I agree with Nick ... there is a big difference in quality between MIA's and MIM's ... that doesn't mean that you can't find a good MIM Strat .... but to discount the difference in workmanship would be giving the wrong advice. I've heard that many have found an excellent MIM, I just wasn't as lucky.....

A fender rep I met at GC last June claims that MIM Strats are closer to the quality of an American Strat than an Epiphone is to a Les Paul ..... I couldn't personally and experientially verify that claim that day though.

One last thing, I've seem many people satisfied with a MIM Strat or an Epiphone LP ... it really depends on your needs. GAS plays a big part too.
Cheers and Enjoy

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Member # 85477

"Remember"

I had both, but traded my MIM after I bought my new MIA.

I doubt there is one person here that would argue against this point. Everyone acknowledges there is a difference. However ... how large that difference is defined differently by each of us ... scored against (a) how particularly nice the particular MIM is and (b) our previous guitar experience.

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

I'd like to retract that statement I made about denial of difference being ignorant. That was not a good choice of words and doesnt accurately convey what I meant. I intended to say that the attitude of the their being no or little difference being thoughtless.

If you go buy a slab of alder and a length of maple. Then try and create a guitar out of those raw materials of a similar standard as a Usa strat. You'll see exactly what is required as far as attention to detail goes. Never mind fret, nut and bridge works/placement. Simply shaping the heel and its fall into the lower horn to a good standard requires more concentration and deliberation than any of those things.
I'm fully aware that such stuff is done by machine these days. However if you look at the numerous video's knocking around the internet, final shaping is done by hand. On bodies and necks. American guitars are consistently to a very high standard in these little noticed areas. Mexican guitars are superb at their price. I struggle to see how they build em for the money and in no way want to denegrate them.

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I picked up a MIM Classic 50's Strat and it looks to be made quite well. Nice grain pattern on the neck with a good looking finish. The tuners are very smooth. There is nothing wrong with the paint job on the body. The neck to body joint is nice and snug with no huge airspaces like you'll find on the Malmsteen Strat.

After my pickup and bridge and fret upgrade it should be extremely nice. Even if it was American made I would still be doing the same upgrades anyway.

Niki - I am sure most of us here are in violent agreement with you. Me - at least - for one ...

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

I find the fretwork on the MIMs to be lacking IMHO.The key word is consistancy.Like I said earlier, most of the MIAs were set up pretty good out of the box.Most of the MIMs, not so much. I bought 3 MIAs (including a SRV) and the inotation was spot on.The roadworns are supposedly THE top of the line MIMs and I have yet to find 1 that had a decent setup.Isnt the hardware on the MIMs still chrome plated steel?I tried a deluxe roadhouse the other day to compare it to my Texas Special strat since they were similar guitars and there was no comparison in playability .

If you know how to play the guitar you should be able to play a Mexican Strat just as well as an American. You got a neck with frets. There is nothing magical about an American neck. I'm not sure what you mean by this word playability.

And that statement says a lot about you. By that reckoning you should have a £4k tod krause selling for £400. How about a prs dragon2? £500?

Back to the original subject;
I find my mexican guitars do get played more. Simply because their always kicking around. My tele pretty much gets dragged everywhere with me. Consequently they become familiar tools, quickly. I cant tally the number of gigs my mexican strat has played. Its visited atleast 6 countries during its tours of duty and survived everything from baggage handlers to interpol. My american guitars tend to lounge in luxury and the nearest they come to damage is maybe a few sandwich crumbs. Currently the course of my job takes me away from home for the week, to different locations. Its always a mexican guitar that comes with me. I'd have to suppose that equates to a playability of there own.

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If you can't play a Mexican neck then why would you be able to play an American neck? Do you know how to play guitar in the first place? These differences that are being discussed are certainly not gonna turn someone who can play reasonably well into someone who sounds like they've never played an instrument before in their life.

If you play through a Marshall Haze which is made in India are you gonna say that you all of a sudden can't play because since the amp is made in India you can no longer fret a simple A chord? But if you play through a Marshall that's made in England all of a sudden you sound great?

Total bullshit.

Wasting your time Niki. These kind of threads always sooner or later come down to the same thing.

Your inability to appreciate the finer points of guitar making/playing really is showing your lack of experience. First off who said anything about american guitars making you play better. Not anyone to my knowledge. What you will notice with high end guitars is that some of the things you unknowingly compensate for with cheaper guitars you no longer do, after a while. You wont even realize it at the time it changes, its a very subtle change. You certainly wont be worrying about not being able to bend on vintage fretted 7.25"R necks like your always harking on about (a utterly preposterous notion that one is).

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Someone posted they felt there was a big difference in playability between an American and a Mexican. His words. Not mine. As far as radius goes most players will agree that a vintage radius is more difficult to bend on than a flatter more modern radius. Even Fender knows this.

Fender know there is a preference for flatter radius's, that sells guitars. Its nothing more than a trend that will have undoubtedly moved onto something else in a few years time. Just like callaham inertia blocks, or brass nut's, or 2 point trems, blocked trems giving more sustain. All them popular fallacies that are used to sell a product or used by someone trying to sell something to make it seem like they have some hidden knowledge. Ask yourself a question. Did all those strat players of the late 60's through to 78 perform their wild bends on a 9.5"R neck? Did Hendrix on the are you experienced album (the only one he exclusively used a strat on)? Did clapton on layla? Let me know when you get the answer.

What the hell has playability/comfort of an instrument got to do with personal ability at playing the thing? Theres another one you can ponder too. Hopefully you'll see the flaw in your ill informed arguments as you consider it.
The saying goes, "a bad workman blames his tools". The other half of that saying is that "a good workman praises his". Perspective is everything.

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When I use the word "playability" I mean like "it plays like butta".It has nothing to do with whether one can play or not.Obviously we can, thats why we are here.Ithink the poster knows this, so its a moot point.