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Post subject: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2019 10:13 am
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I have a few questions regarding the 72 Thinline Telecaster.

I was told by a Fender representative that the MIM and USA builds are identical. After a bit of research, I noticed that there are a few differences.

Neck Pockets: USA builds have a solid square neck pocket whereas the MIM builds have drill hole shapes near the neck pickup. I can't imagine that one method would save more time/money than the other. My understanding is that a good solid neck joint where the neck meets the body is critical for good/better sustain. Does anyone know why the neck pockets are routed differently?

Neck Pocket Mounting Holes: There are two additional holes in the neck pocket for the USA build. My guess is that they are there for painting the guitars. I am Just curios as to why the MIM's don't have them. The four holes seem to make more sense since there would be less stress on the neck joint. Does anyone know why the MIM does not include the two additional mounting holes?

Basically I would like to know why the guitars are built differently. I realize that the MIM guitars are less expensive, and I always thought that this was due to the cost of labor being less in Mexico. My main concern is the area where the neck pocket meets the neck. Again, just curios as to why the MIM's don't have the solid square cut. There seems to be almost 1/2 the neck/body contact on the MIM guitar.


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Post subject: Re: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2019 6:09 am
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"...and I always thought that this was due to the cost of labor being less in Mexico. "
- Alrod

Not IMO
IMO some ( all ?) parts wood are not the same quality.


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Post subject: Re: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2019 6:33 am
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stratele52 wrote:
"...and I always thought that this was due to the cost of labor being less in Mexico. "
- Alrod

Not IMO
IMO some ( all ?) parts wood are not the same quality.


That is another thing I would like clarification on. I was also told that for this guitar, the wood comes from the US from the same stock as the guitars built here. The same goes for the hardware.


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Post subject: Re: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2019 6:41 am
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Talking about where parts and wood come from, IMO today MIM guitars 's parts could not be same today and yesterday or tomorrow.

I alway buying American made Fender Guitar. I'll never need a better one on my life and no headache.
Second hand, you may always have good deal


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Post subject: Re: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2019 11:16 am
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Ash and alder don't grow in Mexico. No commercial maple there either. So the wood all comes from the US.
-------------------
The neck pocket with the "drill hole" corners was introduced in the '70s. For a while, all US Fenders had that pocket.

Nowadays, some US and some Mexican models have the original "form fitting" pocket, some US and some Mexican models have the pocket with oversized corners. On some models, some years have the original and other years have the oversized.

No idea why. Doesn't affect tone -- no neck is a perfect fit without any gaps. And as I said it's been used on high end US models too.
----------------
US screws a stick into the neck pocket as a handle to hold the body while spray painting. They started doing it that way back in the '60s, so they have thousands of paint sticks and hanging racks built for those sticks.

Ensenada factory was built in the '80s and set up with some other way to hold the bodies. US and Mexico both paint the same way. A walk-in spray booth with roll-in racks of guitars with a guy holding a spray gun.
-------------------
Some Mexican models use cheaper imported bridges and tuners. And US models are built with a little more care and attention than the higher-production Mexicans.

But a lot of the cost difference is indeed the lower cost of labor.
---------------
There are some models where I'd choose US over MIM. But there are others where I'd choose MIM over US.

The '72 Thinline really is pretty much the same thing except for where it's assembled. Personally I'd choose the MIM.


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Post subject: Re: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2019 1:31 pm
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strayedslater,
I would not pretend that you are completely wrong.
By cons that the wood all come from the USA, which I am not sure does not mean that it is of equal quality.

And it is well known that the majority of manufacturers in some areas whatsoever, if they pay more for labor (USA / Mexico) it is also by putting higher quality parts to justify the higher price.
It is not just a question of manpower.
Is Fender different? I do not know.


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Post subject: Re: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 2:42 am
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The main reason MiA guitars will be more expensive than MiM guitars is because they can charge more.

The aura surrounding the MiA guitars is promoted by having especially high end products with their Halo Custom Shop products. The probability is that Custom Shop guitars and their lesser siblings will share almost no production facilities.

There is no doubt that some of the hardware used on some MiA guitars is of higher quality than that employed on MiMs but also there are MiA guitars which use the same hardware as MiMs and MiMs use the same as MiA's.

The water is generally very muddy and the lines blurred.

What is true is that great and good value guitars can come out of the MiM factory and average over priced guitars can come out of the MiA factory as well as the opposite also being true. All you can do is judge each guitar on its own individual merits.

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Post subject: Re: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2019 6:04 am
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John Sims wrote:
The main reason MiA guitars will be more expensive than MiM guitars is because they can charge more.

The aura surrounding the MiA guitars is promoted by having especially high end products with their Halo Custom Shop products. The probability is that Custom Shop guitars and their lesser siblings will share almost no production facilities.

There is no doubt that some of the hardware used on some MiA guitars is of higher quality than that employed on MiMs but also there are MiA guitars which use the same hardware as MiMs and MiMs use the same as MiA's.

The water is generally very muddy and the lines blurred.

What is true is that great and good value guitars can come out of the MiM factory and average over priced guitars can come out of the MiA factory as well as the opposite also being true. All you can do is judge each guitar on its own individual merits.


You may be right.


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Post subject: Re: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2019 1:39 pm
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strayedstrater wrote:
-------------------
The neck pocket with the "drill hole" corners was introduced in the '70s. For a while, all US Fenders had that pocket.

Nowadays, some US and some Mexican models have the original "form fitting" pocket, some US and some Mexican models have the pocket with oversized corners. On some models, some years have the original and other years have the oversized.

No idea why. Doesn't affect tone -- no neck is a perfect fit without any gaps. And as I said it's been used on high end US models too.
----------------

I would still like to know why they did that, and why they still do it. It is something that can certainly affect sustain. A solid pocket with no perceivable gaps sure seems to be the preference for mid to high-end bolt on neck guitars. I have an Eric Johnson Signature Strat that is about as solid of a pocket as they come. I have had other USA Fenders that also had solid pockets. For some reason though, my experience is that MIM guitars seem to have paper to credit card size gaps on the sides of the neck pocket. Given todays CNC technology those size gaps shouldn't exist. Could it be that the MIM pockets are cut manually? this might explain the drill holes and the overall inconsistency.

strayedstrater wrote:
Some Mexican models use cheaper imported bridges and tuners. And US models are built with a little more care and attention than the higher-production Mexicans.

But a lot of the cost difference is indeed the lower cost of labor.

I was told by Fender that the MIM 72 Thinline Tele uses the same hardware as the USA models, so definitely a plus for this guitar.

strayedstrater wrote:
There are some models where I'd choose US over MIM. But there are others where I'd choose MIM over US.

The '72 Thinline really is pretty much the same thing except for where it's assembled. Personally I'd choose the MIM.

Overall I am very please with my MIM 72 Thinline Tele. I actually thought is what a USA build until the salesman pointed out that it was MIM. It sounds and plays like a high-end Fender. I did swap out the pickups for some Curtis Novaks, but only because I wanted something that sounded closer to the original WRHB pickups.


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Post subject: Re: Fender '72 Thinline Telecaster - MIM vs USA Builds
Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2019 1:24 am
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Alrod wrote:
Given todays CNC technology those size gaps shouldn't exist. Could it be that the MIM pockets are cut manually? this might explain the drill holes and the overall inconsistency.



No.

It could be MiM pockets are just bigger to allow tolerance or MiA neck roots are sanded less aggressively. Trying a MiA neck on a MiM body might reveal what the difference is.

It might be that MiM neck pockets deliberately have tolerance to avoid cracked pocket edges which isn't uncommon.

What ever, the majority of sustain will be through the screws and heel contact; hence the neck cracking trick where you back off the screws with the strings tensioned to get the neck to seat against the end of the pocket. Retighten the screws after it goes crack (obviously).

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