i like mim fenders. the average guitarist here plays mims or epiphones, sometimes with exchanged pickups. they get the job done, don't break, and can sound fierce and are reliable.
of course, japan and america can be better, but still. good bang for the buck.

Benny wrote:good bang for the buck.

they are good bang for the buck.

i too like mim fenders, but probably wouldn't ever buy one again. not because of quality, but because fender's had enough of my money.

i've learned a lot about guitars lately. mostly: they don't make any goddamn difference. play what ya got, if it's a p.o.s. get a better one or make it not a p.o.s.

Rodabod wrote:Did Mexico ever make any particularly good Fenders?

I play a MIM Tele. I don't know if it's good or not. It suits me though.

It doesn’t have any technical faults – it stays in tune, it plays okay. The finish is as good as I’ve seen on a MIA or MIJ model. It might be chunkier and slightly heavier than either of those. And I can’t really talk about tone – I play through a fuzzbox into a heavily distorted amp. At £450 (I think) cheaper than the equivalent US model – I’ll take the Mexican anytime.

I think the Jazzmaster looks great. I'd like to try one.

B_M_L wrote:

Rodabod wrote:Did Mexico ever make any particularly good Fenders?

I play a MIM Tele. I don't know if it's good or not. It suits me though.

It doesn’t have any technical faults – it stays in tune, it plays okay. The finish is as good as I’ve seen on a MIA or MIJ model. It might be chunkier and slightly heavier than either of those. And I can’t really talk about tone – I play through a fuzzbox into a heavily distorted amp. At £450 (I think) cheaper than the equivalent US model – I’ll take the Mexican anytime.

you're not really getting a whole lot of your dollars worth buying an american one anyway.


better pickups? how? they're the same basic pickup.

better build? ha! hahahaha!

better parts? the tuners '98 mia precision i had went out well before the tuners on the '98 mim jazz. also, the bridge on the p led to many a broken string. i don't know if they still put graphite rods (which did nothing to prevent the fender deadspot) in the necks. they've apparently upgraded the bridge on the basses, but i don't think that's gonna make any big difference. they've been using alder bodies on the mim's since '01, so that's kinda out the window. they changed the finish lately, but i never noticed a heavy finish vs. a light one to make any big tonal difference.

so many of the "upgrades" between the mim and mia are either purely aesthetic or just marketing. to top it off, both guitars being fenders, they're both completely modular. on top of that, you can buy better fender parts that aren't even fender.

lastly: $1000 for an mia p-bass? there's no shortage of p-basses. if i find i need another one, i'll shell out all of $100 for an sx.

The non-american Fender stuff is a crapshoot. You can find good examples of most MIM and MIJ guitars, but you have to be choosey. I've played a MIM Tele that was one of the better Teles I've ever played. I have a CIJ Jazzmaster and it's as good as most american JMs. On the otherhand, I've played a TON of shitty P.O.S. MIM and MIJ Fenders. A TON! I find that the Strats are just flat out shitty.

On the JM posted: I don't care for the J. -o-matic bridge. The headstock is WAY TOO SMALL. The tail is all tucked in. Who wants to stike such a small area? I guess they don't really get 'it'...

CRAP (on the JM)!

Rodabod wrote:Did Mexico ever make any particularly good Fenders?

The Buddy Guy strat is great, assuming that you are fine with strats in the first place. I haven't played a bad one yet, which more more than I can say about almost any other guitar on the planet.

that damned fly wrote:better pickups? how? they're the same basic pickup.

The pickups in MIM vs. MIA are very different. Magnets, coil windings and I'm sure the wire used is a different gauge as well. The two are audibly different.

The only fender I have ever had luck with is a MIJ Metal-tele that came with HB's, coil taps and a floyd rose trem. It was weird, and i felt like i should be in van halen, but it sounded great and stayed in tune. Oh, and it had been in a fire....which completed the look.

The MIA strat I had for a couple weeks wouldn't stay in tune, had a bum tuner, super dirty pots, and the neck loosened in the time i had it...and it was new.

The MIM tele had a bad truss rod, had to be tightened every week to keep the neck straight...about 1/4 turn.

I have had great luck with SX and such. I bought some parts for a p-bass, slapped them together and replaced the pickup with one of those GFS...best sounding p-bass i've ever come across, and only a little fussing w/ the truss rod/frets/action.

For the sum total of $150-200 and a couple hours of work you can easily have a better bass than the $1000 fenders. And I've had similar luck w/ guitars. I am currently selling off all my non-home-made guitars, because i just don't need them.

chris

sunset_gun wrote:

that damned fly wrote:better pickups? how? they're the same basic pickup.

The pickups in MIM vs. MIA are very different. Magnets, coil windings and I'm sure the wire used is a different gauge as well. The two are audibly different.

Magnets, coil windings, wire and even the bobbins are identical - same part numbers, in fact. Wound on the same computer-controlled machine in both cases.

can you confirm this?
i was completely sure that they are different. i have a frankenstein telecaster with a usa standard stratocaster pickup in the middle position, it has more volume and it's cleaner sounding that the other telecaster pickups. and i bet it's not only for the telecaster/stratocaster difference.