American Strat/Reg Strat

mise_me_fein_V2

Anyone know why the American Strat is more expensive than the normal one?

Is it worth paying the extra cash?

Doctor J

Better pickups, better wood, better tuners, better electronics, better finishing, refined design enhancements. They're better than the standard. Get one from the states second hand you'll spend little more than buying a new standard here.

Try www.chrisguitars.com - he's sorted alot of people on this forum out with great deals.

Johnny Storm

Dr J - I'm sure the American Std is better than the normal (Mexican-made?) one for all the many reasons you have provided, but for my info do you think it would be worth the extra money? (leaving aside the new vs second-hand aspect). Or is that a "how long is a piece of string" type question?

Doctor J

Hard to say. I've played fantastic mexican made Fenders and sucky usa made strats and vice versa. Overall, I think the usa strats offer more (they cost more too, yes) and you're a lot more likely to get a great usa strat than a standard, in my experience, though amazing standards do exist. The price thing is hard to ignore though.

I'm just trying not to say "Buy Fender Japan!" even though that's what I'm thinking

jcoote

i bit my lip on the jap thing there too


i tried a few american and standards and i had a mexican and i couldn't see myself being able to justify paying that much for an american..my mexican was really nice tho imo

Ancient1

IMO, it's a bit hit and miss - if you get an average standard it would make sense to put in proper pickups and perhaps even look into replacing some of the hardware. By the time you're finished "upgrading" it, it will have cost you pretty much the same as an AmSe.

And if you know where to look, AmSe's needn't be that expensive.

ferdi

i put some nice pick ups in my mexican jazz bass and it sounds and feels better than any american fender jazz i ever played. you can get lucky

Rustar

Doctor J wrote:

Better pickups, better wood, better tuners, better electronics, better finishing, refined design enhancements...

Plus, don't forget how we like to import Mexican 12-year-olds to fill up our capitalist dog guitar factories. Those 12-year-olds don't come cheap, ya know!

Johnny Storm

Rustar wrote:

Plus, don't forget how we like to import Mexican 12-year-olds to fill up our capitalist dog guitar factories. Those 12-year-olds don't come cheap, ya know!

That's "capitalist running dog lackeys of a failed imperialist system" surely?
Sigh....am I the only one here who's old enough to remember when everyone talked like that ?:o

Rustar

Yah, sorry man, my Che-Guavara-off-the-pigs-tunein/turnon/dropout is getting a little rusty these days, I'm afraid.....

Johnny Storm

Rustar wrote:

Yah, sorry man, my Che-Guavara-off-the-pigs-tunein/turnon/dropout is getting a little rusty these days, I'm afraid.....

Oh, well.....come the revolution