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| Fender Mexican Stratocaster |
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Price Paid for Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
$250 USD
Description of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Made in Mexico. Well im shure every knows the states of the standard strat how ever i did up grade the pick ups to Gold Lace Sensors.
Tone of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
well i hated the stock pick ups ..but the lace pickups give it a nice vintage tone ..very glassy I run my fender Strat into a vox wha ..then a Boss Super Choras ..then to a dellux 1x12 ( 100watt solid state)
Quality of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
had to make a few changes ..but over all it is a solid guitar ..
Overall Opinions of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Pros:
Well it stands up next to about every thing every one else has ....
Cons:
The only con on this guitar would be and this isnt a quality thing its a presonal teast ...i wish fender would put a clear coat on there necks ..like the 70 strats ....
Submitted by:
nick (voodoo) (guitarguy721@hotmail.com)
Playing Experience:
three to five years
Musical Tastes:
blues classic rock
Price Paid for Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
$329 USD
Description of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Three single coil pickups, wammy bar, sunburst finish.
Tone of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
I love the bridge pickup sound. That's why I bought a strat. The other positions are useful for chording, etc. I'm only doing home studio work. So I go through a SansAmp GT-S, a DBX 166XL compressor, Alesis Nanoverb into my Tascam 414. My fav tones are "Tweed" on the GT-S w/ the neck and/or middle pickup for rythm; and "California" on the GT-S with the bridge pickup for lead.
Quality of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Nice finish. Seems very solid and well built. Good action at all positions. No fret buzz noticed. Needs some work on tuning setup (see below).
Overall Opinions of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Pros:
I love this thing for leads. Even using a slide on it sounds great. It almost plays itself. I'm surprized how much of a turn-on it is to play. Never a chore. For the money, it can't be touched.
Cons:
Two words - Strat Buzz. The pickups are extremely noisy when used singlely (is that a word?). I love the sound, but hate the buzz. If I stand in just the right spot it goes away, BUT DON"T MOVE.
Tuning it is iffy at times - but I think that's in the setup. I'm hearing some work arounds on that (bone nut, tighting the six screws on the bridge to the same tension, tighten the screws on the tunners, etc.).
The only playing downside is that the neck is really designed for lead work and not complex chording. So if you're into jazz work or heavy strumming stuff, you would probably need a second guitar - but you really need several guitars anyway. So it's sort of a moot point.
Submitted by:
Rick Hoffman
Playing Experience:
over ten years
Musical Tastes:
blues classical heavy metal jazz
Price Paid for Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
$200 USD
Description of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
I have owned and worked on many mexican strats
Tone of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
I had to coment on some of this stuff i read.
The Mexican strats are a bit cheap here and there but overall there great for the price.
like all peices of wood, some are bright and some are dark.
I so often read how these pickups suck so i replaces them and now it sounds great!
dont get me wrong, I love well made consistant sounding pickups but there is noting realy wrong with mexican pickups.
you can take these mexican pickups as ill talk about only now and take the two ceramic bar magnets off and slip cylinder magnets right in the holes with anlico 2/5/8. this should mellow things out you would think and make it a premium pickup especialy if you pot the pickup to reduce unwanted microphonic feedback.
some people will say the stock pickups are bright/sterile and thin.
normaly with 3 strat pickup, they tend to be so strong magneticly that they yank the strings out of tune often known as stratitus.
so you could rewind the bobbins with more windings and get a fatter louder sound but would lose the bell tones and brightness.
you can drop the magnatism and it will become mellow yet still have a nice bell tone, but where do you get the magnets?
I have to tell you about my guitar i play out and everyone raves about,, you will laugh and i hope find that your pickups in that mexican strat arent that bad after all.
ive got tons of expensive pickups around here, so i had a guy have me put a set of semours in his mexican strat and left me with his old ones.
i had this mint karera strat hanging on the wall wich by the way uses the exact same bridge as the mex strats and has an alder body and a horrible fret job wich i redid.
i couldnt sell this thing and its sunburst and was looking at the prices of distressed fenders lol,,
yep i beat the hell out of this thing and it looks like SRV's and worse.
so i potted these mexican strat pickups and put them in but felt they were a bit bright for my liking.
heres where it gets funny or is it we humans that get funny?
being as the guitar is majorily distressed, i sanded the rythem pickup cover through on the one edge then roughed them all up a bit and yellowd them under a UV light and had some help with a yellow magic marker.
I then took off one of the two bar magnets and now i have mellow sounding pickups that dont pull too much at the strings but when cranked, have a real nice bluesy sound.. ok there not alnico but my vintage freak buddys that spent thousands cant tell the difference? strange!
just for kicks before i glued the one magnet back on, stagered the pole peices properly for 3 wound and 3 plain strings, then i filed and sanded the tops of the pole peices and put some browning solution on them used for antique firearms or you could use salt water and wate for the rust.
so ive got rusted worn and slightly posished pole peices with sand mark that took off the chrome finish and look like they were cut stock like the old vintage ones.
the covers are yellowed and worn through. it says fender on the peg head of the guitar in spagetti logo.
one other thing i do for a nice warm bluesy tone is put a switch in for the middle pickup to go in series with either the neck or bridge pickup and wow does it sing.
Yep the vintage guys freak when i play this thing and say it sounds GREAT!
when i throw it in series, they say it sounds like a 335?
Remember when Van Hallen came out?
everyone had me replaceing there alnico magnets with ceramic in there humbuckers to get that clear loud defined sound.
wich is better? I kind of like alnico myself but ive also found weak ceramic sounds pretty smooth also.
My advice,, just plug your guitar in and play play play!
try new pickups and configurations and play play play!
PLAY PLAY PLAY!!!
Quality of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
(no quality rating entered)
back to the mexican strat, I've got one on the wall here.
The finish is real nice.
the bridge is kind of cheesey and they can strip if you over torque the bar, but it works and has the nice stamped steel vintage type sadles.
the tuners work very well.
the fret work seems ok and the rosewood board has nice straight grain.
the nuts is cut well and the parts overall are fit good enough, realy pretyt decent.
I do think the switches and pots are cheap and could be replaced.
its a nice guitar.
Overall Opinions of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Pros:
seems good for the money.
has pickups you can play with a bit.
nice tuners.
fit and finish is prety good.
You can throw a floyd rose on it, scallop the fingerboard, route it out and whatever you want without being worried about ruining a vintage strat yet its a good peice to build on.
Cons:
mentaly i know its not all made of choice componants i hand picked.
the pick ups are a bit bright but is that bad? (take a magnet out, and see what you think)
people realy complain about the sound of the squire pickups but have you ever A/Bd them with lipsticks? (try it)
you cant show your buddys your new $2000 guitar.
I cant get enough used ones for my shop.
Sure i can beat it up in that the wood has streaks running through it and it may seem a bit cheap here and there but hey how much does it cost, and does it play good?
Just play it, PLAY PLAY PLAY :)
Submitted by:
Bruce Brickner
Playing Experience:
over ten years
Musical Tastes:
blues classic rock country folk heavy metal jazz pop
Price Paid for Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
$425 USD
Description of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
This strat was built around 1992/93 in Mexico. The construction quality and material quality are quite a bit better than Mexi-strats you see in the store right now. It came with three single-coil pickups with a 5-way selector switch. I eventually had the bridge pickup removed and put in a Gold Lace Sensor Humbucker. Floating bridge of dubious quality (although it is stamped with the Fender logo) with fairly decent fender tuners. Maple neck and fretboard, but I'm not sure what the body is made out of. Mine is ivory colored.
Tone of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Like all strats, this is pretty bright on the bridge pickup. It's not a heavy body, so the sound is somewhat thin unless you crank the distortion. The pickup quality was fine, but it had the signature strat hum problem.
The strat is an extremely versatile guitar, with its main role relegated to lead soloing. With distorted leads, the bridge pickup is the most cutting. The neck pickup is great for clean, jazzy tones. The middle three are...well...a compromise.
After putting in the humbucker, the distorted rhythm sound was vastly improved. I like the beefier sound of the humbuckers in that regard. I play this guitar on a Mesa Boogie Rect-O-Verb 50 and practice on a Park G10R.
Quality of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
It was affordable at 425, which means that its not made of the finest quality tonewoods in the world. No mahogany, ebony, etc. The neck on this particular guitar is a nice piece of maple with deep color (which is yellowing nicely) and no knots or other flaws. The fretwork is solid and the neck is straight. After ten years of playing, I've had problems keeping the bolt on where the cable plugs in steady...I've had to tighten it several times after it works its way loose. The second fret has worn down where the second and third strings are because I do so much bending there, but I haven't needed to repair it yet.
The initial setup had the pickups slanted heavily towards the bass strings, giving the sound a bottom-heavy feel. It was easy to adjust them, however, and now the sound is balanced. I had to have the intonation adjusted a few years after I bought it, however, and I think this was a flaw from the factory.
The floating bridge and whammy bar combo is iffy...in fact, I removed my whammy bar years ago and rarely play with it now. Slight vibrato is no problem, but dive-bombing will knock you out of tune in no time.
This guitar has proven very durable, although the newer line of Mexistrats have had their price and quaility cut in half since I bought this one.
Overall Opinions of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Pros:
A surprisngly good deal for the money. Looks great, sounds good, and is built to last. More expensive than today's line of Mexis, but it blows them away in the quality department.
Cons:
Noisy stock pickups, iffy hardware (particularly the bridge) and varying degrees of neck quality. Shop long and hard before you find the right specific guitar for you.
Submitted by:
Mike George
Playing Experience:
six to ten years
Musical Tastes:
alternative blues folk jazz
Price Paid for Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
$225 USD
Description of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Tone of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Sounds like a strat to me. Pickups phase in and out sound very good. You can tell its a strat when recording. Wammy bar can put you out of tune if your too agressive.
Quality of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Comments about Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Very nice finish. I replaced the tuners
with Grovers, same as my LP Standard (had to redrill the holes larger). It took about 30 minutes. A great change plus it adds mass to the guitar which improves sustain.
Overall Opinions of Fender Mexican Stratocaster:
Pros:
Price very affordable and easy to play.
Cons:
Whammy Bar is not too dependable when it comes to stating in tune. Than again the entire guitar was less expensive than a Floyd Rose tremelo!
Submitted by:
Furch
Playing Experience:
three to five years
Musical Tastes:
blues classic rock heavy metal
