The MIJ Strat had a nice enough tone but the more I played it the less I liked it. It had a great neck but the fretboard was tough going, with a very pronounced convex arch, which made bar chords a chore.
It also meant the action had to higher than I would have liked, as bends higher up the board simply bottomed out due to the arch.
For the record the Strat Plus I got only has a slight convex arch and with a considerably higher grade of rosewood fretboard. Playing it is a lot easier than the MIJ and it basically sounds far better as well.
That's the difference between the 7.25" vintage radius and the 9.5" modern radius. The bigger frets help a lot as well. For me, the perfect fretboard radius is Fender's 9.5" or PRS's 10" - just the right curvature for comfortable chording, but flat enough to bend strings on.
Apart from the radius issue, I think MIJ Strats are just as well
built as US ones, but I'm not sure the actual components are as good. On the couple I had, the bridge and tuners felt a bit flimsy - almost like the metal was "softer" somehow. And the Japanese electronics always need replacing. So you have a guitar that's a brilliant starting-point for upgrades, rather than a really great guitar straight out of the box.
I may have simply not had the best examples - maybe there are more upmarket MIJ Fenders (or similar) with better quality Gotoh hardware.
