Re: Which Stratocaster is better, MIM or MIJ?
MIM is not bad any more, like it was in the '90's. But MIJ/CIJ ones (all of them) are superior IMHO. I've never played one that was built poorly in any way, shape, or form.
Built cheaply? Yes. Many (if not most) are not made of traditional Fender body woods, and they can be sometimes be made of many pieces, like my '85/'86 Strat, which is not only joined side to side, but also top to bottom – a sandwich-style body. Of my three MIJ/CIJ Fenders, not one of them is made of alder or ash. It is stuff like basswood, sen, poplar, etc.
Electronics leaving something to be desired? Yes. Out of two MIJ Strats and one Tele, all but two of the pickups were either replaced or are in the queue for replacement. That's a 25 percent "keeper" rate.
But they are not built poorly, i.e. with poor craftsmanship or poor inspection. OTOH, as much as I think the MIM instruments are good, I have certainly seen a decent amount of poor quality workmanship and inspection work on them. The parts are even worse than the MIJ parts (hardware, frets, electronics), and the workmanship is simply not a match for that performed on the MIJ guitars, which is at least equal to the USA workmanship. My MIM Strat's body is perfect. They did a great job on the paint (though it is thick as hell). But the neck is Squier quality at best, and it is even worse than some Squiers I've played. Sloppy fretwork, sloppy shaping (drum sander depression near the nut, passed through by the builder, the finisher, and the inspector), and sloppy finish/polish work. Looks like the face of the head was polished with 400-grit sandpaper instead of a buffing compound.
IMO, it is not that Mexican people are any worse at fine detailed work then Japanese people. It is just something that comes from the top down IMO. The MIJ guitars are made with different corporate priorities than the MIM guitars. With budget guitars, something has to give somewhere. With the MIJ guitars, it is the electronics and the raw materials used for the bodies that allow them to keep prices down. With the MIM guitars, it is the hardware, the electronics, and the level of workmanship.
Both can be made into incredible instruments; the MIMs will just need a bit more help to get there, especially in the areas of fretwork and hardware. That said, despite the flaws in my MIM Strat (original owner since 2005), it is still stock aside from my piping of the bridge pickup through the middle pickup's tone pot. It is in line for pickups (and I suppose it always has been), but I've never actually gone through with a swap, as many times as I've considered it. Those pickups have something about them that keeps telling me to let them be, despite their major shortcomings at high volumes.
