Author Topic: Fender MIM standard strat, or alternative? (Read 8853 times)

_tom_ · « **on:** January 02, 2007, 12:51:38 AM »

I've been after a semi-decent strat for a while now and I have the money to get one of the Standard MIM strats from Thomann -

http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_mex_std_strat_aw.htm

I'll obviously replace the pickups and stuff later on when I have the funds but how are the essentials - wood and neck?

A mate of mine has one which he says is the same model (bar the colour, his is metallic red) and it feels really nice to play, stays in tune well and sounds fine unplugged to me but I've heard the quality can be hit and miss. I was going to save a bit more and get the Lite Ash strat but I dont really like the birdseye maple neck, prefer the regular maple look as on this model I linked to.

Of course, if theres a better alternative for anything up to £350 in arctic white and with a "small" style headstock (cant stand the big 70s ones) then let me know!

Thanks

Fubar · « **Reply #1 on:** January 02, 2007, 12:57:00 AM »

I'm not a fan of buying musical kit off the net, is much better to try before you buy. You tried PMT (what a name! :lol: ) in Northampton? I was in there just before christmas and iirc they had quite a wide range of strats. Unfortunately I didn't get much time to check 'em out as was after something specific and had my girlfriend with me who was gets a little nervous when i'm around expensive guitars! :lol:

_tom_ · « **Reply #2 on:** January 02, 2007, 12:58:47 AM »

Nope, not tried PMT ( :lol: ) yet but I was planning on having a look on Thursday after school to see if they had anything decent.

Fubar · « **Reply #3 on:** January 02, 2007, 01:04:48 AM »

Quote from: _tom_

Nope, not tried PMT ( :lol: ) yet but I was planning on having a look on Thursday after school to see if they had anything decent.

Is nice in there, keep an eye out for the mint condition early 90's Ibanez Universe in that interesting swirled finish. Beautiful guitar but I wouldn't wanna pay the three grand they're asking for it. There's a few quite nice fender custom shop bits too! :D

_tom_ · « **Reply #4 on:** January 02, 2007, 01:09:05 AM »

Is it easy to get parked near-ish PMT, and easy enough to find? I dont know Northampton very well, I've only driven through there once or twice.

Fubar · « **Reply #5 on:** January 02, 2007, 01:13:58 AM »

It's right at the bottom of bridge st. There's the St. John's open air car park nearby or another that I forget the name of behind it (round by heine gerrike/argos/the Jolly w**ker). Is on the outskirts of northampton town centre next to a pub called the King Billy. You know the area at all?

Another thing to bear in mind is that there is a huge team of traffic wardens in northampton and they're all on comision, there's nowhere near the town centre that isn't pay and display.

Crazy_Joe · « **Reply #6 on:** January 02, 2007, 11:05:09 AM »

First of all, it has no humbucker. Secondly it is made in Mexico and personally i would wait and save up for an American Series one.

_tom_ · « **Reply #7 on:** January 02, 2007, 11:12:39 AM »

Quote from: Fubar

It's right at the bottom of bridge st. There's the St. John's open air car park nearby or another that I forget the name of behind it (round by heine gerrike/argos/the Jolly w**ker). Is on the outskirts of northampton town centre next to a pub called the King Billy. You know the area at all?

Another thing to bear in mind is that there is a huge team of traffic wardens in northampton and they're all on comision, there's nowhere near the town centre that isn't pay and display.

Nope I dont know Northampton very well at all, the only time I've driven around it was to get to the Deco and I cant even remember that too well. I guess it'll give me something to do all day as I've only got 2 lessons Thursday morning :P

Joe I'm not sure if I want a humbucker guitar again at the minute, I heard some clips of the BK Uber-Singles and they sound really good, plus I think 3 singles looks better than HSS on this kind of strat.

Elliot · « **Reply #8 on:** January 02, 2007, 11:18:02 AM »

newer Mexican Fenders are generally good quality - good necks, the body wood is now alder and is the same wood that is used on US Fenders (although there maybe more pieces) - the hardware was upgraded in 2005 to include a steel block.

The pickups are'nt to hot but that's the first thing to change.

_tom_ · « **Reply #9 on:** January 02, 2007, 11:25:38 AM »

Someone on HC recommended these Fame guitars, built in europe and apparnetly the quality is really good. The strat (Classic model) looks so nice, comes with schaller hardware and apparently the frets are all hand dressed so no sharp edges etc should be on em -

http://www.fame-instruments.de/

I will try to play some strats in northampton if I can but this Fame looks really nice to me.

Joe Dorcia · « **Reply #10 on:** January 02, 2007, 11:27:09 AM »

US fenders are wayyyyy overrated. I have a US strat and a Mex and the mex neck is much much nicer to play, but the body was much lighter. If I were you, I would have a look out for a Tokai ASD-50 or AST-50 (i think that has HBs). They're Japanese built and I just have one on hold for me at my local. Mine is a ASD-50 in Fiesta red with a maple board and neck in with a vintage tint, as it is a 50's style. It was lush to play and I dont think i'll need bkps straight away! The pups sound superb i have to say.

Hope it helps

Joe

_tom_ · « **Reply #11 on:** January 02, 2007, 11:31:02 AM »

Cheers, I've been looking out for Jap fenders on ebay but no luck so far. I found that Fame strat on a german site who ship to the uk, seems like an awesome deal for £270 - http://www.musicstorekoeln.de/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/MusicStore-MusicStoreShop-Site/en_EN/-/EUR/ViewProductDetail-Start;pgid=?ProductRef=GIT0006413-003%40MusicStore-MusicStoreShop&JumpTo=OfferList

Btw - which neck (50s or 60s style) is closer to the fender modern c shape? I dont like baseball bat necks but love my mates MIM fender.

_tom_ · « **Reply #12 on:** January 02, 2007, 04:11:36 PM »

HMM! This looks good, but I have no idea about these Japanese sellers, and the auction doesnt have any specs on it -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fernandes-Burny-Custom-Guitar-Vintage-White-MIJ_W0QQitemZ320065234508QQihZ011QQcategoryZ141188QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Any idea? Who are the best people to buy japanese guitars from?

Crazy_Joe · « **Reply #13 on:** January 02, 2007, 04:16:08 PM »

You should check out some Tokai strats, the Tokai forum absolutley love them!

dave_mc · « **Reply #14 on:** January 02, 2007, 04:57:45 PM »

Quote from: Joe@fortyseconds

US fenders are wayyyyy overrated. I have a US strat and a Mex and the mex neck is much much nicer to play, but the body was much lighter. If I were you, I would have a look out for a Tokai ASD-50 or AST-50 (i think that has HBs). They're Japanese built and I just have one on hold for me at my local. Mine is a ASD-50 in Fiesta red with a maple board and neck in with a vintage tint, as it is a 50's style. It was lush to play and I dont think i'll need bkps straight away! The pups sound superb i have to say.

Hope it helps

Joe

+1 I tried a tokai japanese tele the other day and it was very, very nice. Only thing I didn't like was the nut width (d'oh!), and the radius seemed very vintage. But it was like £359, so a similar price to mexis- and I think it played better than the highway ones, possibly the usa standards too. assuming the tokai japanese strats are of a similar quality, and you don't mind a quite narrow nut width, I'd seriously look into those, at least to try.

only thing is, from what I hear, they're being discontinued, and Fender are licensing them to make their Japanese versions. Of course, that may just have been the salesperson's spiel to justify not throwing as much cash off it, as it was now "collectible"! :lol:

:drink: