In a last minute decision I went to CME. I wanted to check out some mexi Tele's... I'm telling you guys, I'm a snob and I got to say Fender needs to try harder to show the value in MiA products. I played to Mexi Standards and they were beautiful, and sounded absolutely amazing... I played them off a Tiny Terror head both clean and dirty.. Honestly, the only sign of lower quality was in the weak/tiny frets and the tuners. However, that's just nitpicking... Should have took it home, but I still may do that tomorrow...
The Tele's felt "pro"... Perfect fit/finish... The other thing I forgot to mention was that the maple neck had a killer flame. It was ridiculous, something you see in the custom shop... Wow!!
Ive always pondered about he MIM stuff. Ill have my first (sorta) Fender in a week or so.. One more payment at my local shop and its mine. It is a parts o caster of sorts. Real nice flamed Warmoth body with a MIM neck. The neck is a signature model of someone, the name escapes me. But it just played amazingly. So my pondering started. Pretty sure Corona California and Mexico are pretty close I wouldn't imagine there is a TON of difference in quality. Im sure Fender reps have easier access to ensure quality control as opposed to it being made overseas.. Just a theory.. I may be way wrong.
I have total faith in Fender MIMs of the last several years, very impressive! They still tend to put smaller frets on them (no doubt to make the MIA models seem worth the extra $$$) and lower end pickups (obviously to do the same). If not for this, I honestly think they'd have a hard time selling the MIAs at the current prices. When I was a kid in the late '80s, you could still get a genuine turd for $400. But that's no longer a problem. Even if you rewind 10 years, the MIMs were still great values, but at this point it's becoming dangerous for the MIAs.
