NGD: Fender MIM Strat

[Electric]

I've wanted a Strat for a while and stumbled upon this 2007 MIM Strat that has been upgraded with Fender Custom Shop Fat 50's pickups and a Switchcraft input jack. The price was right so I decided to go for it. I've played a lot of Strats in stores before and never felt like the American strats had much on the MIM versions, and this guitar reinforces my opinion. The neck is great, and the fretwork is very good. After putting a new set of strings on and a proper setup, the tuning stability seems to be just fine so far. The Fat 50's pickups seem to be fairly versatile and sound great.

The pickup and covers were pretty grimy so I decided to give it a facelift with black parts. Here's the before and after:

Before:



After:

[CowboyFromHell]

I agree. The MIM ones seem to be (for the most part) on par with most USA ones and for the buck you can't beat em. Love the new look. The black on black is a huge improvement IMO. Congrats and hope it turns out to be a keeper.

[Force]

Ive been keen for MIM lately but I just got another guitar. Gotta get a decent stratocaster someday, I need a break from shredders & hair metal eye burners.

The blackening has done the trick. This is not helping my fight against GAS.

[Cygnus X1]

Very Gilmourish!

I likey, congratz.

[warlok]

Had the exact same one but a 2006. 2006+ are every bit as good as the USA Standards IMO. All I did was put on stainless saddles and a TUSQ nut. (And a pearloid PG but that's just cosmetic..) Played great.. Looks good with the black!

[dvscool]

A MIM strat is my next purchase! I have been debating a USA strat for months. I can't justify the cost of a US strat because really, I just want a strat, to have a strat. Its not going to get tons of use. The only thing I know for sure I'm doing is swapping out the pickups for YJM's. Its cool to hear good things about the MIM's. I've read/heard lots about USA vs MIM. By the way, the all black looks WAY cool compared the black and white. Nice dude.

[lefty]

[QUOTE=Electric;1568324] I've played a lot of Strats in stores before and never felt like the American strats had much on the MIM versions, and this guitar reinforces my opinion.

Hehe, I've got a Jeff Beck Artist model US Strat and a MIM Deluxe Players Strat. They both sound great, but the MIM
model sets up nicer than the Beck, and def. plays better--at 1/3 the cost...

[Sharkfin]

Nice score, looks nice with the black pickguard. You should put black tuners on it to complete the look

[j2379]

Very Gilmourish!

I likey, congratz.

Was thinking the same thing. Yeah the MIM fenders are great unless its CS the USAs IMO are over rated.

[Force]

What about Charvelizing her? White PG back on with the black p'ups & dials & black bridge, tuners & jackplate?

[rjohnstone]

I dig the MIM strats too.
Nice necks.

I picked one up that had a questionable Wilkinson conversion done to it.
The posts were not dead on straight, but close enough to not be an issue.
The original pickguard was missing as well. I had one laying around that "fit", but it will be replaced with a proper one soon enough.
I did have a stash of black metal dome knobs for it... nice touch I think.

[vampire dark]

little experience....I've recently "played" with a friends lefthanded mexican strat and I really loved the neck( the feel of grabbing it cause I'm righthanded I couldn't really play) also liked the headstock a lot...very much maybe it is far from fender but if those mexicans with maple retboard had a floyd I think i would consider buying one(there are some out there but I don't really like the colours and not all of them come with a maple fretboard)