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Post subject: American Vintage vs MIM Classic Series
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 3:16 am
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Location: Rye, NY
Hi all - Ignoring the diferences like fretboard radius, are these two Strats that different? Where does the large price difference comes from, apart from the cheap Mexican labor?
Thanks,
Gus


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Post subject: Re: American Vintage vs MIM Classic Series
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:50 am
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Hi gus: I was shopping for a Strat about ten years ago and looked at the MIM Classics, amongst others. Back at that time I couldn't find a Classic Series guitar I wanted to buy, because either they had tiny QC niggles of some sort (just minor stuff like fret ends or small finish issues) or simply they felt slightly crude compared to the "real thing".

I don't think that applies nowadays. Fender have very visibly done a huge push over the last few years to raise quality from the Ensenada plant, no doubt a part of the process of shifting production of many models there from Japan. So these days I think the MIM Classics give the American Vintage line a hard run for their money and they are excellent value at the price.

Accordingly, the American product has had to step up its act as well, and we've recently seen a reboot of the Vintage Series. What you find there is ever more precise emulations of the original guitars. They've gone back to the '50s and '60s dies and templates so you know things like body shapes and pickup construction are as accurate as can be. And they're modelling specific years or even months within a year, as compared to the Classic Series which just gives a generic view of a decade. And of course the Vintage guitars have nitrocellulose finish whilst on the Classics it's polyester on the bodies and polyurethane on the necks. And similar things hold true under the hood.

So it's all about level of detail. Some guitarists obsess over that stuff and some don't. If you don't mind about things like the paint and the exactness of hardware and electronics and want a guitar with broadly 1950s or '60s specs rather than a detail-for-detail replica of an exact instrument, then the Classic Series is a fine way to go.

It all comes down to scrutinising the spec sheets and seeing what matters to you.

Cheers - C

EDIT: typo - for flip's sake, what's wrong with my fingers today...?

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Last edited by Ceri on Sat Feb 02, 2013 8:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: American Vintage vs MIM Classic Series
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:54 am
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Very very helpful. Thank you Rock Icon.


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Post subject: Re: American Vintage vs MIM Classic Series
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:04 am
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gus wrote:
Very very helpful. Thank you Rock Icon.

:lol:

Yuh - just in case there's the slightest doubt, I did not choose to put Rock Icon under my name, in the same way you didn't decide to call yourself a "hobbyist".

That's one feature of the Forum many of us would love to get rid of if we could... :oops:

Cheers - C

EDIT: spelling.

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Last edited by Ceri on Sat Feb 02, 2013 7:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: American Vintage vs MIM Classic Series
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:16 am
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Ceri wrote:
gus wrote:
Very very helpful. Thank you Rock Icon.

:lol:

Yuh - just in case there's the slightest doubt, I did not chose to put Rock Icon under my name, in the same way you didn't decide to call yourself a "hobbyist".

That's one feature of the Forum many of us would love to get rid of if we could... :oops:

Cheers - C


Oops. I just noticed that!


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Post subject: Re: American Vintage vs MIM Classic Series
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:46 am
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gus wrote:
Oops. I just noticed that!

Hahaha - there's just a bit of me that's mortified to think how many people out there might think some of us the kind of arrogant swine who'd actually write "Rock Icon" or similar under our own name. Yikes! :lol:

Cheers man - C

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Post subject: Re: American Vintage vs MIM Classic Series
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 6:23 am
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I believe that the Fender plant in Ensenada is producing guitars that rival what Fender California was producing in 1956. A steady improvement has been happening since 2006. They have upped the "game" all around.

I have a couple American Standard Strats 2004, 2008, and a 2006 FSR Standard MIM that has a few modifications. The MIM is my second best sounding guitar. The 2004 MIA is not as nice as my MIM is.


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Post subject: Re: American Vintage vs MIM Classic Series
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 6:48 am
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I heard that the MIM Classics are custom shop standards these days. I bet that playing blind fold most people would not be able to tell the difference between a MIM Classic and an Am Vintage. BUT, the sonic blue of the Am Vintage does look nicer tho - I think it's because it's faded.


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