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Post subject: mexican neck vs american neck
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:33 am
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Me and my friend got into a debut last night. He was asking me why i would spend 1000+ dollars on a guitar. (He has a mexican strat). I told him it was just about feel and he laughed. He said most things are the same. I told him the american strats have better worksmanship towards the neck/ fretboard and he laughed again. Do the american strats have more time put into the neck/fretboard?

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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:58 am
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I've honestly met a few people who have been doing this for over 40 years...and they laugh at the thought of American vs. Mexican.

I believe the factory in CA. is about 65 miles from the one in Mexico. I've also heard a ton of times that the body of an American may be made in CA...but it's painted and prepped in Mexico. Honestly according to labeling laws (which I deal with on a daily basis...) the product doens't have to be completly made in the USA to be sold as " American Made ".

The same thing goes with food and drinks. The FDA has a ton of loopy laws that benefit anyone who feels like simply twisting words.

I believe the Custom Shop Fenders are completely 100% made in CA.


I'm sure there are a ton of people with more insight...I've only had my guitar for a week...


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Post subject: Re: mexican neck vs american neck
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 11:09 am
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stratguy740 wrote:
Me and my friend got into a debut last night. He was asking me why i would spend 1000+ dollars on a guitar. (He has a mexican strat). I told him it was just about feel and he laughed. He said most things are the same. I told him the american strats have better worksmanship towards the neck/ fretboard and he laughed again. Do the american strats have more time put into the neck/fretboard?


Confining my comments to the necks: One more fret, a fancier (yet not necessarily better) truss rod system and a curved fingerboard edge on the some American models are the chief differences. In terms of outright time to make either neck, the difference would be marginal if any. Be it American or Mexican, the wood is of the same quality, the CNC machines which form the necks are the same, the QC standards for Fender production at large are the same and that obviously include workmanship standards. To this day, I still challenge anyone to prove otherwise instead of blindly regurgitating some second hand and beyond, "Infallible Web Dogma" about how any Mexican neck is truly inferior to an American one. Oh, and FWIW, I've been playing Strats pretty much exclusively for 43 years now and by choice, my #1 is a MIM Strat.

YMMV.

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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:02 pm
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I have to agree with Martian on this...there really isn't that much of a difference between the necks really. Supposedly the MIA's have those "hand rolled edges" and more attention to the fret work and all but I recently played a brand new MIA and I couldn't really tell too much of a difference between that and my '96 MIM...if anything my MIM feels much better to me because it's broken in to the way I've played it for the past 14 years. More over, even with the new MIM's, I've yet to find one that has any actual problems with fret work and such at all...they feel really nice to me in fact.

Ok...I'm usually in the minority here but personally I've never felt the MIA's were really worth the extra money at all...at least not -that- much extra money (aka double the price of an MIM). To me the biggest differences are the pickups and the bridges...both of which can be easily changed on an MIM and for far less cash than an Am Std costs (and I'm not that crazy about how the American pickups sound anyways so I'd end up changing those out either way). I know there are plenty of folks who disagree with me but personally I just don't think the MIA's are really that much better at all. A little better? Maybe...but not $500 worth. I also firmly believe that if you put most people in a blind fold then handed him/her one of each guitar...half the people out there wouldn't really be able to guess which was which just by feel.

The truth of the matter is that while there are certainly people out there who will swear up and down that MIA instruments are somehow better instruments than any import, in most cases it's more just hype and pride than anything else. Both lines of these instruments are "mass produced" in factories using virtually identical equipment to similar specs with similar quality control and similar (if not identical) materials. It's just that many of us Westerners have been brought up to believe that "more expensive" means "better" and so an American made guitar that costs twice as much as a Mexican made instrument must be twice as good...it's not, but that's the way a lot of people tend to think.

Now I will say that personally I'm a cheap bastard...I don't like to waste my money (when I have any to waste) and as such, I do try to get the most "bang for my buck" as it were. I don't buy things such as guitars based on where they were made... US, China, Mexico, Indonesia or even Eastern Butawamga....I really don't care where it was made. I simply consider everything that's within my price range and then buy what I feel has the best cost to features...or in the case of a guitar, whatever feels best for the price to my own hands and heart. In other words, if I'm playing 2 instruments of similar feel and quality and one's priced at $500 where the other may be $1000 or more, I'm going to buy the one for $500 every time. Things like pickups and hardware I can easily change myself and I -know- this...so for me it just doesn't make sense to spend the extra money on something I'd rather do myself anyways.

Like Martian, I've been playin' for a lot of years myself...almost 30 now. Right now I own around 25 guitars and I've played MANY guitars in those years...my #1 guitar is my '96 MIM...followed closely by my '85 MIJ Squier. In the end if you believe nothing else than believe this one fact; it doesn't really matter how much (or how little) your guitar costs...it's how well you play it that counts.

As always just my own personal opinions.

Peace,
Jim


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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:03 pm
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That's interesting to hear from someone with your obvious experience, Martian. I've been playing for about the same length of time but only got my Mexi Strat a couple of years ago. I can't compare it to any other Strats but I do love the feel of the neck. Love it, love it, love it!!!

Gridlok :lol:


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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:45 pm
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Jim (lomitus),

You've said an awful lot of profound stuff there and I couldn't agree with you more!! I had a boss years ago who used to say, "People love to be ripped off." What he meant was for example (and reinforcing your point), to most, a thousand dollar Strat MUST 'automatically' be better than a five hundred dollar Strat. No collateral verification or objective criterion required.

Gridlock,

Nothing beats playing a guitar that you thoroughly enjoy, I don't give a rat's $@! where it was made! I've even had people offer me their MIAs for my MIM. Granted, I've done a few tweaks to mine but I certainly didn't redesign it.

I've also said this a million times too: There'd be a lot more players owning, enjoying and using imported Strats as their #1s if Fender simply abandoned informing everyone of their country of origin. Then, the player would only rely on how well they liked the guitar(s) in hand instead of dwelling on some supposed social/nationalistic stigma and how to side step it.

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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:39 pm
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martian and lomitus, you guys are 1000% correct in your wise words. most people would be hard pressed to tell the difference in a blind taste test, and besides you can have 2 identical strats (mia or mim or mij) side by side and you'll likely prefer one over the other.

Being left handed i often have to "take what's out there" or order guitars from reputible sources once i've played a comparable righty model. I just ordered a mim and asked my friendly neighborhood fender dealer to get a few in for me to choose from...you can guess how that went.

the bottom line is: if you like the way a guitar feels and sounds what difference does any of the other crap make. and no matter how much you spend on guitars and equipment, practice and playing are what's going to make you sound better.

imho... 8)

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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:09 pm
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OMG NO!Not another Mexi vs American thread. :roll: You really cant go wrong with either,but there are some of us out there who arent tweakers and would much rather buy a guitar that is mostly good out of the box.The price difference (if you are comparing apples to apples) between the MIM standard to the MIA standard is roughly 400 , not 500 bucks because you have to factor in about 100 for the case.If you dont do the work yourself and decide to put a different bridge and tremolo and some new pickups ,as well as a nice case,the price of the MIA Strat doesnt seem like a bad deal.I happen to be really busy and dont really have the time to tweak and mod my guitar.To me ,my time is valuable too.So I would rather spend the extra money on the MIA so I can spend my extra time playing my guitar ,working on my house and playing the occasional gig.There really isnt a wrong answer to this ,everyones situation is different.The value of the guitar is in the hands of the beholder.To say one is "better "than the other is really beating a dead horse because everyones opinion is different.I am just glad they make a guitar that fits everyones needs and budget.


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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:11 pm
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A lot of the perceived difference can lie in the set up anyway. A lot of stores make sure the more expensive guitars are set up, but ignore the cheaper stock. i know I have been to a few places locally, and the MIA's always seem better, but the MIM's aren't set up. I think a lot of player's who are A) new players, or B) don't know much about set ups don't realize that this is why one feels better, and assume it is the quality of the guitar.

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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:14 pm
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Does the MIM Neck feels a little bit Narrower specially the Nut size between the MIA and MIM is like .3 difference. But it only feels like Narrower on the first five frets.

So If someone blindfolded me and make me play two different made instrument. I will distinguished which is which. when the higher E strings bottoms out when I bend it specially on the first five frets I know it is MIM strat. I don't have 43 years of experience but I know if the neck feels narrower. Just my 2 cents but other than that MIM made start is fine fine instrument. It is more of your personal preference


Last edited by MyCoalstrat on Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:20 pm
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MIA v MIM. This is a fresh, new topic. Keep debating and let your Stratocasters collect dust....


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Post subject: Re: mexican neck vs american neck
Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:28 pm
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stratguy740 wrote:
Me and my friend got into a debut last night. He was asking me why i would spend 1000+ dollars on a guitar. (He has a mexican strat). I told him it was just about feel and he laughed. He said most things are the same. I told him the american strats have better worksmanship towards the neck/ fretboard and he laughed again. Do the american strats have more time put into the neck/fretboard?
interesting so tell me whats the same? The fret board 22 to 21 is not, the roll fret edge is not, the truss rods inside are not the same MIA's have a Bi Flex to adjust both ways. So what else is there to make them the same? That they are made of wood? I think your friend needs to learn.
And you can bet the neck blacks are suppllied in different grades, best to custom shop,then MIA,shop followed by MIM. I believe Mike confirmed that the best graded blanks are given to CS a while back which is logical.
So again what's the same?

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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:38 pm
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And do I really want to buy a guitar hoping that a good setup will improve it so that its playable.


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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:12 pm
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I've never thought the price differece justified an extra fret and a hardshell case. BTW, why do the MIMs have one less fret? If the neck blanks come from the same stock and are finished on the same machines, why short them a fret? To make the MIAs stand out?

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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:25 pm
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stagemasterplayer wrote:
I've never thought the price differece justified an extra fret and a hardshell case. BTW, why do the MIMs have one less fret? If the neck blanks come from the same stock and are finished on the same machines, why short them a fret? To make the MIAs stand out?


Prior to the American Standards of the 80's, Strats (and Teles for that matter) since, "Day 1" only had 21 frets. This was retained with the MIM models and obviously, is in the more classic Fender vein.

I believe that 22nd fret on the MIAs is because Gibson has always had 22 frets and many players do indeed use that 22nd fret. So, this is Fender trying to induce players of the 22 fret ilk into looking into a Strat (and/or a MIA Tele for that matter).

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