I have several MIM Fenders, ( Jazzmaster, Tele's. a Nashville Tele, Strats) and the ONLY one with the original pups is the Jazzmaster.

They all sound FABULOUS ! On a electric guitar, pickups ( discounting the amp discussion and players style) are 98% of the tone of these things !!


MIM VS. USA, ya there are differences on quality to some extent, hardware, the neck.

BUT :

Here's my personal take on it.

I have been playing and enjoying guitars for over 35 years.

I don't really play that well.

For what I do, and my abilities, I LOVE what I have, and they do the job BIG TIME !

I have 8 electrics to choose from when I go into the room (by myself) and play, and all total, an investment ( not counting amps) of JUST a tad over 4000 bucks.

LOVE IT !

Not to knock Squire by any means but "best" to "least best" (sorry for the poor grammar) you have Fender USA , Fender MIM, Squire.

I could post some Youtube of some AWESOME sounding guitars...........and they are Squires.

Do you think SRV would sound like s*^# if you could hear him play a Squire ???

If I picked up a used $250 MIM Tele and played it, then a USA Tele, a doubt I would wow anyone on either one.

It is reality. If you suck as a Mechanic, it really doesn't matter that you have Snap On tools in your garage.

This topic been done to death here and everywhere else on the www and i did a lot of research before actually going to the music store with the intent of buy MIA. Being a lefty means i dont get to much choice. My local Fender stockist had 2 MIM's an 1 MIA . i played around with all three an the only discerble difference to my ear was on the bridge pick ups BUT i generally replace pup's with Toneriders anyway. Apart from that the MIA was 120 % more expensive ... MIM's these days are quality products worthy of the Fender logo.

Could see no reason why to pay the premium and dealer threw in a hard case as well..

gear snobbishness aint got no value to it in my books , plus the lake placid blue is the dogs bollocks

I'd put my MIM strat up against any MIA strat there is. Bottom line, tone is in your fingers. I put MIA standard coils in my daughters Squire. I'd be darned if it sounds just as good as any MIA out there. Not bad for a $40 investment...

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


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All MIMs had bent-steel "butterfly" string bars.

If you're not satisfied with the "butterfly" string tree, simply replace it with the EasyGlider. My brother replaced the original "butterfly" string guide of his black Squier Silver Strat with an EasyGlider. He also put a set of Gold Lace Sensors, installed an American 2-point tremolo with block saddles and added jumbo frets on the maple fretboard. I'll post a couple of pics of my black Squier Strat soon.

If you go to angela.com, you'll find full size tremolo blocks for MIM guitars. Also, if you don't like the MIM saddles, I'd rather spend the money on Graphtech rather then rework an entire guitar body to fit the American two point tremolo...

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


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Spending the last little while in a hospital bed has given me the opportunity to visiting close to a dozen different boards and read all the pages regarding "which is best? MIA or MIM" and I must say that there are some very vocal and passionate responses for both sides of the fence.

Being new to the strat community (I only started learning to play guitar earlier this year) I find that I neither have the experience nor the technical knowledge to be able to comment either way. There are obviously visual differences in appearance (21 vs 22 frets etc.) as well as quality of components between the two but I consider this to be minutia. It's all about the name - Fender.

Why are we so passionate about our strat's? is it because this is probably one of the most versatile, and good looking, guitars to have ever been made, or does it have more to do with the 60+ years of history that this model enjoys.

My love of the strat goes back 40+ years to the days of the early days of the Shadows (Hank Marvin), and earlier artists like Buddy Holly and Richie Valens. I was only abay when Holly and Valens were taken from this world but their music played on until I was well into my teens.

Later it was music of artists like Eric Clapton and David Gilmour and the immortal great himself, Hendrix. They all had wonderfully unique and diverse styles but their music was created on the ever versatile strat.

Ever since then I have seen the Fender Stratocaster as the ultimate guitar, and have always wanted to own one. I finally picked one up about a month ago, a gently used metallic blue standard HSS.

Do I care if it's MIA or MIM, not really. All I know is that it says Fender on the headstock and it has the skunk line on the back of the neck and I love it. Oh yes, the headstock has "Made in Mexico" on it.

I also own a Squire Vintage modified HSS strat (my first guitar) and even though I love playing it, it's a copy and not the real thing.

Will I ever get an MIA SSS, probably. My ultimate goal is to own a re-issue 1957 Stratocaster but that will have to wait a while.

I am learning so much about the iconic strat through these posts so please keep them coming.

Add to that the fact that the most expensive US strats also have 21 frets and what JMG would no doubt call cheapo tuners.

If you have both, why do you need to ask the difference, it should be apparent?

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No no and no

It all depends on what difference you are talking about. Fender MIM and MIA both have guitars to fill the need. I have a MIM 60th anniversary with a 7 piece alder body covered in a nice finish. I also have a MIM Classic 70s strat with 3 piece ash body. One is light the other is heavy, one has a thinner neck and the other has a thicker neck. Both have scynchronised tremolos one is an American the other is Export, and same for the tuners and other hardware. They both have different sounds/tone, both feel great and I like them both. So what I'm trying to say is, the diversity is unlimited and it is impossible to compare in general or in detail the differences.

TTSC

Was I asking you? You didn't post the original question.

Personally I find this to be a utterly pointless discussion, prone to nonsense and a breeding ground for internet myths/dogma/lies.

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No no and no

Here's my observation. The American necks are thicker and wider. Much easier to play. I'm going to buy an American C profile neck to replace my Mexican C profile neck because its actually a bigger neck. Next time you go to a guitar store pick both of them up and decide for yourself...

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


facebook.com/313DBC

Not necessarily true. Some American necks are bigger than mexis, but the reciprocal is also true. For instance the Kenny Wayne Shepherd neck is a lot thicker than an American standard which has a pretty small modern C

in my opinion, there are a very few key differences between them.
i like both. get what you can afford. if you like to tinker get a MIM.
if your gigging, get a HW1 or a higher quality MIM player deluxe, and
mod them. i would rather take one of those out to a smoke filled bar full of drunks rather than a higher dollar MIA strat. thats just me though.
the quality of the MIM has come a long way. you can pick up a nice MIM for $300-$400 and drop in some killer pups and still be in a good price range with cash left over to change out the string tree ( ) if you dont like it. your not going to get a MIM to sound or play like a custom shop strat and save any money doing it, but, you can get a nice sounding, well playing, very reliable strat out of a MIM with a little bit of thought and some extra cash and still feel pretty good about it in the end.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

+1 That's The Truth.

Every part on a Stratocaster is screwed on, if it does not perform as expected, then upgrade the part.

That is the greatest feature that Leo Fender and his crew gave us.

MIM or MIA is irrelevant with the CAD based manufacture of these guitars.

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

hey i agree lol.
it is what it is. MIM's arent what they use to be.
to me, they are a soild platform to build your own strat onto,
something you can afford to build and make personal touches to
that make it your own signature guitar. ya just dont do that with a MIA or custom shop. with those you leave it alone and play what you have lol.
to expensive to go tinkering on. as a matter of fact, im looking to get my hands on a couple or 3 MIM's next yr to make my own signature series guitars out of. one of the guita rags had a piece on jimmy vaughn talking about his MIM a month or so ago. it was a nice read and pretty much helped me back up my plans for the MIM's.
i hope these last two posts of mine answer the questions of the OP. i think ive gotten off subject a bit but should at least give a few ideas when trying to compare the MIM and the AIM.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."