Some of the greatest guitarists have played this instrument like Hendrix, Blackmore, Malmsteen, Gilmore, Beck, and many others. Fender tends to put their high quality of craftsmanship when it comes to their American made fenders.
This guitar has been a tradition for over half a century and will be a long-standing tradition for years to come. One of the greatest advantages to the American Stratocaster is that it can play any genre such as blues, country, EDM, funk, metal, alternative rock, and everything in between. Sonically, the Americans can do it all.
The professional sounds fantastic unplugged. It has an innate tone that is airy and bright with a generous sustain and attractively hollow acoustic-like resonance.
Also, the tone pots are pleasantly voiced too. As a player, you can get more than a decent traditional jazz tone by rolling them back.
Overall the American Strat delivers incredible plugged in. With every pickup position, tones ring and chime with a great sustain and snappy-crisp attack. The American has a basic tonal balance and a sense of top-end headroom. The player can dig in hard for aggressively bright tones that still sound consistent and listenable. The volume pot in the American is wired using the popular treble bleed bypass mod. This means that tones lose no treble when lowering the volume knob.
The American has a fine built quality, richly nuanced tones, and zingy resonance to it. Even with its fullest chords, there are clear note separations. From a practical standpoint, the tuners on the Americans are more staggered, which means the string posts get increasingly shorter towards the high E string. This angle suits the players more optimally and, as a result, helps to remove the fret buzz at lower string heights.
And having the 22nd fret is a nice bonus to play those squealing high notes that we all love. The frets are narrow and taller to make the bender much more easier for the player.
The truth is the American Stratocaster is built for nostalgia and made to be a vintage. If you intend to keep your guitar for a long time, this is the one to keep. Some of the most iconic musicians across many industries have played the Stratocaster. While most Fender Stratocasters hold a high standard of quality for component parts, and finish, some models will include more advanced features that increases the cost.
Other features that may raise the cost of the Strat are rosewood fingerboards, or pop-in tremolo arm and locking tuning pegs. The American Stratocaster has a bunch of additional features giving the player the ability to improve their performance. Also, hardware differences such as the rounded fretboard edges, polished frets, and other features that make it feel more high end. The American overall has better performance and playability.
Because American Fenders often have fancier features and more expensive options, which may improve their "overall quality" but it has nothing to do with how the body is finished or how the neck feels or whatever.
Dashface Member. Messages 6, It's all up to you and what you prefer. All of them have been fine But I haven't yet found one that had a shot at being a " 1". Your mileage, of course, may vary! Now, MIJ Fenders on the other hand Messages 1, You'll tend to find better hardware and pickups on the US made stuff in most cases. Fit and finish can be a little hit or miss on both I think, though US might have an edge overall there just in consistency.
I had a Baja tele once that was just a great guitar T Member. Let's give this micro thought USMarine75 Member. The big reason for MIA being better is better parts and options. An American Elite Strat has ebony fretboard, S1 electronics with noiseless pickups love or hate , " compound radius, upgraded steel saddle trem, etc. But fit and finish and QC seem fairly comparable. I've prob played in the last 6 months and haven't played a dud MIM one. The MII one is magnificent. Darkness Member.
Messages 2, Depends on the model. I had a Am Dlx that definitely felt, and played, far superior than even the lesser American models. And finally, both Fenders come in a Synchronized Tremolo style but the American fenders have stainless steel saddles — not much of a difference as far as performance but again, a marked improvement over the Mexican Fender as far as quality in materials goes.
As far as which of the two is right for you depends on a few things — mainly the price difference. It goes without saying that all in all an American Fender is the superior product but if the extra cash is no object.
Even with that said, a Mexican Fender — although lacking some of the superior parts and more modification options of the American — is still a great instrument and an outstanding price with several musicians out there who actually swear by them over their pricier counterparts. What's the better choice for YOU? Recent Posts. Is a 7-String Guitar Worth It? American Strats are okay, but I only notice a very subtle difference between those and the Mexican Strats.
Pickups in both of those ceramic OR alnico are bland! Only thing my mia had on my mim was better bridge saddles. One thing to remember Fender always keeps ya guessing so you need to take in consideration the year of your guitar.
I'll stick with my mim Strat. That's the equivalent of what you'd get if Fender hadn't developed those sub-models. I always thought that the American quality control is better than the Mexican. However, this year I bought an Elite Thinline Tele and was really disappointed about the quality:.
In addition, the Fender support was really bad. They answered my mail very slowly, then they missed to order the spare parts and then they discovered that the pickguard is not available as a spare part.
These were the ones that had American necks and bodies that were shipped to Ensenada after the fire destroyed the factory. It had a Squier Series decal on the ball of the headstock.
These were made in ''95, I believe. Mine plays and sounds as good as my other MIM's. I've got two Strats and like them both. Sweet axe, lower frets, smooth as silk, custom shop wound pickups. Very nice. Wasn't planning on picking up another but was shopping for a Blues Junior and an American Special HSS came with it for a real nice price. It's got the Texas Specials and Atomic Humbucker, as referenced above. Jumbo frets is the biggest difference, feelwise, both both guitars are a joy to play and both really rock the blues.
I'm keeping them. Just picked up a mim vintage blonde deluxe strat. Noiseless pickups, locking tuners, two point bridge and a push button to combine pickups. I played a bunch of mia strats and did a lot of research. When it came down to it, the mim had all the features i wanted listed above, as well as maple neck with satin finish at half the cost of a mia strat. It does need some tweaking on the intonation, but overall i couldn't be more happy.
I am just a 20 year hobbyist so take itfor what you will, but this mim is a sweet deal. I have played since the 70's and owned Les Pauls and SGs as well. Sorry but nothing plays or sounds better than my black maple neck American Standard.
That's been my experience. Different strokes I guess. But like the man said, "Are you experienced? Will contact , see if the seller can send a better pic privately. It is the second one I saw like this and passed on the last one. What the seller tells me I have learned not to put to much faith in. Like the mint condition just professionally set up guitar I looked at,, it was neither. Perhaps you can get some clarity from the seller, since the writing sounds like it is hard to read in the pic.
There is a MIM strat with the fender script on the head for sale. In the picture it looks like the Fender script that was on my MIM strat. But it looks like it says pictures a little blurry squire in script all the way at the top of the head and might even have affinity in script under the squire.
I had a squire that had affinity on the head at the top. Is this a squire or a fender stratocaster? Or is this what voodoo was talking about? The neck was bowed with nearly an inch of space between the strings and the fretboard. It is so cheap it does not even have a skunk stripe. I cranked down on the truss rod fully expecting it to break, it didn't. Dressed them put some new tuners on it so it would stay in tune more then one song. Well I can't believe how good it plays , it might be the best playing guitar of the bunch.
But the sound is terrible , thin with no depth but it plays great. Feels wonderful. Been playing for 45 years have owned a left handed MIM which I really liked but the whole backwards thing not so good. Had a squire but it had the narrow neck like my es which is why I don't play that. So do I put good pick up on this China special or just keep as a novelty. They're about the same when it comes to tuning stability. Everyone I have ever played with that had a Mexican or Asian made Fender head tuning stability and intonation problems.
I have tried to set their guitars up but could not get them to stay in tune or Intonat properly. I myself but an older Japanese Strat to install my midi pickup on without having to butcher my original 72, and it had very poor tuning stability. Nothing I did could make these guitars play in tune from more than one song. What to wear when I hired a guitar player, I specified he had to have a vintage original, or Custom Shop guitar.
As far as I am concerned everything else are just toys. Sorry to have to say this but that has been my experience. I have to agree with most of these guys. Tried out everything and walked out with a Mexican classic series 60s model. I've been playing an Eric Johnson signature and have also had my fair share of mia. What a truly remarkable in depth hub, fascinating and you covered so much detail.
Guitar Gopher you nailed this one, just love music and this is a must read for all those who treasure the guitar and into music.
My husbands plays guitar and drums. I'd like to disagree on the playability and sound of the MIM Strat I own a deluxe players model with graphite saddles medium jumbo frets on a 21fret C neck with vintage noiseless pickups and a 2 piece alder body.
I'd put it against any American made model with equal specs and it will play and sound just as good. It is an outstanding fenderbto say the least. Voodoo: Have you ever encountered such a thing personally? But, what about those rare Squier series that were assembled in Mexico with overstock American Strat necks and bodies but say Fender Stratocaster with the Squier Series on the ball of the headstock. Just feels and sounds nicer. The idea that MIM strats don't play as well needs to go away.
They play just as well as any other Strat. The tone of the 60s pups is fanastic, too. I don't think you wasted your money, Steve. Hang on to that MIA Strat! Sounds awesome, Mark! Congrats on grabbing a great guitar. I think you experienced what a lot of players find out: That there are occasional duds in the MIA series as well as anywhere else.
Always good to check out a guitar before you buy! As I said, I personally like the MIM pickups, but if they don't grow on you you can always swap them out. Good luck with your new Strat. I think you made a good choice. Thank you for your reply. Really disappointing. MIM neck is made considerably better, just as it should be. Good job Ensenada! However, if you are looking for vintage vibe I think you might be happier with the CV, plus it costs a whole lot less.
I do not think the "custom" vintage-style single coils on the CV are the same pickups as the vintage-style single coils with the staggered poles on the CS, but they're similar. The vintage-style singles are a bit warmer and richer, a little more subtle. All that said, I think the quality on the MIM is a bit higher across the board. If cost isn't an issue, and you don't mind modding down the road, the MIM Strat gives you a great chassis for experimenting with different pickups until you get the sound you want.
Great article.. Myself and my guitar teacher would do a "blindfold" test of and American And Mexican Strat.. Sound and tone more come from feel of how you play.. Many thanks for this hub. I was thinking about American Special for some time, but eventually decided to grab an inexpensive strat with maple fingerboard trying to choose between Fender MIM and Squier CV '50s.
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