Hello all! I was having trouble deciding about which guitar to get and i decided to come to the Fender forums to help me decide! After all when you are after some type of fender, the fender forums are the place to go i guess!

My current problem is deciding on whether or not to get a mexican made fender strat standard or an aerodyne strat! A local music shop is currently selling an Aerodyne that is red and it is absolutely gorgeous!

I was originally thinking about getting a mexi strat to mess around with and mod out but once i saw the Aerodyne i was in love! I have yet to play it because i do not have funds to buy so i do not want to get too excited over it. But i was wondering what your guys' opinion would be.

Should i get the Aerodyne or a Mexi made? And also, if you have any other strat suggestions please add them!

Hi Limbless K9, welcome to the Forum.

To the best of my knowledge the Aerodynes currently available in the West are now made in the Mexican factory - though I stand to be corrected on that. I'm talking about the ones with dark trans red and trans blue finishes over figured front wood. However, I'm suddenly not finding those in the catalog on this website, so perhaps they've been discontinued.

As we know, Fender Japan have always done all kinds of interesting things not officially available outside Japan, and that includes their own version of Aerodyne guitars:

http://www.excite-webtl.jp/world/englis ... N&wb_dis=2

Nice solid and metallic colors, and I'm even seeing one with a Floyd Rose, if that's your thang. I've met some of these guitars in the flesh and the quality is excellent.

That website is part of Ishibashi's operation. Some users of this Forum have bought guitars from Ishibashi and reported good experiences. I can't vouch for that in person, but it sounds like it's a safe way to buy MIJ guitars:

http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/eng/

BTW: I have a MIJ '57RI which I ordered through a dealer in my own town and the build quality is superb - for what that's worth.

On the other hand, from what I've seen (and others have agreed) the quality coming out of the Mexican factory has gone up and up in recent years, so that would be a fine route to go as well.

Take your choice!

Cheers - C

I would love to have a MIJ Aerodyne strat! There may be variations, but the one I like has binding around the body in front.

Thank you for the info! I will have to see in which factory its made by inspecting it closer. The lady says it is a MIJ however the people that run this shop do not know much about instruments it seems so i will have to take a closer look.

Since i havent played it yet i can't say that im biased towards MIJ or MIM so i will have to play it and if it sounds just right and feels just right i might have to buy it! =D Thank you again!

I tried out an MIJ Aerodyne -that had been in the music store since 2006- a few months ago,as you did I thought it was absolutely beautiful, this one had a natural maple top.I played the Aerodyne wasn't real impressed with the way the neck felt or the sound of it-it sounded much thinner than what I'm used to in a Strat.Along with 6 or 7 other Strats that I tried,the one that stole my heart away was an MIM Jimmie Vaughn,the Tex-Mex pups had a real mid 60s L series sound to them-which is my favourite era as far as sound goes.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.