I've read nothing but good things about CIJ strats. In fact, somebody recently posted that a CIJ strat is a guitar "you can buy without playing first" and not worry, or words to that effect. I checked out Fender/Japan, and they look like they're selling models we can't get easily here in the U.S., including cool colors. Does anybody here know ow difficult it is to get a new CIJ strat? How much are they? Who have you ordered from?

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'10 Gibson LP Studio Faded
'09 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
'08 Fender Classic Player 60s Stratocaster
'07 Fender Classic Player Baja Telecaster
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Haha - well that was me!

Hi strattastic12: I'll tell you what I based that statement on. Last year I bought a CIJ ST57 from a shop in London who were very helpful organising it's import for me. It came beautifully set up and I assumed the owner had done it: he is Charlie Chandler, a well-known and respected seller and tech amongst celeb player circles. In fact, he said he'd looked the guitar over but found nothing whatsoever to do on it - which is hardly unique but a good sign.

He then told me that not only back in the early days of Fender Japan but right to this present day he finds the CIJ product more consistently reliable than from any of the other factories. Of course, good and bad ones can come from anywhere, but it was his modest view that our chances were better buying a CIJ sight-unseen than any other.

There's folks here who will immediately take issue with that and for sure it is just the subjective opinion of one seller in one outlet, so it is hardly scientific. I am absolutely not out to start some silly argument about this factory versus that - because that would be completely unprovable and so asinine.

However, it is handy that someone with plenty of experience handling A LOT of new and old guitars thinks there could be some truth in it, because these days if you live in North America or Europe the only way you are likely to get a new CIJ is to have it ordered direct from Japan - which means you don't get to try it first (except for a few CIJ models which Fender still import to the West).

If you're interested, tell us which country you are in and someone might be able to suggest how to get your hands on one.

Cheers - C

The recent Pink Paisley and the Blue Flower reissue are Made in Japan and sold in the U.S. You can still get the Blue Flower from Elderly instruments.

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Hi strattastic 12 as Ceri mentioned his comment was from a thread about a CIJ guitar i bought a week or two back.

Its been a good experience for me so i can only reitterate whats been said.

Heres the link if your interested.

http://fender.com/community/forums/view ... hp?t=40174

And do I remember that the Classic Player Jazzmaster still comes from Japan - or has it moved to the Mexican factory now?

Side note: now that the Lite Ash and Koa Strats and Teles have been discontinued does anyone know which if any models are coming out of the Korean factory these days? We were told worrying things about that factory not long ago...

Cheers - C

CIJ's are "the bomb" (at least the few I have played have all been great)

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Ceri - I've w/in the past six months looked at the Special Edition Custom Spalted Maple Tele and the SE Custom Telecaster FMT HH that both carried the Korean tag.

I have two unique Japanese models that I absolutely love; a candy apple red, double bound in white, '60s Re-issue Tele w/ Bigsby and the Baritone Jaguar HH. Both rival the American models I own for quality of build. I would not hesitate a second to buy a MIJ/CIJ guitar.

I believe the Classic Player Jazzmaster is now a MIM model.

RickyD

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Hi Ricky: excellent, thank you for that information. Very interesting.

Obviously we can see why Fender don't mention factory of origin on their product pages - but sometimes we wish they did!

Cheers man - C

I am a huge fan of Japanese made Fender guitars. My preference is for the Mid 80's MIJ's though.

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

I bought a CIJ Candy Apple Red '57 RI Strat back in '99 and "Gilmourized" it by putting the pre-wired EMG pg on it. I didn't do anything else to it...this guitar would NOT go out of tune despite efforts to make it do so. Only reason I got rid of it was because a friend offered me $500 over the cost of the guitar and pg. He still has it and loves it

I also had one of the original run of Blackmore strats from Japan, however in this case I haven't noticed a difference between that one and the new MIM version.

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

This thread aside, I don't normally get involved in the factory of origin debates on the Forum, cos they usually lead to such silly, nasty rows.

But I must say in my own utterly subjective experience I believe I have seen QC at the Mexican plant coming up in leaps and bounds in the last handful of years. Those instruments are SO much better than they used to be - to my eye.

About five years ago I was shopping for a Strat and of all the MIM ones I looked at I just couldn't find one that didn't have some sort of fit-and-finish issue. In the end a bought a fabulous Am Std instead. But hunting around recently it had changed entirely: I just couldn't find a MIM with any kind of fault to it at all. And they just sort of felt nice too.

I think that in replacing Japanese with Mexican guitars for the Western market Fender have done a ton of work behind the scenes to bring the standard up to justify the move.

There ya go: that's my friendly view, anyhow...

Cheers - C

I agree, to the point where they will eventually be as good as each other, but people will rave about the japanese fenders because of their alternativity.

I agree with what people are writing here. The MIJ and CIJ guitars are great. While almost all of them I have picked up were used but in excellent condition, thus maybe messed with some, I have had to re-set up almost all of them. Once set up right, they are super guitars. I often rewire them with USA pickups, such as Seymour Duncans, or DiMarzio or the like. Many come with USA pickups in them. For the price, they are hard to beat.

Here is a link that gives some more information about them: http://xhefriguitars.com/page9.html

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I totally agree. I recently started shopping around for my next "one" again and the new MIM Standard strats have been really impressing me, along with the MIM RI models. I would recommend them to anyone.

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The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ

That's what I'm thinking. I've bought 2 MiM strats in the last four years, and the quality has been very (super duper) good. What draws me to the CIJs is the color options - more than you can get here (even shelll pink). But for the potential aggrivation in searching/arranging to purchase one (again, I'm lazy), maybe I'm better off keeping my eyes open to what's happening here in the U.S. Seems like if you just wait long enough, Fender (either MiA or MiM) will turn out something you just can't resist. Besides, I should probably turn my attention to trying to get better - much better. Thanks, all, for your responses.

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'10 Gibson LP Studio Faded
'09 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
'08 Fender Classic Player 60s Stratocaster
'07 Fender Classic Player Baja Telecaster
'05 Breedlove AC 25 SR Plus