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Post subject: Should I buy an American Original or the Jimmy Page Mirror?
Posted: Thu May 02, 2019 7:24 am
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Hi everyone. I’m a long time Fender player and I currently own a japanese made strat which I love aesthetically but the guitar doesn’t exactly sound amazing (it's my only guitar and it cost me around $850). I’m looking to upgrade to the best Fender guitar I can put my hands on since it’s the sound that I love and that I need for my (now) professional work as a guitarrist, both in studio and live bands.

I don’t exactly have the money for a Custom Shop and I wouldn’t feel very safe traveling around the country with a 4,000$+ instrument that can be stolen, lost or damaged. But at the same time I need something very realible, very easy to play and with the best possible sound, since I've been doing a lot of professional work, especially in studio environments. I like vintage style instruments, and I'm trying to understand which guitar is the best for me. Below custom shop, there's only two USA made instruments that I really really love, which are the American Original 60's Strat (or tele) and the Jimmy Page Mirror Telecaster. Now the problem is that there's an almost 1,000$ price gap between these two guitars, what I would like to understand is what the justification for this difference is. Is it just because the Mirror Tele has Page's name on it? Is it the candy case? The hand wound pickups? Is it a better and more solid build with better attention to detail and better components? I have no idea.

The guy that I buy my stuff from (very reliable dude, but a salesman nonetheless) told me that the Jimmy Page is comparable to a Custom Shop guitar but without the logo on the back of the headstock. Does anyone have any idea if it would be worth to put 1,000$ extra to get the Jimmy Page over the American Original?

To clarify: Both strats and teles are great for my work and I'm fine with buying either of these instruments, I have serious GAS for both and have tried and loved both. What I need to know, since I'm much more of "player" than a "connesseur" (if that makes sense) is if the Tele will, in the long run, be a better and more reliable workhorse than the American Original - I just need to understand if I can justify the 1,000$ extra or not. While trying them, I felt like the Tele was a superior instrument, but 1,000$ more? Maybe not but I tried it for a very short period... BUT, things like intonation, tuning stability, durability, weight (the JP is REALLY light) are all very important to me since I'm a working musician.

So... if build quality, reliability, durability and sound were your priorities (money matters ofc, but not the main focus since I can afford the JP even though I'll be poor for a while), each of these would you choose and why?

I AM trying to justify the purchase of the more expensive guitar, but some help in determining what the extra 1,000$ would objectivily give me would be greatly appreciated :D Thank you very much.


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Post subject: Re: Should I buy an American Original or the Jimmy Page Mirr
Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 3:45 pm
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Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:36 am
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Location: Chorley, Lancs, UK
Hi FlamingoFlavor, welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry I can't answer your question about which guitar to buy I have no in depth knowledge or experience of eighther model. I'm sure there will be someone on here who can give you some ideas to consider.

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Post subject: Re: Should I buy an American Original or the Jimmy Page Mirr
Posted: Mon May 06, 2019 7:14 pm
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 10:28 pm
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Location: SoCal, US
The Custom Shop models cost double what the Page model costs.
The Page model costs $2500 because of Page's signature and the mirrors.
Overall quality, it is simply a production US Fender product.
If you think the Tele would be a better option than the Strat, then go with an American Original or American Professional model Tele... or one of my favorite is the MiM Baja, which has 4-way switching and phase inversion for the neck, so it will produce some tones that neither a traditional Strat nor Tele will produce.

Intonation is often a concern on the Tele with the traditional 3-piece bridge, but Gotoh makes compensated saddles that are not angled and retain the look of "proper" saddles. I'm using them on my Partscaster and the intonation is dead-on.

IMHO, the Page model is not worth it.
Only you can answer that for you though.
Personally, I'm not big on "signature" guitars if they are particularly unique.
I'm good with a Hendrix Voodoo, but I wouldn't buy a Monterey MiM... I would (assuming I had unlimited budget) buy a Custom Shop version of the Monterey as a collection piece.
I view the Page Dragon and Page Mirror, Steve Harris bass, Brad Paisley, James Burton, and even the SRV (because of the pickguard) the same way.
I'd rather have a guitar that is just "a Telecaster" than one that will give the trolls something to latch onto to say "poser". Let the music speak for itself.

But that's just my opinion. I can't speak for you, and if I see you playing a signature model on stage, I won't think less of you because of it.

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Post subject: Re: Should I buy an American Original or the Jimmy Page Mirr
Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 1:01 am
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Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2015 6:57 am
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I'm with CB. That said, assuming you don't actually apply the mirrors, the JP Tele is pretty anonymous aside the signature on the rear.

The only way to tell if it is worth the extra money (of which I am sceptical) is to play your choices back to back and see which one works for you. Guitars are tactile things and often specification is irrelevant.

All that said, a Strat will be more flexible and the position 2 and 4 offers mellow tones unavailable on a Tele. A Strat can do a reasonable Tele like sound but a Tele won't cover all the tones available from a Strat. For a Pro I would have thought that flexibility would be a benefit ....unless you are changing to use alternate tuning periodically when a Strat is a pain. And talking of flexibility obviously you have a trem on a Strat.

If your new gig is purely Tele like tones then go Tele - but not necessarily the JP. Otherwise Strat all the way. The other thing to consider is (my favourite) weight. You don't want a ships anchor hanging around your neck if you are standing up all night.

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