I was wondering if someone could tell me what's the difference between a Mexican, Japanese or American stratocaster?

Long Live Rock&Roll!

Its just that, country of origin. Typically, its a quality/value driven part of Fender. Made in USA (MIA) Fenders are worth the most, Made In Mexico Fenders (MIM) are worth more then Indonisian.

As for Made In Japan (MIJ), those were pre Mexican. Some condsider them to revial American made Fenders. Quality wise, they are better then Mexican (so I've heard), but made so long ago, they're hard to find.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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Now that's a loaded question!

Kinda like asking: What's the difference between a Ford, Mercury and Lincoln.

All can be good in their own right, and quite bad if you get a lemon. The budget line Ford will not match up with the TOL Lincoln, etc.

This forum will give you a ton of info -- entertain yourself with this knowledge

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'78 Fender Stratocaster
Epi USA Texan '64 RI signed by Paul McCartney
'73 Fender Mustang
Gibson LP Deluxe RI '69
Fender Active Jazz Bass
Guild GADm20e Acoustic Guitar
Epi Casino RI
Gretsch Pro Jet w/Bigsby
And My Frankenstein-O-Caster

Thanks!

+1
Take a look at the product page here on the Fender website and you'll see there are 51 different production Strat models and range in MSRP price from $500 to $2999. There is a plethora of different models of MIM, MIJ, and MIA Strats. There is no one single Mexican, Japanese, or American Strat. Generally speaking, some high end Mexican Strats rival low end American Strats. And price points between those models are blurred too. And it wouldn't be fair to compare a Mexican Standard Strat to a one-of-a-kind masterbuilt American Custom Shop Strat would it?

Please narrow it down to a few specific models you want to compare and we can start to help.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.