Fender USA vs MIM

[veryLOUDdsl100]

This April I picked up a new standard american strat from samash, olympic white with a rosewood fretboard. Now for years I have been wanting to get my hands on one and have had a mexican strat for about five years now. So when I took a loan out of my 401k to do a family vacation early this April I took a little extra out to get this long awaited guitar of my dreams and I must say that while it is a little nicer cosmetically and has just a bit of a nicer smother neck Im just not feeling it for the price difference, and my mim has a fuller sound to it. I am happy to say I own a USA strat finally, but was expecting a little more

 

[Dogs of Doom]

One thing to keep in mind. Most big box stores do not set up the instruments. They just get them in, hang them by their neck & let people trample all over them.

Back in the day, I used to have an awesome tech, who made all my guitars play nice. In '92, I bought a Plus Deluxe & it was ok, but I always thought it could be better. Over the years, it seemed to get worse, until I finally decided to take a wrench to the neck, set intonation & action. Now, I've never been happier w/ it. I still need to tackle the trem bar set-up. It used to stay in tune better, now, one hit of the whammy & it's out.

 

[veryLOUDdsl100]

I set it up with some tens and screwed the bridge down and installed a jb in the bridge, I dont really use the trem on strats.I like a floyd or locking tremelo for any whammy usage. It dosen't play bad by any means, but it dosent sound any better than my mim which is set up the same way with a jb aslo.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

Did you get the TB-4 or the SH-4?

Are you using a 250k volume pot?

JB pickups are very treble heavy (thin & shrilly)

You should be using the TB, not the SH, although, the monkeys at GC/SA won't tell you the difference because either they are apathetic ignoramuses, or, they just want your money.

Seymour Duncan lists the tone of the JB as:

bass: 5
mid: 6
treble: 8

 

[veryLOUDdsl100]

Its the sh, the jb sounds good to me but your right it is a bright sounding pickup and i left the tone and volume pots stock on both guitars.

 

[poeman33]

Your MIM may have ceramic pickups, besides the JB you put in. They would probably sound hotter than the MIA Alnico 5 pickups. That might be why you think it sounds "fuller". The MIA should have more definition and clarity however. Give it some time to get used to it, because that can take quite a bit of getting used to.

 

[Stringjunkie]

My MIA smoke my MIM in every way. Just sayin.

 

[anitoli]

Any attempt ( if at all possible) to support American jobs is always welcome.......Nice guitar.

 

[sccloser]

Biggest differences in sound between the USA and MIM strats I had was the pickups. The USA strat pups seemed to be a bit lower output, clearer and sweeter sounding. The MIM pickups were hotter and edgier, drove the amp a bit better, but did not clean up quite as nicely. You have to adjust your amp differently if you want to get a similar overdrive from the USA as you get from the MIM.

While I always thought the sound of the USA was superior, I will admit that often in recordings and sometimes in live situations the MIM sounded better. The last MIM I had sounded great as a live guitar.

 

[rocknblues]

I agree with sccloser's statement. I also say replace the JB With a balanced/less aggressive pu to get a more even match with the single coils.

On another note, congrats on a great Guitar. when used for their strengths, those are hard to beat.
RB

 

[duncan11]

The MIM guitars are good but improved with a pickup swap. The MIA ones are better stock but I still did a PU swap on one I had. It was a 91 USA std and was really good. Should have kept it. Now I own a 06 strat deluxe which I left stock as it sounds really good. My cheapo strat is a MIM one and even with a JB HB in the bridge its natural resonance sucks. Poplar vs. better woods in the USA/CS lines. for budget/beater MIM is great. I dunno how recent years USA strats hold up but I'm thinking that sooner or later Fender USA standard line may go to the way of 'quality' like Gibson USA line. All my LP's are CS models and no USA LP model I've played can even come close. Whereas now if you want a good, MIA strat you have to go the Fender CS route.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

I tried to buy into the "MIM is just as good as USA" for years. My experience is that's a myth.

MIM guitars are very good quality, but not as good as USA. USA has advantages like better pickups, better woods, better hardware, rolled fret board edges, the neck shrinks less in dry seasons so you don't get the sharp fret ends jabbing you.

I feel secure in saying that, had you been playing the USA all these years and then switched to a new MIM, you'd feel like you got a good guitar, but not as good as your USA.

However, there are other things that attract me to the MIM guitars. Primarily, they ARE cheap. You can beat them and not worry. They come in a number of "reissue" types, such as 50's, 60's and 70's models: soft-V neck shape, 70's neck shape w/large headstock, various paint colors that you don't get on USA models, older style tuners and bridges, etc. To get those kinds of features on USA models you typically have to step up to the Custom Shop models at about $3K - OUCH!!

USA Strats have been commented on as sounding a tad sterile; great quality, but lacking personality. I have to agree to a limited extent, but in the end the USA is just a better guitar all around. For me MIM is a good guitar, but a USA is a better build.

YMMV.

 

[Vinsanitizer]

One more factor that particularly applies to Strats:

You can have a cheap Squier that sounds good to you and you grow to like it over time. Then you step up to a MIM or USA and you could say you're "just not feeling the love". That could be because the new guitar sounds like crap, but it's more likely that you're just not used to the new sound. No two Strats sound alike. Usually not even close.

 

[JayCM800]

I'd rather listen to a good player on a MIM than a bad player on a MIA!

 

[jvm210guy]

Idk, I think it's possible for a MIM to indeed sound better than a MIA. Why? Because, we all have different tastes. One man's good tone is another man's bad tone. We can get technical all day and say how MIA has better components, but it comes down to feel and tone, that's what it should be about...

 

[Vinsanitizer]

What are Buddy Guy's guitars? I thought they were MIM or something.

 

[duncan11]

What are Buddy Guy's guitars? I thought they were MIM or something.

The Jimmy Vaughan's are MIM, Buddy's may come from the Custom Shop.

 

[JayCM800]

Idk, I think it's possible for a MIM to indeed sound better than a MIA. Why? Because, we all have different tastes. One man's good tone is another man's bad tone. We can get technical all day and say how MIA has better components, but it comes down to feel and tone, that's what it should be about...

I agree... Let me explain in "brown and white": it's the same American management and the same Mexican work-force building in two factories only separated by a three-hour drive.

It all boils down to:
Nut width
String spacing
Paint
Patriotism

 

[Vinsanitizer]

The Jimmy Vaughan's are MIM, Buddy's may come from the Custom Shop.

Yeah, I think you are right. I had a Jimmy Vaughan years ago. It was great. I still have the hand-signed polish cloth with the leather pouch it came with.

 

[duncan11]

I had a 1996 MIM lake placid blue mex standard. I changed the bridge pu to a 'lil 59' stacked hb. Loved the color and it had some decent quality to it in terms of hardware. At the time, the Mexican Standards had older former USA line hardware, and the Mexican squiers had the shittier lower end hardware. My white 94 has this low end bridge and tuners, vs. that MIM std which had a USA bridge and way better tuners. I don't think they make them like they did in 96 anymore though.