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Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 8:57 pm
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Okay fella's here's how I see it.

The MIM guitars are NOT crap, trash or rubbish. :D
The Squier guitars are NOT crap, trash or rubbish. :D
Nor are they as good as the MIA guitars. :shock:

:idea: In support of this position I submit the following: Successful professional musicians don't play MIM or Squier guitars. (By successful I mean selling lots of music and making lots of money. You're famous okay) Nor do they play Epiphones or PRS SE's. These successful professionals choose the best tool to practice their craft and that tool is a made in America guitar regardless of the manufacturer.

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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:21 am
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Except Jimmy Vaughn.
But your right MIA's are better than MIM's 99.9% of the time. Both factories produce the occasional superstar and the occasional dud. My belief is that theres a high level of pride in the mexico factory at the moment, its reflecting in the standard of their guitars. Which seem to be improving constantly. I think theres a bigger overlap in quality than there was 10 years ago.
Good on em i say. Better guitars = happier buyers. It can only be a good thing.


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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:38 am
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Wouldnt you expect some kind of rivalry between both factories? This of course being in our advantage.


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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:47 am
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I can certainly see the Mexico factory trying to aspire to the level of the corona factory.
Imagine you had a big brother who was a local soccer hero and you being 12 years old got a place on the school side. What would the constant comparison between you and him do to you. Your either going to get improving fast or quit. The mexico plant is a business, quitting isnot a option for them.


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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:51 am
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And the pressure is on for 2009 in Ensenada :)


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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:02 am
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I want a Jim Root Tele (and I don't care where it's made) :D

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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 10:57 am
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Well, you're sorta right. Not many of us, even those of us who gig regularly are going to have the ready cash to have multiple MIA guitars. I for one would not play a bar gig with an MIA Strat or Tele for fear of theft. I had this happen once to my custom made, 1300 buck Carvin. Besides, most of those millionaire pros get gear given to them in return for endorsements. Oh, and excuse me, but John Lennon played an Epiphone guitar at the famous "Roof Concert." There are plenty of working musicians (they make a living at it) that I kow around here in San Diego that play MIM Fenders and Epiphone guitars. Heck I know one fellow that has played with a very popular band here in SD for many, many years and he plays a Fender Bronco bass (Squier) and has for what seems like his whole career. MIM Fenders are great guitars, as are some Squier models (Strat Pack guitars excluded from this statement).


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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:03 am
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now the Jim Root with its metal tele design would be the ideal next guitar for the mexican customshop designed series, or indeed a first for japanese customshop designed series.
A tele with Emgs has always interested me, i need a kahler or floyd for metal though. I just cant do the chuggachugga rhythm on any other bridge.


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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:04 am
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Does anyone know what tele scott ian played in the late 80's. That was floyded.


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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 11:44 am
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chucksolo69 wrote:
Oh, and excuse me, but John Lennon played an Epiphone guitar at the famous "Roof Concert.".


Back when Epiphone was a Made in America Guitar

chucksolo69 wrote:
There are plenty of working musicians (they make a living at it) that I kow around here in San Diego that play MIM Fenders and Epiphone guitars. Heck I know one fellow that has played with a very popular band here in SD for many, many years and he plays a Fender Bronco bass (Squier) and has for what seems like his whole career.


In my earlier post, I'd said successful, professional musicians, not working musicians. Check my definition of "Successful Professional" Being able to pay the rent by gigging at the local clubs and teaching kids to play isn't what I was talking about. Gigging at the local dives is cool, I'm not slamming it, I do it too.

My point was that real deal successful musicians who can play whatever they want to, choose to play American made instruments. Therefore they (the instruments) must be of higher quality than the MIM's and Squiers.

chucksolo69 wrote:
MIM Fenders are great guitars, as are some Squier models (Strat Pack guitars excluded from this statement).


I started my post by saying that the MIM's and Squiers are good guitars. No argument there. My point is that the MIA's are better.

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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:48 pm
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Jeff Healey played a Squier - I think he was a successful, professional musician.

Keith Wyatt - guitarist for the Blasters, Director of Programs at the Musicians Institute, the guy who does Fenders Beginners Instructional DVDs (is that professional and successful?) - plays Squiers.

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Last edited by Troublecall on Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:15 pm
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Ok, for one thing, a successful, professional musician IS a musician that makes a living and gets paid for playing music. You mean "Famous" type musicians right? Well, it doesn't matter to them about cost either does it? Paying three times as much for an MIA as opposed to an MIM could be considered exploitation since the ones I've played were NOT three times as good, period. Sounds like snobbery to me. Last time I read the specs on both MIA and MIM instruments I didn't see any exotic materials that the MIA had that the MIM didn't. Sure, pickups are made different and the bridge material is stainless as opposed to hardened steel, but really, three times as much? I would really like someone to actually come right out and justify price wise what makes an MIA Strat/Tele THREE times the price of an MIM. I can probably tell you: Slightly, and only very slightly better materials, finishing, and........LABOR costs. Even though the Corona factory probably employs 75%-80% Mexican labor they still have to abide by all the labor laws that apply in the US, not so in Mexico. BTW - Gibson is guilty of the same thing. They get 2500 bucks for a Les Paul because they can, not because it's that much better than an MIA Strat or Tele.


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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:25 pm
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Wow, these threads... Like I said in an earlier Strat thread, it really comes down to this regarding the areas where an MIA is superior over its MIM counterpart:
a) "richness" and "finish details" in the neck
b) pups
c) nice HSC
d) available finishes

Often, most MIMs get retrofiited with better-than-stock-MIA pups. Therefore ... at the end of the day ... as far as the guitar itself goes, the "differences" between an MIA & MIM all come down to the neck details and ... possibly ... a unique finish. That's it ... period.

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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 3:31 pm
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And, at the end of the day, 01GT eibach is absolutely, positively right!!!!!


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Posted: Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:34 pm
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The whole area of cost should be left alone. Otherwise you open a can of worms. For instance 'is a customshop $1000 better than a MIA', no its not. You will never see or hear the quality difference. It comes down to attention to detail, where MIA and the customshop have their faults too.
The fact is experience demands payment. Im a multitrade builder, my cost for plaster moulding work is absolutely extortionate. Plastering and drywall, less so. My rates for carpentry are cheap as chips. Thats capitalism for you, where i'm in guaranteed demand i charge the earth.

MIA guitars are generaly better but not always, sometimes someone comes from leftfield and will build better as regards woodworking. You can bet though that these people are singled out for re-location, we all travel for money.
There are constraints put upon fenders subsidiary builders, if you want to judge them it should be on woodworking, frets and component layout. My baja sounds everybit as good as any MIA but the bridge pickup cavity shows at the bottom of the bridge and the nut was incorrectly cut. I'm sure such things happen on MIA guitars too but its less frequent. You never hear those things on a record though. As for players guitars, what they gig and what they record are usually two different things. A old engineer friend informed me of 2 facts of recorded guitar that i struggle to believe, even years later. i've never known him lie though.


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