Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

[SARJ]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

Got the Texas Specials on order as we speak. The Strat on the other hand is currently being hand picked in El paso TX by a friend of mine. I'm getting the sunburst with the rosewood neck.

[BigDaddyD]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

Texas Specials are ok. I have a set, but would recommend the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage set. They give you all kinds of great authentic tone without the noise. If you want a hotter tone get the "SOLO" lead pup for the bridge, Heavy Blues for the neck, and the regular for the middle. The SRV thing would be the Heavy Blues in the lead and no solo.

[SARJ]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

I've had Texas Specials before and loved them. I have played Strats with the Virtual series DiMarzios and they did sound good. I don't mind the noise all that much. I think the Texas Specials give a raw edge. DiMarzio singles are a bit on the synthetic sounding side. I have an HS-2 DiMarzio in my DK2 and it sounds great, but is very compressed compared to the stock Duncan Designed single it had. The HS-2 is a stacked num canceling single coil that still sounds like a single coil, but higher output and no noise. I like it in my DK2 but it would sound funny to me in a Strat. Strats and noise kinda go hand in hand. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[BigDaddyD]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

The HS-2 is not part of the Virtual Vintage series

[Suck my kiss]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

This may sound like a stupid question but what does MIM mean. Made in Mexico?

[GWARGHOUL]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

Yep. It means Made is mexico.
For some reason, Fender forums don;t mind "made in mexico"...but they take offense to MIJ for made in Japan...they woudl prefer you to use CIJ...as in crafted in Japan. No doubt that the Japanese Fenders are indeed beeter than Mexican ones...and many of the American ones for some years. I used to be a Fender player.

[SARJ]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

I hear complaints about both. One dealer says MIJ Strats suck and another will say MIM Strats suck. I've played both and would have to say they both are pretty good. I've played more crappy American Strats than anything else. Bad fret work, ecessively noisy pickups and bad tone. I must be getting ahold of a bunch of 2nd's or something. I have yet to play anything crappy from Fender-Mexico. One good thing, if you get a crappy one at least it didn't cost close to a grand.

[Greg Crowe]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

One of the Fender big-whigs told me that the bodies for the MIM strats are actually made in the USA and sent to Mexico for assembly and setup.

As a fellow JCF're once told me,..... Would you rather pay $1000+ for a "USA" strat assembled of USA parts in California by Mexican's or.... would you rather pay $250 for a Mexican strat assembled of USA parts in Mexico by Mexican's??? [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[toejam]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

My 2000 USA Double Fat Hardtail sounds and plays great, but there was a little fret glue on one or two frets and a little bit on the rosewood board that I scraped off, and on the side of the fretboard where the dots are, you can clearly see a couple of the fret slots could use some filler. Not really that big of a deal, but they should check a little bit more on their QC.

[fritzreiser]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

I just a got a MIM Fender Deluxe Series Double Fat Strat yesterday as a beater guitar. I'm very impressed! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] The fit and finish are pretty good and the sound is way cool (of course, the EMGs certainly help!)

Strat

[Jim Shine]

Re: Fender MIM guitars, Poplar or Alder

Yes, all the Mexico bodies and necks are cut in Corona California along side the American series of guitars (but not custom shop). The bodies and necks are just CNC roughed out here then are final sanded, fretted, finished and completed in Mexico.

As far as comparing Mexico and USA guitars, there are a couple of items that are dramtically different. 90% of the hardware on a Mexico Fender is made by Ping in Korea. It is overall a lower quality than genuine Fender, Gotoh, or Schaller parts. USA Fender guitars have Fender made hardware with the exception being the tuners which are either Gotoh or Schaller depending on model. Other things like truss rod and pickups are also different reflecting a cheaper price. Extra touches like rounded fretboard edges, and tension leveled frets also lacking on the Mexico guitars. Mexico guitars can be modified to be as good as a USA model with changing of the parts and a good fretdress. Reissues are different as MIA's are Nitrocellulose finished and Mexico guitars are not.

CIJ and MIJ are two different eras of Japan made Fender's, not a preferance in terms. First note is there is no Fender factory in Japan (Mexico is a real Fender factory). Fuji Gen Gakki makes Fender guitars in Japan. From the 80's until the mid 90's Japanese Fender's have "Made in Japan" above the serial number. Since the mid-late 90's they are branded "Crafted in Japan" and are considered to be better quality then the "Made in Japan" era guitars because alder and ash woods have been used more often and USA pickups come factory installed.

[ April 09, 2003, 11:22 PM: Message edited by: Jim Shine ]