Ive always wonder why people bother buying lower quality instruement in the 200-300-400 range and try to upgrade them or whatever . Do these people think of it as in investment and something that you may buy for a lifetime .

Seem like some people dont think about long term when they buy instruments .

I have a fender USA HSS 2004 ... now when i bought it .. it was 1000 $ i had almost the money but i was very short at that time ( had laser eye surgery , credit card debt etc.. ) .. i even borrow a 350 $ to buy it which i paid in 5 month .

Back in the days i could have just bought a mexican thinking i couldnt afford a USA .

But 5 years later .. im more than happy that i made that borrow of 350 $ to get an american HSS . i dont think about that money anymore , times have changed but i still have my U.S stratocaster which i loved more and more everytime i tried another one .


now im myself thinking about a new strat ( as a reward to my great year ) .. and theres no way im going for a 300-400-500 ..

Im the kind who prefer spending 1000 $ once and have it for years of happness instead of trying to upgraded mexican and try to get my price when i sell etc.. etc...

Same for amp .. some people say they cant afford a great amp ... but ended up buying pedals over pedals and can never get their sound and ended up selling with a loss . in they end they should have spend one time the money for a great one .

whats your thought about that ???? do you prefer buying top notch one time even if it hurt the wallet thinking that in 5-10 years youll be more than happy to have made that choice ????


and by the way .... junk in the title didnt refer to mexican stratocaster .. more like Squier bullet upgraded with di marzio etc ..etc..


some people dont realize how much they end up paying and never get the quality they would have if they only paid one time the big price .


*** and in this world where everything is not built to last anymore ... a guitar is probably a better investmeent than a car , refrigerator etc... you know it wont die on you .

You cant buy a car, a tv , arefrigerator for 20 years ... but you can buy a guitar for 50 years .

so IMO ... guitars are one of the few thing you can put money on and be sure that its a long time value .

Why buy an American Standard or Deluxe when you can buy a Masterbuilt? It all comes down to what your budget is, and if a $400 guitar feels good to somebody, then good for them!

i have 2 american strats and i LOVE them to death. but i dont think about guitars from a money stand point. i think about what each individual gutiar is. like my MIM tele, yes it is mexican, but was a great purchase!

heck, i recently bought a squier bullet to mod, even though i have to american gutiars! i honestly dont think this guitar is junk as u implied. and yes, i do plan on modding it, with a lace bucker and a warmoth neck. you may say that is a waste of money, but to me it is not about the money, its about enjoying what i bought and making it the way i want it to be, it might never stack up to my americans, but i do enjoy it and thats why i bought it.

Tanner i understand your point .

I have a squier mini which i modified with a duncan humbucker, new bridge , fender us tuning keys , new nut made by a luthier .

But my point was about .. i see so many mexican for sale ... theres much be a reason ...

buying a 400 $ cause you love it and feel nice . i can understand .. but people seem to buy and resell .

my point is by having a great instruement , your less intended to sell it . cause its great . So in the end , your winning casue you dont lose anything .

There isn't one single solitary regular-production guitar that FMIC makes that I couldn't afford.

No brag, just fact.

But the fact of the matter is, I prefer to build my own.

And I'll match my "home-made junk" against any off-the-rack Fender instrument ever built.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I like to do things myself too, but not everyone has the facilities nor machinery and tools to carve up their own guitar.
And, it isn't always economically practical to make your own guitar from headstock to end pin.
But I agree that when you CAN do it yourself, you definitely have a lot more options available to you that allows you build the guitar of your dreams (or someone elses for that matter).

I think it should be catagorized as follow
Off the shelf purchase
Off the shelf plus accessorizing (including pickguard and custom paint)
Off the shelf plus string deviation
Off the shelf plus custom action adjustments
Off the shelf plus electronics tweaks (Pickups, pots, switches, caps, wiring)
Off the shelf plus advanced neck profiling (scallopping)
Off the shelf pickup routing modifications
This is what most people are likely willing to do before they get ready to
start the more dramatic stuff that begin with custom body and necks from
the likes of Warmoth and/or winding their own pickups.
After this, those so inclined may design and build their own guitar body
After this, they may build their own neck and body.
By this time, it's anything goes.

I think that's how most of Fender and Gibson's largest compettitors got their start - a guy loves either brand or an early contemporary and
thinks he can improve upon it. He loves the hobby and pursues better designs. IF attentive to sucesses and failures, he may well come up with a better design that he could market but because Fender and Gibson are so well established in their reputation, loyalists, newcomers and many
amatures may shy away from fledgling company until a big star
brings that guitar brand to the stage lights.

To my knowledge, Fender doesn't make a Les Paul clone.
This is where the likes of warmoth comes into play
I think it would be interesting to see what kind of sound I would get
if I made a mahogany back and carved maple top Strat with Gibson electronics and P90s - including the elimination of the "plastic" picguard.
and use a Bigsby.
Try it with a maple Strat neck and then try it with a mahogany Strat clone neck.

I think you should look closer at the MIM starts, they are far better then they used to be.

I'll testify to that -- many of my best builds began life as MIM Classic '50s and '60s re-issues.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I think people mod their guitars for a number of reasons.
A. they think it's the thing to do.
B. They really like the guitar except for maybe one or two things. For example they like the general fit and finish of a particular model, the neck, and the way it plays, but they think maybe they would like humbuckers, but that particular model doesn't come with them, so they install them. In other words, making a great guitar "perfect". Many people will take a higher end instrument and modify the hell out of it, it doesn't just apply to cheaper instruments. I think it's just done more on the cheaper instruments because of the possibility some of us who ain't luthiers might screw it up. It's not as big a loss if I eff up a Squier as opposed to a Fender Am. Std.
C. It's simply a fun thing to do.

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'08 Fender Am. Std. Jazz bass, maple fretboard, charcoal frost metallic finish
'10 Squier VM Jazz bass, maple fretboard, natural finish
Ampeg BA115
'09 MIM standard Strat, maple fretboard, sunburst finish
Fender Super Champ XD

Man I buy Vintage Reissues and change pickups,I can afford to now...I would think about doing changes to a CS,it's not sacred,I changed pickups in an original '65 long ago.
If I could only afford one MIM guitar,that would be fine also.I think to be able to play guitar if you have to buy junk,make the best of it until you can buy something better...guitars aren't the only thing in life,a big part of it,but not essential to survival.

I love my Clapton model but it doesn't even come close to touching my Warmoth's as far as quality is concerned. And although it's not a build from the ground up like some people around here are capable of, they are still my builds.
MULLY

This is how it should be.

I buy expensive guitars and I buy less expensive guitars. There is always a gulf between them but it is not as easy to define as a simple listing of the parts differences. You would think that it would be but it's not. MIAs simply feel different than MIMs.

In the world of dirt bikes I used to ride Hondas and Yamahas. They were both good and they both had their pros and cons. They were also pretty close to each other in the grand scheme. The differences were mostly fine nuances and I always said it was simply a matter of personal choice. Then I rode my buddy's KTM and what sold me was that I didn't notice anything at all. It didn't matter if I was storming the whoops, flying a step-down, clinbing a sandy hill or picking my way through roots and rocks the bike simply felt like it was an extension of me. I didn't notice anything. It just did what I wanted naturally and invisibly.

That's how I feel about Americasn Fenders. I play other guitars and I say to myself, "Oh, this is cool. I like the neck." Or, "Hey, I don't care for these pickups." Then when I pick up an American Fender I don't notice anything. It just feels right. I used to try to explain it by describing the differences but I stopped doing that because i coul;d never quite put my finger on it. Any explanations I came up with always seemed incomplete or arguabale. Now I just enjoy them.

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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.

You know, I've always said, when picking up a US made Fender after not having touched one for a long time, "Yep, this is exactly why they cost so much more." And like you said, there's nothing really that needs to be pointed out. The whole thing just feels right.
MULLY

I personally got my MIM strat precisely so I could have something I wouldn't feel guilty about tinkering with. Of course I've fallen in love with it since I got and am sure there are more mim strats in my future.

If I had a super expensive American strat I'd feel guilty changing it.