Hey everyone quick question. Saving up for a Strat and what a difference in price between made in America vs made in Mexico!! Is the American made version worth the price? is there a huge difference between the two? Thanks!
In the last year I got a Made in Mexico Tele Player I and a Made in Mexico Ensenada HSS Strat Player II. Both were new at about a $300 discount each. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I am very happy with both guitars so far and they are my "gig" guitars (i.e. the guitar I will take out the house and not go into depression if an elephant sits on it).
I like that they upgraded to vintage tuners and removed the fake rosewood and replaced it with real rosewood. My Tele has maple neck so I wasn't concerned with fake rosewood, but I probably would not spend over $500 for fake rosewood.
Neck feel is identical. 1.65 nut width with a modern C will appease a majority of players. Satin finish is nice on the back of the neck. Seems like the Mexican fenders I've gotten needed the frets polished to remove grit, so I've gotten good at that. Even my McCready fell issue to this. No sharp frets on either.
Mods: I changed the knobs out on my Tele because they didn't have good grip and put on locking tuners. For the strat, it came with three (3) springs on the trem and I had to add two (2) more to get the trem parallel with the body. So about ($100 in mods for the Tele and $10 for the strat). If the Tele I had vintage tuners like the Tele II, I would have kept them and saved $70 on the locking tuners.
Finish was 9/10 on Tele and 8/10 on Strat (i can see seams in body if the light is "just" right, but not an OCD issue. Just something I notice every once in a while).
For under $600, I can easily recommend. If getting closer to full price, I would start looking to see what is available locally on Craigslist for American Made.
It does make me wonder how much better a $3000 guitar is over a $600. It isn't 5 times better, for sure. That said, anyone see the new Jack White Triplecaster ....
The MIM guitars Fender is producing right now are the best they've ever been. Much better consistency and QC than they used to have.
It really comes down to the individual instrument for me, though. I have to play it firsthand to decide if it's coming home with me.
FWIW, I currently own two MIM Fender guitars and one MIM Fender bass. No American Fender I've played around here warranted the extra cash over what my MIMs do for me.
If hope can grow from dirt like me, it can be done. - EV
The nice thing about Fender (could be bad depending on your perspective) is that unless you know guitars, you really can't distinguish the cheap ones from the most expensive ones. I have a plethora of guitars hanging on my wall ...
... and I ask people visiting (all non players) to pick their favorite and more have picked a $150 Squire surf green strat over over guitars 20x more expensive. And it is nice that Fender doesn't put a "Junior" or "Student" or "MIM" on the headstock to let everyone know you are one of the poors.
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so get two guitars for the prices of an American one.
It really comes down to the individual instrument for me, though. I have to play it firsthand to decide if it's coming home with me.
FWIW, I currently own two MIM Fender guitars and one MIM Fender bass. No American Fender I've played around here warranted the extra cash over what my MIMs do for me.