Fender Stratocaster Made In Mexico MIM

What is the most desired Fender Stratocaster out there?  Is it the American made?  Is it the made in Mexico?  Is it the Squier by Fender?

Which of the Stratocasters sell the most?  You know, I hadn't thought about it until right now as I write this article.  I do know that Fender sells LOTS of Stratocaster electric guitars in many configurations!  They tailor these instruments for just about every price point that you can imagine from thousands of dollars to under a hundred bucks!  You know that they have to know what they're doing because they are still wildly successful!

For me, I do not have a thousand dollars to plunk down on any guitar, let alone a coveted American Stratocaster with all the bells and whistles, so I must seek suitable alternatives!  Here's a part of my quest for the ultimate guitar tone down the Fender Stratocaster Made In Mexico MIM highway. We're not even gonna stop at the border!

My first ever MIM Stratocaster was purchased on eBay.  There were two separate auctions from the same seller that had this guitar in two pieces.  One auction had the body (alder, I think, and the other had a nice rosewood on Maple neck with tuners.  To my surprise, I discovered the auctions quite by accident, because the seller had inadvertently spelled Stratocaster like this: stratacaster!  I watched the auctions, and bid fairly conservatively.  I won both with very little other bidding.  Total cost was around $165 including shipping!  Not bad for a days work.

When both parts arrived in excellent condition, I slapped the neck on the body, adjusted it straight, tightened it down and VIOLA!  Genuine Fender Strat"O"caster!  That was the beginning of my Fender Stratocaster Made In Mexico MIM experience.  I had previously played Michael Baughman's old 70-something US Strat (God, I hope he still has it, cause it's worth a freakin fortune), sunburst with a maple neck.  Played like butter!  He purchased an orange US strat in the early eighties, and picked out a white/black checker board pick guard.  That was the first Stratocaster I did any mods on.  It was a killer guitar, and I've never seen another one like it.

Anyway, back to my adventure.  I built that Mexican Strat, and played it for a few months.  After I heard what single-coils sound like, that started the old guitar tone wheels a-turnin!

I started experimenting with different bodies, clones, Squiers, and even a custom solid Brazilian Mahogany one-piece body.  Well...  That's where I have ended up in my Stratocaster Tone Quest!  The Fender Stratocaster Made in Mexico MIM has since moved on to make room for the Brazilian Mahogany Strat.

That's another article!

Keep on searchin' for that ultimate guitar tone - It's a blast!