Fender Strat. MIA vs. MIM

aubs1 · 2009-04-14T12:23:16+00:00

If you're a Strat fan and already own one, this may or may not interest you. If however, you are in the market for a Strat, this may be interesting. It's rea...

Fender Strat. MIA vs. MIM

selbydoodl

Just my personal observations: -

MIJ Fenders usually have a great build quality - note - made in Japan NOT crafted in Japan.

A well set up Mexican Strat will always beat the pants off a badly set up American Strat.

Lastly you must remember that Mexicans probably build the Made in America strat as well as the MIM. LOL ?

AlanRatcliffe

selbydoodl wrote: Lastly you must remember that Mexicans probably build the Made in America strat as well as the MIM. LOL ?

True! Fully 80% of the US Fender workforce are Mexican immigrants.

Gearhead

Are we getting racist here? ?

Most successful companies do well because they control their quality to be at a constant level - not necessarily a high level. That way, customers get value for money. I think it is very hard to make constant quality guitars because of the inconsistency of the materials used - which is why one should always play a guitar rather than accept the brand+type for what it is said to be. Imho if one MIM sounds better than one MIA this means little (and even less about Mexican labour). Except for the MIM being better value for money in that particular case!

aubs1

selbydoodl wrote: Just my personal observations: -
A well set up Mexican Strat will always beat the pants off a badly set up American Strat.

Obviously!!.......or ANY other BADLY set up guitar for that matter!! ? ?

BTW.......the original thread was not about what's better or what's not........it was purely about the DIFFERENCES!!! However, many interesting observations came out here.... ?

vic

aubs1 wrote:
selbydoodl wrote: Just my personal observations: -
A well set up Mexican Strat will always beat the pants off a badly set up American Strat.
Obviously!!.......or ANY other BADLY set up guitar for that matter!! ? ?

BTW.......the original thread was not about what's better or what's not........it was purely about the DIFFERENCES!!! However, many interesting observations came out here.... ?

Hi Aubs....very good thread...I also know now the differences between MIA and MIM....and much thanks for the PM.
Vic

Sean

Gearhead wrote: Are we getting racist here? ?

Not at all, we just don't like the Dutch ? ?

slyd

selbydoodl wrote: Just my personal observations: -

A well set up Mexican Strat will always beat the pants off a badly set up American Strat.

Lastly you must remember that Mexicans probably build the Made in America strat as well as the MIM. LOL ?

I have 99/2000 Mexican metallic *? cherry red Strat. Every time I walked past the shop (about 4-5-6 times), i stopped in for a test on it.... it rocked! Eventually it was a Had to Have!!!
As good or if not better than the MIA's or MiJ's
As mentioned . . . it's personal thing ?

Riaan

The bottom line also: a Mexican strat is still better than no Strat at all! I'm very happy with my Godin, but I still want to get a Strat. It's just one of those things a man must do in his lifetime...like...well let's not elaborate on that!

aubs1

Riaan wrote: The bottom line also: a Mexican strat is still better than no Strat at all!

Hahahahaha ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!........ ? ?

Wizard

I don't know all the theory ... but have played a few MIA's ... and one MIM ... and all of the MIA's have been w-a-y nicer.
No idea why. Just were.

Riaan-Combrink

Wizard wrote: I don't know all the theory ... but have played a few MIA's ... and one MIM ... and all of the MIA's have been w-a-y nicer.
No idea why. Just were.

I would love to see/hear a 'blind test', with the player not knowing which is MIM or MIA. Could be interesting.

Saw an incredibly cool segment on Gordon Ramsey's F Word where he put Sir Cliff Richard to a blind wine tasting, the Sir just having released his first vintage of celebrity plonk. You guessed it - his least favourite wine (called it 'revolting' I seem to remember) was the one from his own vineyard in Portugal ? He was mightily upset at Ramsey for pulling the fast one ...

Point is that our experience of anything is inevitably coloured by expectation, experience, folklore, brand goodwill, etc.

And yes, I've recently bought a MIM. ? . Found it in a pawnshop for R 1 699, and at that price just had to have it - as Riaan said ...

Riaan wrote: a Mexican strat is still better than no Strat at all!

aubs1

Riaan C wrote: I would love to see/hear a 'blind test', with the player not knowing which is MIM or MIA. Could be interesting.

Hey Riaan, nice to see you're back after a while.........

I think anyone who knows Fender Strats would know the difference blind-folded, provided they were both factory standard, and played through the same amp, not modded......

Most MIM (standard) owners that I have come across, who then play an MIA (standard), will agree...... and Wizards comment is absolutely true.......They are just w-a-y nicer!

Congrats on your MIM, that was a fantastic price. I would have bought it too, stick on a set of Kinmans, (which is the plan), and away you go..........

MIKA-the-better-one

I think you can get some rad Mex strats or fenders for that matter, and you can get some crappy americans AND vice VERSA
Its all down to what feels good. I have always had a little desire to by a mex standard and mod the life out of it, and see what i get.
I personally think the USA standards are not great.... but that is so so so so subjective

singemonkey

A long time ago I decided to try out three telecasters (relevant in terms of quality issues) in a shop in London - a Squier, a MIM, and a MIA. The Squier was purest rubbish. Not even worthwhile as a beginners guitar imo - buzzy, horribly tinny, ugly, etc.. The Mexican tele felt and played great. The American tele, with a dirty fretboard, was also nice, but I couldn't discern any difference from the MIM. This impressed me even more when I looked at the tag and discovered it was a 1958 tele going for 25,000 pounds.

MIJ Fenders are not at all hard to buy over the net new, or second hand, from Japanese sites. The range is huge, the prices are not, the customer service is - by all accounts - superbly Japanese. MIJ Fenders come in a range of materials, and options (see their amazingly old-fashioned site here: http://www.fenderjapan.co.jp/).

For me, I'd always go vintage. So MIJs and MIMs would be my choice for the 50's or early 60's experience. MIJs are made by Fujigen and Tokai, so you know the quality's going to be good.

Wizard

I see the ingenius technique they use to stop westerners from buying MIJ guitars
--> you can't understand anything on their site !!

singemonkey

Two words: Google. Translate. ?

Also the specs are all in English. You probably wouldn't want to buy directly from Fender either. The suggested retail prices tend to be a lot higher than the retail prices... well in Japan. Here it's the other way around.

But you're actually right, Wizard. I think buying from Japan is a little bit of a secret, because most people just see a whack of Japanese text and think it can't be done.

Wizard

Cool. I learned a new trick today. Google / translate.

An excerpt from their (translated) site says:

Please.
We made this website is for Japan.
Services in the home, and limited in Japan and all other prices.

:-\

MikeM

You can get export only Fenders easily :?

Rob-dos

i have a MIA strat and my friend has a MIM and he got his for 4k from marshall music as it was old stock.. there are some times where i think mine is better, they sound similar or his kicks mine out the window..

I think its down to what sound you looking for, my cousins 10w solidstate fender amp has a blues punch that my all tube amp dreams of having..

I think alot of people authomatically assume more expensive means better.. i think there are some really bad, but there are alot of good if ur willing to spend some effort on it

i read a story that jimmy page could not get the sound he needed for since iv been loving you, then he took a walk and found a random amp that he would not have bothered using and it ended up producing, imo, one of the greatest blues tones ever made.. who cares about his 200watt marshall, his ear creaming orange or the arm and a leg costing amps he had.. (haha running off the topic, strats haha)

the nicest sounding fender iv ever played was a 6k MIM Telecaster in a Boksburg guitar store.. wish i had bought it ☹

*my 4 cents worth*