Mexican Strats

JohnA · Jan 13, 2011

The other guitarist in the band I'm in has just bought a new Mex 62 reissue, so popped round to have a play last night armed with my Bacchus BST-64V to show him how much better it was :wink:

To my supprise, it actually wasn't that much better, and at half the price the mex certainly held it's own, nice weight, played well and sounded great! I do think the Bacchus had the edge, but there certainly wasn't the gulf between the two I was expecting. The current production mex reissues are very good indeed!!

Dave_Mc · Jan 13, 2011

yeah the mexican reissues I've tried have been quite nice- much better than the bog standard MIMs, which I'm not fussed on. I tried the reissues next to a couple of MIJ tokais a while back, and while I preferred the tokais, they were pretty close.

JohnA · Jan 13, 2011

I think he paid ?350 for a brand new one in Lake Placid blue, that's about half the cost of a new mij, for 80-90% of the quality, very good value, and as you say miles better than the mexican standards, at least the last time I played a mex standard 2-3 years ago they were awful!

glaister3 · Jan 13, 2011

I have both 50`s and 60`s Classic player strats, mim and excellent strats by any standard,and even better when judged against cost!

felixcatus · Jan 13, 2011

JohnA said:
The current production mex reissues are very good indeed!!

I had the same thought when I played my friend his MIM classic Baja tele . Especially the chunky soft V-neck felt great.

Koubayashi · Jan 13, 2011

I pick Classics over most Japanese.
Far better bang for the bucks!

marcusnieman · Jan 14, 2011

In my humble opinion, the Bacchus 64V has some significant differences. Much nicer neck profile (chunky C) and the pickups have more balls than any Mex strat I've played..... totally different sound. The MIM's sound like any strat... which is fine but totally predictable.

Don't get me wrong... the MIM strats have come light years from where they were and they are very good value for the money (I'm quite partial to my Jimmie Vaughan MIM strat) but I'll never part with my two 64V's.

Dave_Mc · Jan 14, 2011

JohnA said:
I think he paid ?350 for a brand new one in Lake Placid blue, that's about half the cost of a new mij, for 80-90% of the quality, very good value, and as you say miles better than the mexican standards, at least the last time I played a mex standard 2-3 years ago they were awful!

i got my new tokai for just over ?400

At current usual prices (I think your mate got a good deal- to be fair, so did I) I think the MIM classics are similar to what I paid, if not even a bit more. But yeah, if you were paying the RRP for an MIJ, they're a lot more the the classics. Stupid strong yen!

And yeah the MIM standards aren't great. I keep seeing people on the various online forums recommend them and I just don't see it. (To be fair a lot of people also recommend the reissues.) The pickups in particular are rubbish, aren't they like ceramic bar magnets or something? :lol: I mean I don't expect boutique handwound pickups on a ?350 guitar, but at the same time ceramic bar magnet single coils smack of artificial handicapping rather than genuine costcutting...

Funnily enough, I didn't really like the baja tele I tried- there was finish all over the frets etc. and I didn't much like it at all.

JohnA · Jan 14, 2011

marcusnieman said:
In my humble opinion, the Bacchus 64V has some significant differences. Much nicer neck profile (chunky C) and the pickups have more balls than any Mex strat I've played..... totally different sound. The MIM's sound like any strat... which is fine but totally predictable.
.

Totally agree Marcus, it's just I was expecting the Mex Strat to be total rubbish in comparison and I was pleasantly suprised

JohnA · Jan 14, 2011

Yep Dave, it's the Yen that's stuffing us all! Think I'm going to start collecting mex vintage :wink:

looktoyourorb · Jan 14, 2011

I could not be happier with my MIM Road Worn, I actually put my trusty MIJ up for sale. It's all the Strat I'll ever need but I'm more of a bucker man anyway.

The classic players are great but I can't help thinking the trem look wrong. Apart from this really biased opinion they are cracking guitars.

glaister3 · Jan 14, 2011

Agree about the trem on the CP`s,only thing that spoils them imho,but I can live with it!
Cheers.

Dave_Mc · Jan 14, 2011

JohnA said:
Yep Dave, it's the Yen that's stuffing us all! Think I'm going to start collecting mex vintage :wink:

haha

I don't think it's helping japan either, making its exports more expensive :lol:

marcusnieman · Jan 14, 2011

Forgot about the Road Worn series.... those are very nice playing and sounding guitars. Hat's off....

Emiel · Jan 15, 2011

Weird enough there seems to be some inconsistency in the weight the Road Worns... one Strat was real light weight while an other one was heavy!

Other than that, nothing wrong with the Mexican reissues... I tried like 20 Strats with a good friend of mine, from the Squier CV series to the Fender USA reissues and there isn't that much difference... much more difference can be found with Les Pauls IMO...

marcusnieman · Jan 15, 2011

Emiel said:
I tried like 20 Strats with a good friend of mine, from the Squier CV series to the Fender USA reissues and there isn't that much difference... much more difference can be found with Les Pauls IMO...

Exactly

JohnA · Jan 15, 2011

marcusnieman said:
Emiel said:

I tried like 20 Strats with a good friend of mine, from the Squier CV series to the Fender USA reissues and there isn't that much difference... much more difference can be found with Les Pauls IMO...

Click to expand...

Exactly

I think it's just generally cheap guitars have never been better.

marcusnieman · Jan 15, 2011

JohnA said:
marcusnieman said:

Emiel said:

I tried like 20 Strats with a good friend of mine, from the Squier CV series to the Fender USA reissues and there isn't that much difference... much more difference can be found with Les Pauls IMO...

Click to expand...

Exactly

Click to expand...

I think it's just generally cheap guitars have never been better.

Exactly x 2

looktoyourorb · Jan 16, 2011

Totally agree, the core design of the Strat allows for scale production with great results. The labour in southern america and in the far east is getting really skilled when you consider how many guitars they chuck out every day. The difference between high end and low end has never been so minimal.

How long until we see boutique Korean or Chinese guitars in shops? I dare say if they can build at these prices with top materials the end product would be rather appealing.

Japan did it after the replicas era so I guess it's a matter of time.

130013s · Feb 4, 2011

marcusnieman said:
Forgot about the Road Worn series.... those are very nice playing and sounding guitars. Hat's off....

Totally agree....I love my road worn 50's Strat,the soft V neck with 6105 frets,feel very comfortable in my hands, fantastic guitar for the money I paid for at much less than the cost of a new mexican classic reissue.

Mexican Strats

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