Photos of your guitars

mcgruff10

Great info, thank you!  the HSS model really vary in price!

DE4173

Not mine, but didn't know where to post this:

https://gretschguitars.com/gear/build/solid-body/jack-antonoff-signature-princess-antonoff-electromatic-cvt/2505384505

https://youtu.be/geLlQFbcgRs?si=VwH15ZlwQNlUWgYO

DE4173

https://x.com/JohnMayer/status/1844399257664586145?t=zZzcftNYIk_gIzUQY5y2hw&s=19

mickeyrat

seems a tad unwieldy.....

thoughts?

https://www.threads.net/@brooksrocco/post/DBAMpBKu9E-?xmt=AQGzl_1el4_Nskj8iA4t8rAGWWBTSU2TMIvko7Aii7nzcA

gimmesometruth27

mickeyrat said:

seems a tad unwieldy.....

thoughts?

https://www.threads.net/@brooksrocco/post/DBAMpBKu9E-?xmt=AQGzl_1el4_Nskj8iA4t8rAGWWBTSU2TMIvko7Aii7nzcA

my first thought is "i want to burn it and pretend i never saw it." lol

mfc2006

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago. I've had my eye on it for awhile - ever since I saw it at a Guitar Center a couple of years ago. I loved the easy action & the tone. Plus, it's so easy to travel with. In any case, thanks to gift cards I found from my Mom & wife, I grabbed it & absolutely love it. This is my 3rd Gretsch! 

SVRDhand13

mfc2006 said:

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago. I've had my eye on it for awhile - ever since I saw it at a Guitar Center a couple of years ago. I loved the easy action & the tone. Plus, it's so easy to travel with. In any case, thanks to gift cards I found from my Mom & wife, I grabbed it & absolutely love it. This is my 3rd Gretsch! 

Beautiful- hope you enjoy! Nice pic too. Here’s my clusterf*ck of a household lol 

mfc2006

SVRDhand13 said:

mfc2006 said:

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago. I've had my eye on it for awhile - ever since I saw it at a Guitar Center a couple of years ago. I loved the easy action & the tone. Plus, it's so easy to travel with. In any case, thanks to gift cards I found from my Mom & wife, I grabbed it & absolutely love it. This is my 3rd Gretsch! 

Beautiful- hope you enjoy! Nice pic too. Here’s my clusterf*ck of a household lol 

We have an (almost) 2 year old, so our house is pure chaos. My guitars are in my office, so that room is pretty tidy! The rest of the house? NOPE! Ha!

SVRDhand13

mfc2006 said:

SVRDhand13 said:

mfc2006 said:

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago. I've had my eye on it for awhile - ever since I saw it at a Guitar Center a couple of years ago. I loved the easy action & the tone. Plus, it's so easy to travel with. In any case, thanks to gift cards I found from my Mom & wife, I grabbed it & absolutely love it. This is my 3rd Gretsch! 

Beautiful- hope you enjoy! Nice pic too. Here’s my clusterf*ck of a household lol 

We have an (almost) 2 year old, so our house is pure chaos. My guitars are in my office, so that room is pretty tidy! The rest of the house? NOPE! Ha!

Lol my daughter is almost 3.  I have to check my volume and gain settings before each session because she loves to mess with her daddy! 

mfc2006

SVRDhand13 said:

mfc2006 said:

SVRDhand13 said:

mfc2006 said:

Just picked this up a couple of weeks ago. I've had my eye on it for awhile - ever since I saw it at a Guitar Center a couple of years ago. I loved the easy action & the tone. Plus, it's so easy to travel with. In any case, thanks to gift cards I found from my Mom & wife, I grabbed it & absolutely love it. This is my 3rd Gretsch! 

Beautiful- hope you enjoy! Nice pic too. Here’s my clusterf*ck of a household lol 

We have an (almost) 2 year old, so our house is pure chaos. My guitars are in my office, so that room is pretty tidy! The rest of the house? NOPE! Ha!

Lol my daughter is almost 3.  I have to check my volume and gain settings before each session because she loves to mess with her daddy! 

Ha! Our daughters have that in common! I try to record when she isn't home...but I definitely need to make some adjustments when she is home.

mcgruff10

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!

Jason P

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 .... 

Jason P

Cat with a Strat ...

Jason P

Tele Player 1

mcgruff10

That s really really good info!!!! Thank you @Jason P
so get two guitars for the prices of an American one.  

dudeman

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. 

Jason P

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. 

mcgruff10

Really digging the stratocaster vintera series.  Gonna go in a try one in the next few weeks.  

dudeman

mcgruff10 said:

Really digging the stratocaster vintera series.  Gonna go in a try one in the next few weeks.  

I was on a quest to find a Jazzmaster a while back and the Vintera was the best feeling and sounding out of all the ones I played. Fender got a lot right with that range of guitars. The MIM Vintera Jazzmaster was noticeably better feeling than the MIA American Performer model.

Hopefully the Strat works out for you!

lexicondevil

Jason P said:

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. 

I guess if you're only looking at the guitars, this is good? I do need to try more MIM models. The ones I tried I didn't like the way they played all that much. I ended up getting an American Performer series. I like it, but don't love it as much as my Am Pro Jazzmaster. I've always been a Gibson guy, so it's opened up a whole new world delving into Fender.