I agree about the Mexican model Fenders. I have a Mexican strat that I never put down; I use it for everything. I have a $1600 Gibson just collecting dust, whereas my strat, which cost me $500, is like a dream for me. Just play around, and see what you like.

Higher-end mexican Fenders are great guitars both tonally and in terms of playability. The classic series may not sound like their original counterparts, but they still have their own unique usable sound.

you have any sort of evidence or website to back up this claim? as far as i know you can swap just about any fender part on any similar model. being measured using the imperial or metric system shouldn't really matter. a 25.5 inch scale neck length is still the same as a 64.77 centimeter scale neck length.

it's true the instruments assembled in mexico are made with slightly lower quality materials. that's why they cost half the price, but in my experience they are not half the guitar. not sure what you're getting at with the 'fair' comment either, what they're capable of doing and what they're hired to do are not mutually exclusive.

Good advice. I wouldn't buy over the internet either. There's nothing like playing through a pile of guitars and finding "the one". When I purchased my last guitar, I must have played over twenty before I found an "81 Gibson Epiphone that suited me feel wise.

I've bought my last two guitars from Thomann and haven't had any problem with them. they've been perfectly set up every time and nicely packaged. I've found that if I trust the name on the guitar I'm buying, I don't really need to play it before I buy it. Not to mention the prices for guitars here are ridiculous. I paid €399 for my Parker PM-10 which came with a nice padded gigbag and 2 free leads. The same guitar in the shops where I live is €564.

I suppose it's a matter of opinion that I can't really argue over. Personally, I enjoyed being able to play chords on each and every guitar I wanted to play chords on. I enjoyed seeing the natural looking finish on my guitar, rather than the glossy ones on every other one. I feel a different connection with my guitat that I don't think I would have been able to feel if I had just picked it from a list online.

That special connection comes from playing whether you play it in a shop or play it fresh out of the box.

I meant the decision of choosing mine over all of the other guitars I played. I didn't make that clear.

I'm not telling you that you're wrong. I'm just stating why my guitar is special to me.

That's a pretty broad question. fender and gibson have so many makes and models....some are absolute crap even if they have that name on them.(like my former guitar-the fender jazzmaster.)

here's short and sweet:

telecaster-twangy
Strat-bluesy and kind of twangy
gibson-best for hard rock

..I traded that fender jazzmaster for an eastman guitar that sounds like a buzzsaw. I guess what I'm trying to say is "to each his own" and you should try these guitar out in person if you haven't done so already.

I play a Gibson SG 2001 faded special,a nd i love it. Also, what kind of music do you like? you want a guitar that best fits your interest in music