MiM Strats - Your advice please?

plazma · 2011-05-02T23:31:33+00:00

Hi Folks, I have outgrown my trusty Cort and want to acquire a new guitar - and it has to be a Strat. (maybe). A USA-made one is way out of my financial league, so I'm considering a MiM Strat. Could owners of this guitar please advise me if it is worth spending the money, or should I maybe look at a same-price Ibanez? Also, where in Cape Town is the best place to go looking for one? Thanks!

AlanRatcliffe

@ Keira - regardless of the intention, on the Internet, caps are regarded as shouting. It's one of those things. If you want to stress something, use italics - that's what they are for. Caps are for starting sentences (ahem! ?), bolding is for headings (and making everything bold does not make it stand out - it makes sure that nothing stands out).

chris77

Defenitely not a pro player, hell, hardly even an amateur ? , but I wouldn't swop my mia strat for a mim, no matter how pimped it is. But. I also wouldn't swop my ash mim tele for a us version. Some guitars just whisper all the right things in your ear when you hold them. Others hardly make a peep. So ja, look for a vocal one and you'll never let her go.

Keira-WitherKay

Alan Ratcliffe wrote @ Keira - regardless of the intention, on the Internet, caps are regarded as shouting. It's one of those things. If you want to stress something, use italics - that's what they are for. Caps are for starting sentences (ahem! ?), bolding is for headings (and making everything bold does not make it stand out - it makes sure that nothing stands out).

duly noted ,

Aphelion7620

Have had my MiM strat since 1998. Never had any problems from a tone point of view, they are great guitars if you set them up properly. You're probably going to get a bit of noise from any single coil guitar, so that itsn't really a problem specific to them. I don't know some of the pickup brands others have suggested but you can't really go wrong with Dimarzios or even the Fender Noiseless series. The amount of noise can also be related to the other gear in your signal chain. What kind of music are you playing and what other gear are you running?

plazma

Hi Aphelion,

I play keyboards mostly, virtual ones... (I have been studying guitar for about 2 years now). I have a very good Focusrite audio interface, but DAW's are prone to noise, which is why I'm asking questions about pickups, so I don't end up with a noisy guitar.

All I want is a decent Strat with noiseless pickups so I can get clean recordings. I've played a couple of MiM Strats in shops since my first post, and they all have noisy pickups. There are however noticeable differences in feel, handling and intonation, so I'm going to keep on looking until I find the right guitar.

Thanks

AlanRatcliffe

Any true single-coil - even the expensive ones like Fralins and Lollars - will pick up hum in in a noisy environment. However, the latest generation of noiseless "single-coil" pickups (Kinman, DiMarzio Area) sound authentic and are quieter than full-size humbuckers. I'm using both brands direct into PC for recording and they work great.

BTW, if you are using an older CRT monitor on your computer, upgrade to an LCD or LED screen and 90% of your problems will vanish.

StephenG

Alan Ratcliffe wrote BTW, if you are using an older CRT monitor on your computer, upgrade to an LCD or LED screen and 90% of your problems will vanish.

my HUGE noise problem on the single coils was the room lights dimmer switch.....
couldn't figure it out until one day i was sitting playing in the dark when the wife turned the light on = instant noise.

have now got a normal light switch and tossing the dimmer.

Aphelion7620

hey Plazma

No worries and best of luck. With that, have you considered a decent noise gate as well? It may be best to get a strat you like and then replace the pickups, i reckon...

Wizard

StephenG wrote
Alan Ratcliffe wrote my HUGE noise problem on the single coils was the room lights dimmer switch.....
I had the same problem.
Solved it by getting a different, better shielded cable from guitar to amp.
Fender Vintage Voltage solved the problem.

StephenG

Wizard wrote
StephenG wrote
Alan Ratcliffe wrote my HUGE noise problem on the single coils was the room lights dimmer switch.....
I had the same problem.
Solved it by getting a different, better shielded cable from guitar to amp.
Fender Vintage Voltage solved the problem.

I got me one of them Fender Vintage Voltage cables, and no noise... never made the connection... (ha ha, I made a funny !)

will try it in the kitchen with the florescent lights - they noisy as anything... will try diffeent leads and listen for the results.

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