comparison between fender MIA, MIJ, MIM e. guits

[jf_element]

heys i was wondering.. are there really special characteristics for fenders made from these countries (and whatever other countries fender guits are made in)? like, i heard MIJ fenders, the quality very good, and cheaper, etc.. but not really sure how true that is.. =/

so...?

 

[Lifehouse]

MIA - Good if you have some serious dough to spare. I'm not a keen fan of the Highway series though, so my votes for the MIA would be the signature series, deluxe etc..

MIM - I'd generally give it a miss, though there are some exceptional ones from this series, JV strat, Robert Cray etc.

MIJ - I think they are better than MIM, when compared to the typical MIM non-signature guitar. There are some that can more than match an MIA. A good example would be the Richie Kotzen signature tele. Just the specs more than blows me away.

 

[Timex]

Go for either the MIA or MIJ. Based on the online prices for MIJ fenders, they are actually quite worth while.IMHO the craftsmanship of MIJ guitars is either on par or even better than the MIA ones. MIM....nah

 

[ChanMin]

actually... the MIM makes some decent stuff too... but i guess the Made in japan tag... has its " reknowned " global status... deeming it superior.

but nevertheless.. a good guitar is a good guitar. regardless of country of origin.
best bet is still to get an educated opinion on a specific guitar ... or go try all and decide which is better.

from my experience.. MIA is pretty damn sweet... QC wise... japanese really are meticulous and are very good platforms to get a awesome strat. My take is to upgrade the pickups... and use at least 0.10s.

my MIJ costs just as much as a MIA now... with its single coil upgrades - Kinmans.

bright side is that after my upgrades, i will never play any other strat but my own now... its that kick ass...

 

[rottenramone]

..

bright side is that after my upgrades, i will never play any other strat but my own now... its that kick ass...

OI! The dude with the blinking fret markers!!

 

[jumbofret]

Some info I got from the Fender Japan 2004 collection catalogue.

Fender Japan has the following categories:
Vintage, Vintage Premium, Vintage Collection, Craft Premium and finally, J-Craft.

Lifehouse mentioned the Richie Kotzen sig Telecaster. It belongs to the Craft Premium class, which include other signature guitars and re-makes.

 

[jf_element]

didn't know MIM are so lousy (ie generally not as gd as MIA/MIJ).. no wonder so many MIM fenders floating around luthermusic buy/sell section xD

 

[Timex]

Maybe Swee Lee should consider switching to MIJ strats instead. Think they would have a good market if they can cut down their prices.

 

[popeye]

didn't know MIM are so lousy (ie generally not as gd as MIA/MIJ).. no wonder so many MIM fenders floating around luthermusic buy/sell section xD

Jimmy Vaughn strat is also MIM. But it's good.

 

[part_time_idiot]

:lol: I m a MIM user too.. bought the std... coz dun have the dough to buy the better ones...

well.. to me.. i make a comparison of spec between mim std, highway one and american delux rite down to every part... i was thinking of getting the h1.. but since i dun have tht much to spare.. i thought do i actually wan all those additional stuff and pay more??

so i just scratch those thoughts and get back to basic...

if u cant really appreciate the diff... dun waste the time comparing through words...

i ve tried some low quality mij as well, its a HSS... suck big time... the neck is lacquered as opposed to matt type.. the pickup doesnt sounds rite...

I ve also tried MIM stds which have buzzing frets and etc... so i guess their qc is varied...

sometimes, a big chunk of money of the guitar are paid for the quality control, the MORE expensive american worker.. which sometimes fail too since they are only human...

Initially i was ver particular about every single part of the guitar... especially the spec.. but finally i laid rest.. coz i know, its fender.. always available with spare-parts for replacement when i wanna upgrade... from necks rite down to every single bolt...

Hope this helps.. just my few cents to this topic...

 

[Chronicles]

MIM isnt that bad, if u compare the price against MIA. MIJ is rather good for value but MIJ strat, most of them has only 21 fret (From what i see from ishibashi, which 21 fret is a crippled thingy for me) However, u forget something, MIK strat. Im a proud owner of MIK special edition lite ash strato. Featuring 22 fret, with birdeye maple with seymour duncan pickups. Again, maybe im lucky to get a perfert set of it. Again, i didnt get that from sweelee, but frmo somewhere else

 

[mellapong]

i guess you have to really test each individual guitar to see whether you like it or not. i played this fender MIJ strat in a shop (not saying where) quite recently and honestly it felt and sounded to me like a cheap TGM or Craftsman strat. Serious. yeah..

and i also tried this fender MIJ tele which my friend bought when he was in japan. woah it felt super quality and very good sounding.

i guess that works for MIM and MIA also? dunno.

 

[Timex]

i think u are refering to the ST43 model. Most of the vintage series have 22 frets eg ST54, ST 62

As for laquer vs matt necks this is a personal choice hence i do not think it has anything to do with quality.

Before fender japan was set up, the americans were astounded by the quality of the imitations produced by the japanese craftsmen. So much so that they went and licensed production to the japanese(read this in the fender strat 50 ann book) and yes i have tested out guitars from all three.

 

[turtlemuscle]

part_time_idiot, i like what you say man... really. I think we should sometimes ask ourselves if we can really differentiate the difference in quality...

i am by no means saying that there isn't. but if it really don't make any diff, then I say save the dough.

 

[ChanMin]

Re: ..

bright side is that after my upgrades, i will never play any other strat but my own now... its that kick ass...

OI! The dude with the blinking fret markers!!

YO... haha nice to see you guys at wee lee man... *laser*


btw just to mention ... that buzzing frets etc... and bad playability.. is often rectified with a simple set up. Guitar shop is usually flooded with guitars.. maintaining all of them in pristine playing condition is often tedious.

So if the guitar u really fancy plays like crap... do ask for new strings etc.. if you ask nicely..the shop staff might just give in~

 

[popeye]

One thing to note is that most MIJ guitars are made of Basswood. You might want to consider this if you are after the good old stratish tone.

 

[Timex]

The ones that are equiped with texas specials are made of alder though. Now i am saving up for a ST57 TX.

 

[part_time_idiot]

Actually what i trying to highlight here is like wat i ve said before.. there is no such thing such as 100% marvelous incredible set up and build from a japan factory and lousy workman ship from a mim...

From wat everyone read in the net.. everyone else can add on saying tht this guitar is superb and incredible .. beginners are very gullible to words... so they are easily taken into those words...

"H1 has incredible sustain... great american design... workmanship top notch etc....."

and thus, the beginner go dying to get one... although they cant feel any difference.. but those word played an influence...

example would be the vox ad30vt i bought...

yeah.. everyone here previously go hoo ha bout this amp and cube 30.. i thought maybe i just need to spend some time with it at home... i didnt take me long to realize tht i just wasted my money.... yeah its a good practice amp..

but considering the fact tht its actually an amp modeller and the preamp tube doesnt give me significant tube sound and the effect was quite dry and needs lots of tweaking....

i could ve been better off with a 10 - 15 watt clean amp and a multi effect for a price somewhere around there... :wink:

 

[thor666]

agreed. good to know that you have a level perspective.

 

[part_time_idiot]

agreed. good to know that you have a level perspective.

haha.. thanx...

well as the old saying goes...

" u need to fall in order to grow..."

i cant say tht i m good at valueing tones and etc.. but at least i learned my lessons.. hahaha