Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

[Silence Kid]

I love this thing; now. No screw-holes have ever stripped after the amount of pickup and hardware changes it's endured. That means quality, right? And the refret. Too bad there are immutable things about it that will bother me forever, because after years, hours and $ tweaking, it sounds almost as good as a US guitar would off the rack, which I guess means I can't get rid of it. I've owned a few and played more, that weren't keepers.

Sub-par frets that wear quick and come out of the factory rough... Inaccurate contours/shapes (with restricted part interchangeability...) Radio shack electronics... Inaccurate/sloppy inlays... Poor quality open-grained rosewood... Thin/tinny metal and chrome parts... Poor body edge radius routing... Plasticky/brittle finish with colors that look like they have off white-balance...

Plus they're all so close to $1k now depending on model, new and used. When you could pick them up for $400/$500 that was one thing, but... About the only thing I like about them any more is the neck heel shaping. And they're getting worse (no more copper shielding on some models etc.)

Seems the reputation came from the early JV series and the subsequent era when Fender Japan had to represent all of Fender, before Corona was fully equipped. Since then, I'd rather have a Mexican (or even a Squier.)

Fender Mexico assembly may have worse quality. But an MIM still feels "Fender," even if every screw comes out of the factory cross-threaded. Fender US makes a Corvette, Mexico makes a Corvette from spare parts and improvises with a bunch of stuff off the rack at Autozone. Fender Japan just hands you a WRX and hopes you won't notice because it's still a decent car at heart (or, guitar.)

I think I've made myself a promise; US only from now on. Or Squier.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

Interesting. I always believe that Fender Japan quality is on par or even surpasses USA Fender. I heard people claiming that the craftsmanship was superior like they had been made without any human involvement.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

Interesting. I always believe that Fender Japan quality is on par or even surpasses USA Fender. I heard people claiming that the craftsmanship was superior like they had been made without any human involvement.

That's sort of why I felt compelled to write this; I was full into that ideology, people lauding Fender Japan etc.... I think I figured the ones I touched must all have been flukes. May have had more truth in the early '80s/late CBS era, when Japanese guitars were better and the US ones were not to the same spec as they are now, or were before.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

If you're talking about screws in wood......you could have a materbuilt $6000 strat made from Paulownia that would have screws strip probably within a few uses.

Having been on the scene since the early 90's I can tell you that budget level is way higher than it used to be. But the basic pricepoint fenders are so much more common that there are certain aspects of buildup that get done very quickly.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

Japanese Fenders are made by Fujigen, the company notorious for hi quality guitars. Yngwie and Ritchie Kotzen guitars are made in Japan. I have no experience so far, so maybe anyone?

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

I will put my Japanese Strat up against a US production strat any day, nothing but incredible craftsmanship. My only 'complaint' on mine (which is a HRR) is it has a basswood body, but it's not a reissue or anything like that so thats more of a design choice than a flaw.

I own 5 Japanese guitars (2 different factories - Fuji Gen and chushin gakki) and 0 US (I have 13 total), so there's my $0.02. Oh yeah, my bass is Japanese too, just don't know which factory.

I am not saying that JAP > US, that really does depend on the guitar, but in my experience Japanese guitars rival US made one's in terms of construction, craftsmanship etc. And I would be more apt to choose Japan over US.

Two sides to a coin...

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

Love my MIJ,even tho it's a Lefty re-strung.
S/N starts with an "A",best I can tell it's about an '86."May be" some USA parts,according to some...
I've had at least 3 or 4 LHs,the MIJ has slayed them all.
Had it for a few years now,think I paid about $350 for it...

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

.....Fuji Gen also has different levels of quality.....
And besides..it is a pretty vague at best what you are writing....what US guitars ad what kind of MiJ are you talking about??
JV's where cheap things back then....and most US made Fender stuff was a joke at best in the 80's!

 

[leevc5]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

I will put my Japanese Strat up against a US production strat any day, nothing but incredible craftsmanship. My only 'complaint' on mine (which is a HRR) is it has a basswood body, but it's not a reissue or anything like that so thats more of a design choice than a flaw.

I own 5 Japanese guitars (2 different factories - Fuji Gen and chushin gakki) and 0 US (I have 13 total), so there's my $0.02. Oh yeah, my bass is Japanese too, just don't know which factory.

I am not saying that JAP > US, that really does depend on the guitar, but in my experience Japanese guitars rival US made one's in terms of construction, craftsmanship etc. And I would be more apt to choose Japan over US.

Two sides to a coin...

What is wrong with a Basswood body?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

I know the original Fender Japan guitars from the early 80s were great guitars. No idea what they are like now. But if I spent that $ on a guitar that has the problems you are describing, I'd send it back. If I tried one out in the store, I would never have bought it in the first place. Maybe it is just this one guitar, or are you saing as a whole they are not any good?

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

What is wrong with a Basswood body?

Absolutely nothing, I own lots of basswood guitars, but on this one I do miss the alder a bit.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

I've had this particular guitar forever, too late to send it back. I bought it twenty years ago, a time when I was a lot more likely to tolerate issues (the fretboard, inlays, and frets always bugged me...

Plus, it seemed like a lot of the MIJs in stores were like that so I found myself tolerant of it. The actual neck itself is totally flamed and gorgeous (not photoflame, to be clear), it's just strange that it wasn't finished to an excellent standard.

I'd be curious, and alarmed to hear that others didn't have similar experiences with the necks in particular as I have. I'm glad others haven't had the same experiences as me to be frank. Also, I actually had to replace the bridge plate because of rust and flaking, and I have older guitars and newer/cheaper guitars where that's not an issue (the MIJ replacement has also started to flake/wear after a couple years.) The above is the record of experiences on the one I actually didn't wind up selling off over the years; to me, the others had similar issues. I tried an MIJ Telecaster in a store a couple weeks ago, same issues as above as far as neck/feel.

 

[Obsessive Compulsive]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

These days I actually believe that Japs are superior than MIA. The only guitars I consider to buy are strictly Japanese only. I would go for MIJ Strat over MIA. I think the Japanese are more devoted to rules and standards and have zero tolerance for compromise than any other nationalities in the world, except probably the Germans.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

Not saying better MIJs don't exist, but as for consistency: Between two of my former Fender Japan guitars, there were massive irregularities with pickguard fit; it was as if it was shifted on the body from one guitar to the next, on one it was perilously close to the body edge. Little things like that.

I won't doubt whether Fender Japan has tighter QC. But if that's actually the case, then whatever lower standard must be met by the US guitar must be regularly exceeded by a large margin in practice by the US Fender assembly. As for the US in general... USA G&Ls are made to a jaw-dropping standard. I've never seen a Japanese guitar that got close, but I guess I haven't played too many truly high end Japanese guitars. The price for some of those G&Ls is alarmingly close to what people pay for some Japanese Fenders now.

Though I don't mean to get nationalistic or generalize to other companies too much; If you base all US assembly quality on a company like Gibson, you might come away with a different perception. I think Fender USA knows how to do it pretty well. I've never seen an FMIC era US Fender that I wouldn't consider good quality; I've seen Japanese instruments seem poorer than most Chinese/Indonesian Squiers.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

Curious as to what model you have? MIJ or CIJ?

Yup, everyone has a unique experience! And I got to agree...don't base US guitars off of gibson the last handful of years. MusicMan makes what I consider to be the best well made production guitar in the U.S....really it has nothing to do with the country but the people themselves, how they are trained etc.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

I've had: two Jazzmasters (and a body,) a Mustang, an HH Jaguar (probably the best of them, but not to my taste.) All were late nineties, early '00s. In possession of my current nineties Jaguar (bought before the AVs came out.) So mostly got models where there wasn't a new US equivalent, or at the time at least.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

the mid 80's, maybe even early 90's mij guitars were usually very good quality but they did sometimes skimp on hardware

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

There is a galaxy of difference from normal standard to the highend of Japanese guitars.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

There is a galaxy of difference from normal standard to the highend of Japanese guitars.

I believe it. I don't know if any MIJ Fender counts as "high end," but even the Vista Squiers are spoken well of.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Fender Japan; Thoughts After a Setup

The neck shapes were also inconsistent.
I bought a 97 neck to match a great 96 MIJ neck which is one of my faves.......well the profiles were SO different despite them both being the ST 62 model. Had to sell the 97