Trying to break the 'Below the Border' phobia and have just picked my 2nd Mexican made strat. First was a splattercaster and this one is so cool, it's black with the red/orange racing flames...matching headstock. I guess I don't mind buying them if they are fab finishes. Is there any listing on the different finishes on these MIM strats other than the standard strat colors?

I too own a MIM Strat and it is amazing! LPB perfect finish and a sound to die for! I say let the others turn their noses at the MIM guitars...it leaves more for me..
ABS

I really like my Cp50s surf green

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

I've been playing my MIM '50s Classic Re-issue for eleven years now......

Best thousand-dollar guitar I ever paid five-hundred bucks for!



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

From everything that I have read about MIM’s over the past few years here and on other sites I am finding out that from 2006 on the MIM’s are not only up to par with MIA’s but also sound better and are sought after. I bought my MIM’s blind just wanting to have the Strat and Tele sound and have come to love how they play and sound. Most people will mod them out, but I like mine stock and have had no problems with them at all. Maybe I’m just lucky to get two exceptionally good MIM’s but I have to agree that they are the best thousand dollar + guitar’s for under $500.00’s each. Both Ash, both 2006, both MIM’s

I own a CP72 Deluxe RI Tele and now a Road Worn Strat along with an American Special Strat. The CP72 Tele plays as good as any Tele that I have picked up. I know some people will go nuts over this but I played a Deluxe a couple weekends ago to see if I wanted to purchase it but couldn't get that interested in it, it just didn't feel like it was that much better than my CP72. That guitar has made me a firm believer in MIM strats.

You don't see these two finishes listed in Fenders color chart on this website because they were limited edition finishes from a few years ago.

Your 2 MIM's are just Mexican Standards with a fancy finish. The fact that you are so impressed with the entry level MIM is a testament to the fact that they can be very good guitars. As I recall, it wasn't that way in the 90's and early 2000's. It seemed to me that quality at Fender Mexico started getting better with their major overhual in 2006 and really took a leap forward the past couple of years.

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

I've been singing the praises of MIM Fenders since I bought my first MIM Strat in 2000 and have bought a secong MIM Strat and an MIM Tele since and they are all great guitars.No need to swap out the pups as the tone and volume controls in the guitars and amps give the guitars fabulous tone anyway.To swap out the pups would be just gilding the lily.

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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.

I have 4 MIM Strats, and I actually prefer them to the American Standards. Granted, none of them have the stock pickups left in them, they've all had locking tuners installed, and only one of them still has the stock neck on it, but that's part of the appeal for me. Even with all the modding, I have guitars that are playable and sound good (IMO) and still cost less than my American Strats, which get the same expensive mods as the others, anyway. Just my two cents on the matter.

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Strat+Tweed=Tone

MIM isn't a handicap...

The FIRST Strat that ever caught my interest (in 40+ years of looking them over now and then) was a MIM...

It just felt different than any of the other Strats hanging on the wall beside it...



Took me two days to decide I couldn't live without it... and luckily it was still there when I went back to bring it home<G>


It still feels right, sounds the way I want it to sound, and ended up costing me less than $400...

Those Chrome Telecaster knobs and the "engine turned" look on the pick guard are original BTW, and part of what felt (and looked) so good<G>

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Still looking for that One Guitar To Rule Them All since 1964...
FSR Fender 60 Anniversary Strat HSS MIM, Gibson ES 335, Taylor 555, Ovation Custom Balladeer-12, Baby Taylor, Fender Princeton Chorus (stereo), Fender Champ 600

Here is my slightly altered MIM
Was born as a Deluxe Players Strat,

Reconfigured to Sperzel locking tuners, brass bridge block, Somarian cobalt Noiseless pups.

That's a lovely organ tchall is it a Wurlitzer?It looks like it may be a 70s model.

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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.

I can say this...my 2010 MIM Strat will never be modded. The pups sound great...of course it is through a Fender amp.. and the fit finish and feel are just fantastic! Plus the LPB color is to die for!! So if some folks have origin issues...I say good for them....better for us..
ABS

To each his/her own color/sound spectrum, the MIM and it's cousin are played thru these...[/img]

I love my 2006 MIM