MIJ and MIM fenders, help me please

[stratovarious]

Ok heres the deal

Im looking for a 70's reissue strat

now I can get the MIJ one for 464, cheap as chips and all in all it'll cost me 770 with shipping AND SD Hotstacks.

and I can get an MIM for Im not sure, but more than the MIJ and plus the pickups will cost alot. theres one on EBAY now with a BIN of 550 he said he got it retail for 659

now Ive heard and read all over the place, that MIJ fenders are VERY VERY good, alot better than MIM's and almost as good as MIA's if not better

Ive heard MIM's are usually crap

and today I was talking with my guitar teacher and he kept saying the exact opposite, he said that the two MIJ's he had a while ago sucked. (at the time he got them he kept raving about how good they were but he got told that MIM's were better and he tried the MIM's and was blown away so he sold his MIJ's) and that all the MIM's hes tried have been amazing

I wanna know what you guys know

keep in mind, this isnt gonna be an 80's MIJ strat

if it was Id KNOW the MIJ was better

[willy4pres]

I have a MIJ Fender Jazz Bass, it's one of the non-import types. I have played the MIJ Fender 72 Thinline as well. I own a MIM Jazz Bass and used to own a MIM Telecaster as well.

Having said all that, MIJ's are a lot better then the MIM's (I haven't played the new MIM's though). The MIM is a great bang for the buck guitar, the MIJ (actually it's CIJ these days) is as good as the MIA's (I own a MIA Telecaster).

If your thinking of getting one of the non-import MIJ's from Ishibashi, once you figure in shipping it's a fairly expensive guitar. The MIJ Jazz cost me about $820.00 without an HSC (im a lefty).

Checking your original post out I say you go with the MIJ, it's the better deal for you and it will be a better quality guitar.

[h*bunter]

I have a MIM strat and think it is great...

Keep in mind this is one of those personal opinin questions though. The best thing to do is go to a music store and try them out. Which ever one feels like an extension of yourself, should be the one for you no matter where it's made.

[sisca]

MIM= Fender Naftacaster.

[stratovarious]

MIM= Fender Naftacaster.

which means ?

[hatchetforce]

which means ?

[speedtruckermf]

My problem with the MIM is the price. The 50's tele reisue is $649. It's frickin MIM. You could spend an extra $200 and get an American guitar. The difference is the craftmanship and hardware. The pickups suck. the solder joints suck, the wire sucks, not to mention the fretwork is absurd. The older MIJ are good, but you might as well buy USA when compared to what they're going for these days. Then again, I won't play a Fender unless it's from the CS. Bang for the buck has to be USA standard. Get one off ebay. Guitars are like cars, unless the're really old you lose money when you leave the store.

[willy4pres]

I think he's in Australia, a MIA Fender is probably more then he cares to spend. A regular American Standard will run you nearly $2000.00 in Australia and the UK. MIJ's are more common there and the MIM's are sorta exotic to them (and expensive), MIJ's are the only reasonably priced Fender available across the ocean, we have it good in the States.

[Nightaway]

I would spend my $500 on Warmoth parts then you know what you got! A Killer guitar.

[ncbuckeye3]

Lots of opinions above, I guess I will add mine. I have 14 strats, six are MIM. I don't have a MIJ (well one, a Strat XII 12-string, but not counting it). The MIM's are great guitars, there is nothing wrong with the craftsmanship. The reason people don't usually like them is the pickups have ceramic magnets in the MIM standard Strat and people don't think they have the classic Strat sound. The string spacing in the bridge is a little narrower also. Until this year, they had vintage style frets and a smaller trem block which a lot of people don't like, but this year they canged to med-jumbo frets and a larger trem block. Again, this is on the Standard.

The Classic series (50's, 60's, and 70's) all are made with vintage style American parts. The bridge is the same as what you will find on the American made stuff and is the same string spacing. The pickups are American made vintage Fender pups and sound pretty darn good. I have one of each and I love them all, the Classic 60's I have is probably my favorite guitar I have. I also have a Jimmie Vaughan sig model. This is probably the best bang for the buck in a Fender Strat you can buy anywhere right now. 50's neck profile with a 9.5" radius and med jumbo frets and Tex Mex pickups. The second tone control is hooked to the bridge instead of middle pickup, a nice feature.

Now to the MIJ series. There are typically two models of the different ones, the cheaper model which I bet you are alluding to above is made of basswood (like our Wolfgang's, but not like a Strat) and have, I believe, the same pickups that are in the MIM standards. There is a more expensive version that has an alder body (like the classic Strats they emulate) and nicer pickups, a lot of them come with Texas Specials.

So, I guess it depends on where you are and what you want. If it were me and I was dead-set on changing the pickups, I would get the cheaper of the MIM 70's reissue or MIJ large-headstock model with the alder body. You are going to have a nice set of pickups in the MIJ model (Texas Specials) that you should be able to turn over on ebay for around $85-$100 or save them for later.

If it matters, the next guitar I want to get is the MIJ ST68-85TX. It is a '68 reissue, large headstock but no bullet truss rod, and the Texas Special pickups.

Good luck and let us know what you do.

[ncbuckeye3]

One last thing, check out this link below to the Fender Discussion Page, there is a lot of information there.

http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html

[Zahzoo]

What's the difference between Mexicans building/assembling Fender guitars in Mexico -vs- Mexicans building/assembling Fender guitars in California? Not much...

As ncbuckeye3 said for the money the Jimmie Vaughan signature Tex-Mex Strat is your best bet for a MIM Strat. I own one and it kicks ass over $1200 American Specials for tone and playability. Obviously it's all subjective based on the player but the quality of parts and workmanship are virtually no difference... IMO.

[Otis5150]

What's the difference between Mexicans building/assembling Fender guitars in Mexico -vs- Mexicans building/assembling Fender guitars in California? Not much...

As ncbuckeye3 said for the money the Jimmie Vaughan signature Tex-Mex Strat is your best bet for a MIM Strat. I own one and it kicks ass over $1200 American Specials for tone and playability. Obviously it's all subjective based on the player but the quality of parts and workmanship are virtually no difference... IMO.

Regardless of whether they're MIJ/MIM, you can get a dud or a good one. My bass player has 2 jazz basses, one MIM/one MIJ, and they both hold they're own against the American Made Fenders. However, he tried out a lot of them before he found his, which everyone should do if possible.

When he was trying out the used MIM at Guitar Center, which he "stole" for $200, no one - not even the sales people - could beleive it wasn't American made. We even A/B'd it against some Americans and the sound and playbility were comparable.

[SactoFan]

You could avoid this whole issue by purchasing a G&L(George Fullereton and Leo Fender) Strat and being happy for the rest of your playing days...You can get them for criminally cheap prices on ebay and the destroy anything Fender is doing. The G&L tremolo alone is reason to ignore Fender...