- MIM's out there. Every guitar is different.

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-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

There is only a difference in tone if you stick with the original pickups. The Americans have better sounding pickups. As far as playability goes I've played more than one Mexican neck which is equal to an American. You can play a Mexican neck just as easy as an American and if you want you can even have it refretting with whatever fretwire you so choose.

If a person upgrades the stock pickups and installs a Callaham bridge and block you have just upgraded two of the most important tone contributors to the guitar.

The reason many people buy Mexicans is because they like them better than the Americans or they intend to modify them anyway.

The differences between a Mexican Strat and an American Strat are not huge anymore but rather minor.

But if you mod the crap out of a higher end mexican strat , you probably put as much money into it as you would have if you bought an American.I have 3 American strats and the only mods I did was a new pickgard on the SRV and my Texas Special Fat strat I put a single coil in the bridge position and took out the humbucker .I did this because at the time, the only thing available was a HSS because they were discontinuing them.Very rarely do you hear of people modding their American strats.Very rarely do you hear of people not modding their MIM.Dont get me wrong, the MIM is a great value for the money.

Ahem...but there are people that mod their American Strats just like they mod their Mexican Strats. I for one. It doesn't matter whether I'm working with an American or Mexican I will tear out the stock pickups put in vertical humbuckers by Dimarzio. And after I heard how great the Callaham bridge/block sounds I always install that.

I've never had a high opinion of stock Strat pickups.

Most people like the stock pickups in the American Standard unless they are going more for a vintage vibe.And yes there are people who mod their American, but they are few and far between

I don't own a single MIM instrument but I do have a MIK Strat which has been heavily modified. The original pickups were garbage despite having Seymour Duncan's name on them. After trying 3 different pups on it I finally settled with the 4th set on Kinman Woodstocks. The neck does feel different than my American Strats. and the smaller (same as MIM) frets do affect tone while bending. I much prefer the MIA neck profiles and frets. I have never modified any MIA guitar except for aesthetic stuff like pick guards and knobs. They always seem quite fine from the factory.

My 2¢.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Here is my single (I promise) contribution to this debate...

I agree with 357mag. The gap between MIA and MIM becomes much smaller with a pickup change in the MIM. Much smaller...

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

How about the Classic player 60's MIM? It has '69 pickups. This is the one I tried out and it's excellent.

I'm sorry but I find the statement that there is little difference if you change the pickups, very ignorant. There is a world of difference in fretwork, paintwork, the nut, the saddle spacings (facilitating much easier finger picking). The fretwork on mexican guitars has been lacking to say the least, for a longtime. The nut is consequentaly left high cut to compensate. Its been that way since i bought my first in 95. The last one I bought was a Baja Tele, last year. It was exactly the same. Take the neck off the paintwork in the neckpocket is scrappy too. The bridge is slightly misaligned (a common fault on 1st year Baja's), the brass saddles were soft. It only took a month for the strings to wear grooves into the saddles. I had to grind em out.

Theres a world of difference, and thats coming from someone who only gigs with mexican fenders. I dont hate them or any of that rubbish, I see the differences as clear as day though.

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No no and no

Theres a reason the Mexicans are less expensive.Not that they are bad guitars, but if you spend time playing a MIA, you will feel the difference.And the farther up you go, the nicer the quality.I have a SRV strat and its nicer quality than my MIA strat.