Wood quality. MiM v MiA strat

Roland

Most of the price difference is Added Value, rather than the incremental cost of materials and components. 

Roland’s definition of “Added Value” - an excuse for putting the price up.

skunkwerx

JDE said:

skunkwerx said: a small alloy wheel set up in Thurrock advised and sorted things better than the dealer the wheels came from. 

On the estate with the trampoline place? If they’re the ones they’re ace!

Oh yeah! That be the one!

Wheel Traders Ltd, I've remembered. 

I'd gone to three different places locally, and none of them could or would help, mostly due to lack of knowledge, half didnt understand what I was even trying to explain. 

The bloke there at wheel traders, both understood what I was on about and double checked everything I asked too, and seemed to care about proper fittings to boot, as I did take a replacement set of wheel bolts, but he advised against them after checking the insertion depth. 

Really helpful place, and £20 for a 'refit' seemed reasonable to me, though so would £50 as I was panicking by that stage. 

Not only that but he finished with a torque wrench, which was a delight as its the proper way to do it, where other garages looked at me like I was being petty. 

I'll deffo go back there when I need new tyres. 

MikeS

Not entirely off topic, just slightly askew...

I've been looking at used MIM Thinline '72 Tele's lately, and right now as we speak there are two for sale, one in Soundaffects, and one at guitarguitar both with extremely squint bridges.

I 'imagine' on the Mexican production line that there's a 'jig' of some sort that bodies are placed in to make placements of the bridge an exact science.

But the guys there seem to be using that Jig with their eyes shut

A 'bit' off...

Hells bells...

skunkwerx

Theres a lot of speculation out there regarding the lower end Mia line, the Specials / older Highway Ones. 

See I presume the American special, being made in Corona, is a Us built guitar with Us parts, completed and sent out from Corona. 

But online theres a lot of people speculating different things. 

Some say they're made in America but assembled and sprayed in Mexico.

Some say they're made and completed in America out of Mexican woods and parts. 

Others say they're made in America but with Mexican hardware. 

Others say theyre made in America but by a lesser skilled team of Mexicans lol! 


Then I discovered an argument about the Texas special pickups that come in the American Specials. 

One guy saying theyre not the same as the Custom Shop Texas Specials..

I mean I'm happy with mine, but it would be interesting to know! 

HAL9000

lonestar said:

In a nutshell? I don’t think fender give a shit about “wood quality”. They use anything and everything to make their guitars. Leo also used anything spare to make the originals... nothing went to waste.

I’m rather suspect you’re right. But it cuts both ways - I once owned an Squier Affinity Tele which, rather than having the usual anaemic maple fretboard, had a lovely honey-hued lightly figured ‘board. Probably just what happened to be next off the shelf.

skunkwerx

MikeS said:

Not entirely off topic, just slightly askew...

I've been looking at used MIM Thinline '72 Tele's lately, and right now as we speak there are two for sale, one in Soundaffects, and one at guitarguitar both with extremely squint bridges.

I 'imagine' on the Mexican production line that there's a 'jig' of some sort that bodies are placed in to make placements of the bridge an exact science.

But the guys there seem to be using that Jig with their eyes shut

A 'bit' off...

Hells bells...

They're the fancy extra compensated types lol! Ones a leftie on a rightie though.. 

Well, same as the nut thang on the latest player series run though. Was weird. 

Philly_Q

@MikeS ; I wonder if it's the bridges which are wonky, or the scratchplates?  I'd have thought the holes for the bridge would be drilled quite precisely, whereas scratchplates seem to be attached in a fairly freehand manner.

It does look like it's the bridges, though. 

Sometimes you can loosen the screws, tighten them up in the right order (because one screw might have gone in at a bit of an angle) and it straightens out.

MikeS

I thought about pointing the white one out to Soundaffects, but they surely must have clocked it...

You would think

rossi

sjo89 said:

The strat I picked up was a lite ash korean made. Limited run I think back in mid 2000's. I don't know if I picked up a bad one but the neck shaping was really weird. The 'V' was very sharp and pronounced and there were some pretty straight edges on it too, especially in the lower frets region. Felt nowhere near as comfy as my modern C neck, to the point whereby my thumb actually ached after a while due to the pressure being exerted on the joint. My local guitar repairer is currently working on it doing his best to tame the V and round it off a bit, but annoyingly he cant be as aggressive as I'd like as the truss rod is so close to back of neck. The neck itself is beautiful though, flamed maple. 

The lite Ash I played a few years ago was just about the only  actual Fender (as opposed to Squiers )with  what i call a cheap  Asian type neck .In other words the maple neck is two piece with a seperate fret board  stuck on   and a bit higher than other Fenders .

Octafish

MikeS said:

Not entirely off topic, just slightly askew...

I've been looking at used MIM Thinline '72 Tele's lately, and right now as we speak there are two for sale, one in Soundaffects, and one at guitarguitar both with extremely squint bridges.

I 'imagine' on the Mexican production line that there's a 'jig' of some sort that bodies are placed in to make placements of the bridge an exact science.

But the guys there seem to be using that Jig with their eyes shut

A 'bit' off...

Hells bells...

Whoa, that's appalling. I had a MIM Classic 50s Strat and the kluson style tuners were a bit wonky in alignment (looking at rear of headstock). Got two MIJ Strats of similar price and the tuners are perfectly aligned.

Philly_Q said:

@MikeS ; I wonder if it's the bridges which are wonky, or the scratchplates?  I'd have thought the holes for the bridge would be drilled quite precisely, whereas scratchplates seem to be attached in a fairly freehand manner.

It does look like it's the bridges, though. 

Sometimes you can loosen the screws, tighten them up in the right order (because one screw might have gone in at a bit of an angle) and it straightens out.

Can't be sure in the first pic, but definetly the bridge on the white one. Look at the bridge relative to the lower pickup and the upper pickup relative to the neck heel.

GoldenEraGuitars

HAL9000 said:

lonestar said:

In a nutshell? I don’t think fender give a shit about “wood quality”. They use anything and everything to make their guitars. Leo also used anything spare to make the originals... nothing went to waste.

I’m rather suspect you’re right. But it cuts both ways - I once owned an Squier Affinity Tele which, rather than having the usual anaemic maple fretboard, had a lovely honey-hued lightly figured ‘board. Probably just what happened to be next off the shelf.

Yes totally. And let’s face it, wood is a natural and all unique. It also depends who was spraying at the time. Maple tends to be somewhat naturally pale, it’s always nice to see it take on some colour.

sjo89

Wow, seems there's not much respect for MiA then? At what price does a significant difference occur then in overall quality? £1500? £2k?

wesker123

Didn't Billy Corgan say it's all about the colour? 
Sorry not helpful 

GoldenEraGuitars

sjo89 said:

Wow, seems there's not much respect for MiA then? At what price does a significant difference occur then in overall quality? £1500? £2k?

The last fender I owned was a 2007 US strat. I sold it to partly bank roll my business. It was a great guitar. Good looker too. As has been said already, the US stuff is all tooled in the states and that’s where a lot of the cost is - labour. The actual components are better quality too but at the core of it there is little difference between the wood used and the poly finishes applied. Due to how good manufacturing is at lower price points the quality differentiations are pretty minimal imo. Of course, the end result is a case of how well the instrument is set up. 

sjo89

So my crazy plan isnt so crazy then? i.e. buy cheap guitar and then spec it up with good hardware? I figure the hardware I fit to it will be better quality than the stuff on the MiA anyways? I can recommend Iron Gear pickups. Put a new set for £70 on my strat and very pleased with them, greatly improved the guitar.

LastMantra

I've got a MIM 60s roadworn in sunburst (nitro). Cracking guitar but AFAIK not far off a grand new (I bought SH). Add to that a case and you're heading towards £1000+.

LastMantra

When I think about it, re. the op. Did I read somewhere that the wood used for these was shipped to Mexico from America? ...or did I dream that...? Lovely two piece alder anyway. Reassuringly hefty. 

mbe

I can understand the OP trying to tame the neck profile on his new Strat. I tried one of those Korean Fender Strats, lovely instrument but neck was like a Toblerone.

thegummy

NelsonP said:

I think it's less to do with the manufacturing location and more about the cost constraints for MiM vs MiA.I would guess that a MiM guitar has cheaper wood. 

But how much cheaper or whether it really makes a difference to the player is a different story.

Surprised you would think that - labour in Mexico is definitely cheaper than it is in America so surely that has to come in to it, would shock me if it didn't. Is there any evidence for the wood being cheaper? (Whether it's any different in quality is a different story, I'm just asking about actual cost).

When I look at all the things we know will increase the price of the American ones - the labour is a big one to start with. The fretboard edges are rounded. The tuners and bridges are higher end. The pickups are Custom Shop rather than the basic ceramic ones on the Mexican. And as mentioned above, it comes with a really nice hard case rather than a simple gig bag.

All of that added to the markup for it saying "made in America" (because people will pay more just for that) doesn't leave too much over for there to be a huge difference in the wood does there?

thegummy

sjo89 said:

So my crazy plan isnt so crazy then? i.e. buy cheap guitar and then spec it up with good hardware? I figure the hardware I fit to it will be better quality than the stuff on the MiA anyways? I can recommend Iron Gear pickups. Put a new set for £70 on my strat and very pleased with them, greatly improved the guitar.

Not sure why the hardware you buy would be better than the MiA Fender's hardware? They use pretty good stuff.

I don't think your plan is crazy. You're clearly not being sold the "made in America" trick or that would have already swung it for you. 

I personally prefer the feel of the neck on the American ones than the Mexicans I've played but if you're having your neck worked on then presumably you're getting it done in a way you prefer so if you change the hardware and electronics and you already like the look of it I think you'll have just as good a guitar for you as if you bought an off the shelf American.

If there is any difference in the woods used I would struggle to believe it would be in a way that actually affected how the guitar played or sounded.