MIA Fenders are over rated.

[A Skater]

I just played a vintage Fender MIA Fat Strat and I have to say, I'm not impressed. The tone and sound is similiar to my strat copy. The only thing I did not like is the neck. The neck isn't fast enough, well in my opinion. Is there any necks that have the big headstock that are "fast"? Any comments on this?

 

[flank]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

what amp did you play it through?

 

[big_black]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

Haha! What kind of Strat copy do you have?

 

[St_Genesius]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

While I am a longtime champion of chepa guitars -- including several imported lines from Fender themselves -- I think that a blanket statement that the entirely of the MIA line for all time is overrated would be a difficult position to defend, especially based on a single session playing a single instrument.

To simplify the issue somewhat, we might look at ONLY the current batch of MIAs vs. ONLY the current batch of, say, MIMs.

My personal $.02 on that specific matchup? The MIAs usually look and feel and ooze "quality" more than the MIMs, but I find the MIMs to be perfectly servicable instruments and the differences, while real, a) do not support the price difference between the two lines and b) don't always add up to the MIA being my favorite of any two compared instruments across those lines.

 

[Armotron]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

Id have to disagree with you, and the neck is plenty fast, if your hands aren't teeny.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

no offense, but it seems like you performed a very half fast trial. Either you played a lemon, or you're just completely not used to playing strat style guitars, and you have a strat copy so it's likely a lemon.

It's easy to say MIA strats suck just because you don't like one of them. I used to play a thin necked ibanez and now i can't play it anymore because the neck is "too fast...". Any neck can be "super fast", it just takes smoothness and practice on your behalf to get used to it.

 

[A Skater]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

Well, the neck wasn't great, I'll tell you that. It was sorta weird. I played a MIM strat and the neck felt smooth and nice. However, a MIA felt weird. I played all the guitars through a Marshall JCM2000 TSL. The sound diffrence was very small, but the MIA strat had a slightly more trebly sound.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

might be a v neck, mia's have delta tones or something like that, they're modern sounding generic strat pups. I replaced my samarium cobalts with ant. II's (modeled after the vintage tone!!) and it owns all of the guitars at GC in tone. (i tried them all clean through a deluxe RI)

 

[Armotron]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

I personally think the SCN pickups that come in the american deluxes suck, way too dead and lifeless. The neck your saying could have been a V like Quencho said. On the Fender American Strat I got, the neck is C shaped and is very quick once you play it enough. Ill also be replacing the Tex Mex pickups that came in my MIA with Duncan Ant.2 Surfers also.

 

[big_black]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

Well, the neck wasn't great, I'll tell you that. It was sorta weird. I played a MIM strat and the neck felt smooth and nice. However, a MIA felt weird. I played all the guitars through a Marshall JCM2000 TSL. The sound diffrence was very small, but the MIA strat had a slightly more trebly sound.

Soinds like you are just used to sh!tty guitars.

 

[B2D]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

Well, the neck wasn't great, I'll tell you that. It was sorta weird. I played a MIM strat and the neck felt smooth and nice. However, a MIA felt weird. I played all the guitars through a Marshall JCM2000 TSL. The sound diffrence was very small, but the MIA strat had a slightly more trebly sound.

Can you define "wierd" for us please?

What volume did you play the amp at? If you played this amp at anything under three then I'd suggest you go back and try it again... Tube amps can't let a guitar's tone come through at bedroom volumes. Any tube amp played at low volume is gonna sound thin.

MIA Strats are very bright guitars but at appropriate volume they have great low end snap. And yes every guitar is different. I've played a few Lemons that came out of the Deluxe line!

And I agree that the stock pickups on MIAs ain't all that hot. The new SCN pickups are pretty bitchin though... those come on the Deluxe models.

What kind of Strat Copy do you have? Is it a Tokai or what? Tokai made great Jap Strats Maybe you're just not a Strat/single coil type of guy.

So anyway yeah can ya elaborate a bit further?

 

[Bones]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

You said you played A, meaning a singular amount, one. Don't base your conclusion from one guitar. That's like meeting a black person and thinking they all like fried chicken. I am sure your strat copy is on the same level as this American strat. I have played some awesome squiers and low level ibanezs. You need to know how to pick them. And for what its worth, buying a new american guitar helps out or own Americans :wink:

 

[Imp]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

another point for old MIJ stuff :32:

i used to love fast necks... now i go for baseball bats and i love them hehe

 

[stratobastard]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

Soinds like you are just used to sh!tty guitars.

:smack: what's the basis for that statement Big Black? you have you're mia strat for sale....hmmmm..........



MIA strats over-rated?.....sure they are!
are they bad guitars?....no,
just over-rated & over-priced

 

[Curly]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

you need to look at twenty strats to find one good one

that's not a defense of Fender's QC, but that's just the way it is

I don't think the pickups are that bad on the new ones, but the tone will vary due to the nature of the instrument

 

[Gamera]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

I just played a vintage Fender MIA Fat Strat and I have to say, I'm not impressed. The tone and sound is similiar to my strat copy. The only thing I did not like is the neck. The neck isn't fast enough, well in my opinion. Is there any necks that have the big headstock that are "fast"? Any comments on this?

What's a "vintage" Fat Strat? I thought the "fattening" of a Strat was a relatively new feature.

I personally think the SCN pickups that come in the american deluxes suck

I love 'em. They definitely have more of a modern voicing to them but they are unmistakably Stratty. And they are incredibly responsive and take distortion really well. Are you sure you're not talking about the older Fender Noiseless pups?

 

[Zerberus]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

...Is there any necks that have the big headstock that are "fast"? Any comments on this?

Did somebody say Charvel?? :headbang:

But seriously: I think you should give a few other MIAs a try at decent volumes, take your Import along for comparison if you want.

A USA Charvel is always a good choice for a (super)strat, though.

 

[TheJangus]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

just over-rated & over-priced

Not really. For over-rated and over-priced please refer to Gibson.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

Fender doesn't make bad stuff, but for the life of me, I can't see what's so glowing about them either. My friend has the 50th Anniversary (?) Fender Strat. That tobacco sunburst one with the S1 pickup system and I thought it was a decent guitar, but nothing worth remotely the 1 grand range.

With that said, just about any company (unless you're talking major boutique makers) has its fair share of lemons. Some more than others (cough, hack, Gibson, cough). Fenders quality control is better, but they aren't all the same nor will they ever be. More often than not, you get what you pay for. If you buy an expensive guitar, you should be getting a lot more than the cheap line from the same manufacturer.

 

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: MIA Fenders are over rated.

Well fender strats aren't really built for speed. Ibanezes and jacksons are...

I have a Modern C shape neck on my highway 1, and I can't get the action low enough to where I want it. But that's okay, because I've learned to "fight with the guitar". Everytime I play it it's sorta a struggle, but it sorta gives the bends and vibrato that character. When my friend plays his Ibanes Joe Satriani, it's just not the same feeling with the blues. With the strat you can use 11s and really dig in to those bends and make her scream.