Fender USA and Fender Mexico

[Nestor]

A friend o mind told me he found out that Fender USA and Fender Mexico are, in fact, the same thing. There are two qualities, yes, the USA is higher than the Mexican quality build, but they both are made in Mexico nevertheless. To which extent is this true? I cannot tell, but it makes sense to me.

[garyb]

the bodies and necks come off the same line.
the USA has better quality p/us and electronics, and generally, the better looking wood is used for the USA models.

since the guitars are made of wood, it is possible that a mexi strat might be better than a USA model, but it's not a given.

real strats that are the quality of production line strats made before the mid to late 60s will all be custom shop, though. those US strats are from a different production line from start to finish.

[Nestor]

So it is true. The only problem that I see, is that many times people buy something believing it has been manufactured by a particular country they trust, but the product comes, in fact, from another they don’t trust. The dirty trick here consists in telling people these instruments have been manufactured in USA when they don’t, that’s it, not a big deal to my understanding anyway, because I, personally, when I get an instrument I pay attention 100% to the instrument itself and not to the country it has been manufactured.

That explains the extremely high price of those oldie ones in the Fender area.

As an interesting fact, I have to say that the very best instrument I have ever played, was a Gibson Chet Atkins, the most balanced architecture, perfect sounding, perfectly playable, perfect sound, extremely easy an precise response, I mean, even response in every sense through the whole instrument, beautiful, perfect in every sense... We were several musicians from all corners in a house, bass players, keyboard players, guitar players, singers and drummers, but you know, we all know how to play a few chords. Well, everybody was amazed at the quality output when playing this beauty.

It was a special model from which there are only 100 in existence in the world, and they are, obviously, very expensive.

This is the instrument:

[hubird]

I thought that guitar had a solid body...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Chet_Atkins_SST

[garyb]

they do have a solid body.


welcome to the consumer world, Nestor.

by the way, Gibsons are made in the USA by actual craftsmen and this is reflected in the price, just like Custom shop Fenders that are made by craftsmen reflect this in the price. looking to save money? then....

ultimately, a guitar is made of wood. the acoustic qualities of the piece of wood definitely trumps country of origin.

[Nestor]

Yes solid body, to a certain extent, they are made of special layers, that’s why you can play live without having acoustic problems like those presented in the hollow bodies.

Yes, the consumer market brother… where sometimes we find many people focused so, so much, that they are giving their entire life and energy to it, forgetting to actually live, I know. But this is a whole different story.

[Nestor]

I'd like to get one of this:

http://themiwas.smugmug.com/Music/Basses/Modulus-Q6/

I guess they are entirely made in the USA.

[hubird]

as an owner of a headless Status, I'd go for a headless bass, for a better weight balance
BTW, I was actually commenting your picture, showing a different guitar

[garyb]

hubird, the picture has an older Chet Atkins, which have faux soundholes. if you look carefully, you'll see the guitar is very thin bodied. your wiki page was a later SST model. the Chet Atkins are solid-bodied, but there are chambers in the body, so "semi-solid" might be more accurate.

[Nestor]

Yes, in fact, it was a nylon guitar first of all, not a metal strings one, it could sound pretty loud in fact, and you would not differentiate a normal classical guitar from it, except that it had less depth, of course.

I think I would feel pretty comfortable with a Modulus like this, the heedless stuff was perfect for a time where I would play gigs, I am only a composer today, I don’t play gigs anymore, the only gigs I would play on today, would be those I like and desire to play in. So I am not in the street with the instrument anymore, it is great to have these kind of basses if you play in a studio.

[garyb]

i like headstocks, i'm used to them, but nice is nice. use whatcha like.

[hubird]

Didn't have to get used to the knobs at the end face of the body at all
Physicly it's just more appropriate, and you can tune while holding a note without anyone noticing it or breaking your own neck

I like a good balance, sitting or standing.
But sound first of course

[Nestor]

Graphite necks are particularly well suited for balance, because they are stronger and lighter than wood necks. Modulus basses are great because of that, they are kind of an hybrid between wood and graphite, that’s why they can sound pretty sharp and clear too.

[stonberg]

There's Fender Japan as well, which is where my Strat comes from.

Neck is flawless, sound is awesome, cost me £250. Had it at least 25 years now

[garyb]

Fender Japan was made by the Fernandes factory, which was a great factory. there no longer is a Japanese Fender maker, afaik. there may still be a Fender Custom shop in Japan, however.

[Nestor]

Old Fender Japanese standard was trully amazing, perfect instruments...

[Mr Arkadin]

I have two Crafted in Japan Fenders: a Jaguar HH and a Jaguar Baritone HH. Great guitars, although I may be selling the regular HH to get a SS Jaguar and I need the difference to fund it (I like the look of the Johnny Marr one). I should get what I paid for it too as they seem well regarded.

For me it was as good as Getting a U.S. model as I always swap out the electronics and pick-ups anyway, I only want to pay extra if I'm keeping things stock as it gets expensive otherwise.

I didn't realise they weren't making them anymore.

[garyb]

stock Japanese Fenders have reasonably decent electronics and p/us too...
it's Korean, Viet and Chinese-made Fenders that are junky, but those are all about price. it's even possible to find a good body and neck in the cheapest plywood models. "Good" meaning that the guitar made from those parts will play well and sound good, in a good player's hands if setup well...

[Nestor]

It seems this is the one you are talking about Arkadin:

http://davesguitar.com/products/fender/ ... rr-jaguar/

[Mr Arkadin]

That link didn't work for me. [edit] Oh I see I have to do a captcha thing for some reason. Yeah that's the Marr Jag. That's not helping my gas.[/edit]

Oh, I also have a Fernandes guitar, but I think it's a US one as it's Dave Kushner's Signature model, and I have a Fernades Sustainer in my MIM Fender Baritone.

Here are my baritones:

(L-R) MIM Tele baritone with Fernades Sustainer, CIJ Jag with Bareknuckle pick-ups (PAF in neck position) and Yamaha Drop 6

Here's the Fernandes:


Here's my USA-made 1980s Bullet (my third guitar but my first 'proper' one). I have replaced the original red body for the vintage cream. I am going to replace pick-ups etc and generally give it some tlc:


Some of my other guitars:
My guitars