I got mine for $399 on Memorial Day Weekend Sale. I was saying that $620 was the price with the Mods that I put into it.

Understood. My reply was meant to address jromanov's comment on how much it costs for an MIM.

Oh, my bad. I misread it. I didn't see what jrom was writing. The 2010 MIM strats are mindblowingly great aren't they?!


to jrom

for $399 i bought my MIM sunburst strat (gigbag included)
for $20 I bought stainless saddles increasing my sustain
for $10 I added a block of steel to the already large trem block that gave me more sustain
for $150-ish I purchased the Seymour Duncan Everything Axe Package (JB JR in the bridge, Duckbucker in the middle and 'lil '59 in the neck.)
the rest of the $$ went to buying sandpaper and steel wool to strip the Poly finish off of the body and neck of my strat which enhances my tone, increases sustain and makes it feel super comfortable.

I also added strings that I like.

The end result was about $620ish and an amazing guitar...that you apparently will not appreciate no matter how it sounds.

I couldn't be happier with mine although someday I might add Texas Specials. But then I wouldn't be a guy if I didn't mod it in some way, right?

I'd like to see a pic of your strat, paztormike.

Brian

Paztor

Good morning sir...and thanks for the interesting conversation. 1st of all, I'm sure that your guitar sounds wonderful, and if so...you probably play well. I would most certainly appreciate how YOU sound, and YOU would probably sound great no matter what guitar you were playing. As a player, collector, and obsessed guitar enthusiast for many decades, people ask me all the time to suggest which guitar would be best for them. I have never suggested to anyone that they buy an inexpensive guitar and modify it to what they want it to sound like. And I never would.

I am not trying to offend anyone in any way, but what kind of quality do you really think you are getting in a $399 dollar guitar (includes gigbag) ...how much do you think Fender has into this model...maybe $100 tops...even Fender doesn't think its a good enough guitar to put it into a hard case. Again...I'm sure that your mod came out great, and I'm sure that YOU sound great, and everyone has the right to like and dislike what they will. This is why they make Vanilla & Chocolate.

That said...the unfortunate fact of our world is that You Get What You Pay For. There are exceptions to any rule, but in general, you will always do better with the higher quality instrument than you will with the inexpensive modified instrument. When Guitar Center puts an American Std and an MIM on their floor, with a sign on them that reads "Choose Either One For FREE...Today Only" You will not find anyone ever anywhere that takes the MIM...never ever. 100 percent of players will take the Am Std. Including you, and I fear you would be lying if you say you would still take the MIM and leave the Std on the floor.

I felt that your original post was...mod an MIM or pay more for a Std...and I personally would never lead anyone in that direction. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, including me, and it was never my intention to offend you or anyone else in any way.

At the risk of making everyone crazy...My professional guitar playing son always say's - "If you want to buy the best sounding Strat that you can buy...buy the one they call the Gibson Les Paul model".

That has nothing to do with the quality and everything to do with the cost of labor and good marketing by Fender. Cheaper labor costs are what keep the price that much lower. Also Its not like the Mexican factory's workers are so inferior to Fender USAs either. A lot of the process these days is done on CNC machines with final detail and hand work finished by people. Do you really think if the American Standard were made in Mexico with the same parts and quality that it would still cost the same amount of money? It would certainly be cheaper simply due to the fact that Fender can pay workers less in Mexico.

Like I mentioned before, everybody has different tastes. Personally I don't like the American standards much, I'd rather have a high end MIM like a CP, classic series, or road worn. The very first Fender I ever owned was an American Series strat. It was the most lifeless guitar I have ever played. Traded it for a Classic Player's 60s strat and couldn't have been happier. I would tell the OP to try a bunch of guitars first and buy the one that plays the best and calls to him. If you get stuck on the "I have to buy American or I have to buy MIM to save money" you will miss the one.

One of my favorite guitars to play is one of my cheapest, so you never know

My wife just got me the rootbeer flake one for father's day. I love it. I'd love to see a picture of the complete orange set up. I'm sure it's awesome.

Yogi

I completely agree with you as far as playing as many guitars as possible, and you very well might find one that you fall in love with. This has nothing to do with the price, and I always encourage players to do exactly that.

As far as MIM's labor costs dictating the low pricing on those models...well there is obviously some effect there, but the actual low pricing is primarily because of the use of cheap materials and cheap parts. The machine heads, pickups, bridges, electronics, including switches, pots, input jacks, neck nut, etc are all from the cheapest materials available. Throw in Mexican labor costs, and no case, and you got yourself a $399 guitar.

This does not in any way mean that the AM Strats are some kind of holy grails...in the big picture, in the world of guitars, they are some of the least expensive quality guitars that you can buy. My daily player is an American Deluxe Strat in Montego Black with a maple neck. I absolutely love this guitar, although I have literally dozens of way more expensive guitars.

I have a 2009 MIM Standard Strat that I bought from Sweetwater ($499) a few months ago. To date I have done the following:

1. Added Schaller locking tuners (Bought the generic ones from Guitar Center, not the Fender specific ones with the two mounting pins. Oh, well. they work the same and the pin holes are 90% covered on the back of the headstock.).
2. Replaced the stock pickups with Fender SCNs. I love the sound!
3. Replaced the stock 5-way switch with a CRL 5-way and the pots with CTS pots from Acme.
4. Completely rewired everything.
5. Replaced the stock zinc trem block with a steel trem block from GFS (The trem uses 5 springs, is locked down and blocked with a machined aluminum block).
6. Getting ready to replace the stock bridge saddles with stainless steel saddles from GFS.
7. Considering replacing the tone controls with a full Clapton-type setup (TBX and mid-boost).

I also have a Fender Frontman 25R that I have modded (replaced the stock speaker with an Eminence Ragin Cajin) and added a frame under the grill to prevent the grill cloth from vibrating on the baffle board. I have also reinforced the cabinet with additional screws through the cabinet to the baffle board. I am investigating some electronics mods too.

I have even modded my Boss Blues Driver (Monty Alums H2O mod. Getting ready to swap out the op amp chips).

I am a systems engineer by profession, so I love to tinker. I have my guitar and amp set up the way I like it. I love the way it plays and sounds. Would I like to have a Masterbuilt Clapton? Sure. Can I afford one? No. But I can afford to modify and improve what I do have. Resale value? Who cares. The only person I have to make happy is ME. And I am. Very.

_________________
Bill

Actually the new MIMs have CTS pots, jack and the same 5 way switch that the American Standards have. They have increased in price and in Quality over the years. Pop one open you may be surprised. Even the bridge was upgraded 4 years ago to a fullsize zinc unit ( Not steel, but certainly an improvement over the tiny one. Also MIMs went fully to alder in the early 2000s and ditch poplar on the standards. A couple of years ago I might have agreed with you that MIMs weren't worth doing mods on, but the quality really has increased

I have one of the first MiM Strats from '91, I played a few in the store and this one felt the best. Later I discovered that the hardware and electrics were one of the places money was saved and over the years have probably put at least it's purchase price back into it. It has locking Spertzels, LSR nut, Full Clapton electrics properly routed in and a decent fret job.
I also have an '06 US Standard Strat which now has the Lone Star HSS setup. In terms of quality of woods and feel there is nothing to choose between them, in fact I was disappointed the US didn't feel better, and I really found the standard pickups nothing special at all.
For those that can afford a US Fender and like it out of the box, great. For those that can't, why not get a good foundation and put in what you want.
I am all for having the choice.

_________________
Standard Stratocaster w/mid-boost & Lace Sensors
Am. Standard Stratocaster FSR Daphne Blue
Tele-bration Mahogany Telecaster
Fender Pro Junior w/custom 2x10 tweed cab - nice!
Koch Twintone 2
The odd Parker and PRS

Yogi

Did you have a look at the "Bluesky" post....did you see what he added to those Mexican labor costs?

I'm sure that the guitar is trick, and I know he had a great time doing it as well. That was always my entire point. If your doing it for fun, as a hobby, because you love to tinker...great...have a great time, and again, that guitar is probably trick.

For me...I like taking my already trick, out of the box, AM Deluxe off the wall...plugging directly into a Vintage Carvin 50 watt all tube stack, and tearing it up.

That what makes everyone unique, and there's no right or wrong...just lots of fun and enjoyment. I haven't seen anyone comment on which model they would take for FREE....We all already know that answer.

Thanks again for the interesting conversation.

I don't know what is used on the American Standard but the switch on my '09 MIM is not the same as the CRL switch that I installed (no spring on the MIM switch and the contacts aren't as nice). If the pots are CTS, they are different from the ones I installed. The stock trem block is full size and actually weighs almost as much as the steel block I installed, but it is not magnetic if that makes a difference.

_________________
Bill

Blindfold me and I will buy whatever feels and sounds best to me. The Guitar Center nearest my home has probably 10-12 American Standards in stock at any time. There are at least 3 of them that feel terrible to me. 2 of them have frets that have rough edges on the sides.

The pickups in the Am Standard are nothing special in my opinion. I helped a buddy put some new pickups in a guitar not long ago, they were GFS pickups, a set of 3 for $60-ish. They were Alnico V style and in my opinion they were a big upgrade to the Am Standard pickups.

For that reason, if I were looking for an Alnico V style sounding guitar, I'd buy a MIM one for $399 that I liked the feel and sound of, and drop in some GFS pickups. This would cost a total of $460 and would be a better value than the Am Standard, as long as I liked the sound and feel better than the stock Am Standard. I am sure that if I found an Am Standard that I liked the feel and sound of, and upgraded the pickups with the GFS ones, it would be a better guitar than the modded MIM one. But it would cost $600 more and I don't believe for a second that it would sound enough better than the MIM one to justify ME paying $600 for.

Therefore, if a person told me that they had raised or saved $1000 to buy the best guitar that they could possibly have, I would advise them to find the best value for that money possible. Unless the Am Standard Strat was exactly the sound of guitar that would make their music sound the best, I would advise them to grab a MIM and do all the mods that would make it sound as close to the sound that they want as possible. In my opinion, it would be crazy to buy a guitar that was not matched to your sound and feel preferences especially if it cost more $$. After doing the mods on the MIM you'd still have a good amount of cash left. They could then buy a cool practice amp like the G-DEC 3 15 and a pedal and have all of that for $1000. (this is exactly what I did. I am happier than I would be if I had bought an off-the-rack Am Standard. No doubt.)

I personally believe that a guitar that cost less $$ and matches the sound and feel that you want is by far a better value than a guitar that cost about twice as much that does not.

To me, that is common sense. I also think that you should learn more about the differences between the newer MIM guitars and the Am Standards. The quality of the MIM guitars has gotten better by leaps and bounds. I would probably agree that some of the components are of lower quality than the Am Standards, but after going through my MIM piece by piece, I have not found anything that is of poor quality. The MIM is a high quality guitar in my opinion. Not as high as the Am Standard. But, in my opinion and observation, the Am Standards are not $600 better.

and yes Jrom, if GC was giving a guitar for free, I would take the higher priced one.

But unless it were perfect for me, I would sell it and take the money and mod a MIM to my liking and take the remaining money and buy something else that was cool.

If I were rolling in cash, I'd make an appt at the Fender Custom Shop and get the experts to create something that would blow my mind. But short of that scenario I am getting an incredible bang for my buck, have learned a ton about guitars and have a guitar that is FAR better than what I thought I could have had for even $1000-1500, and I have had a blast doing it.