Is this Fender Strat (MIM) a good deal for $499?

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Gold-plated hardware

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WNPI




but for real, seems like a fair deal. No case?

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Gold-plated hardware
WNPI

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Yep.

Too much gold for me

It also looks maybe gigged with, and some idiot jammed it into speakers etc.

But a 500 dollar actual Fender? MIM is fine. If it tickles your pickle, go for it.


ETA... It's Reverb throw an offer at them. 425? 450?

$550 total is way too much for that guitar considering the wear and tear it has. You can buy a new Player's series for that same price brand new with a case.

From what I have read, the Mexican factory and the American factory in Cali are insanely close to each other. I have a MIM butterscotch tele and its awesome but was only like $400 as opposed to paying much more for the MIA version. The MIA did have better pickups and the wood was completely one piece. If you look close on mine you can see that the body's wood grains are two different patterns, as it is a two piece construction. But it plays great. It's really going to come down to preference and what you are willing to pay. You may want to google the year it was made and see if anyone online was having complaints with that specific year or edition, but other than that I always err of the side of you can't have too many toys.

Edit: Also, the wood type may be different between the two, not sure I have had it for a while and haven't kept up with the guitar stuff in the past year or two. If you're buying it to learn with I'd say MIM is fine but you can probably find cheaper. Guitar Center is probably running crazy sales, or will be soon, given their financial situation.

FWIW, Guitar Center is doing a special on some of the player strats for 599 until December 2.

LINK

$499 isn't an unfair price if that guitar has exactly what you want. If you get the typical used $350-400 MIM that has been referred to in this thread, and then upgrade it to Fender Noiseless units, you will be in it more than $500, no question. A gold hardware conversion isn't necessarily cheap - up to a coupla hundred bucks right there.

The MIM stuff has gotten better and better with each production year. My only advice on the used MIM market is to get the most recent production year you can find and afford - the 20-teens will be better instruments than what they made in the 1990s and the 2000s. Why? Implementation of better guitar-building technology, aka CNC, as it became more affordable and more practical production-wise. And don't forget the wild card ... Ensenada has offered good paying jobs with an American company since the 1990s. The result? Low turnover among the rank and file, and subsequently a very skilled and experienced workforce. That's now armed with CNC, torqued fret presses, state of the art kilns ... THAT'S why the newer, the better.

As for the differences between MIM and MIA, MIA production versus FCS, that's another very lengthy thread for another day.

My experience is that ALL Fender products across the board are getting amazingly good regardless of national origin. I haven't really been in the market for a new guitar as I have six already but I picked up a Squier Bullet Telecaster at a guitar shop and fooled around with it for a bit and that was a mistake. Now I really want one. This is supposed to be a beginner guitar for only 130 bucks but I fell in love with it. I know the nut would probably need to be upgraded but other than that, I can't see a downside.

Gibson's brass needs to take a tour of Fender manufacturers all over the world and take extensive notes.

I personally don't mind Squier's. Some "purists" might say otherwise but the upper priced Squier's I have played have been great. That being said, once you get into the 400 and up range you're basically getting into Fender territory (albeit used or MIM). It's just preference, but for just starting out or for a play around piece a Squier is fine. About 15 years ago when I was in jr. high and my friends and I were all getting into playing, one of my friend's dad (who was big into playing Bluegrass) gave him a used Squier Jazzmaster (in hindsight it might have been a Jagmaster lol either way it was a Squier) that to this day was one of the smoothest and most seamless feeling instruments I have ever played around with. I was young and don't remember too many specifics of the actual guitar itself (as in it could have been really old or upgraded or something) but it was so much fun to tinker with.

Edit: Yeh Fender seems to be killing it in the past few years, at least so far that I have been paying attention. When I was researching telecasters really hard a few years back I kept seeing people online talking about a Japanese model or something that it seemed a lot of people wanted.

Squier is a great guitar for the price but if you have the extra $200-$300 I would highly recommend getting a Fender. Talk to your local guitar shop and see what kind of packages they can throw together for you.

You might be interested in this guitar :
LINK

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You might be interested in this guitar :

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that's a nice one, but i'm kinda looking for the sunburst/tortoise combo.