Very solid mid-price Strat

This review is for my year 2000 model, bought for me in 2000 by my dad for my 15th birthday. It is the instrument I started playing guitar with and as such have a unique bond to it. It has been set up to a reasonably low and buzz free action by Charlie Chandlers Guitar Experience and has been a solid a reliable guitar for the longest time. As a side note the tech at Charlie Chandlers told me that it was one of the best examples of a Mexican Strat that he had come across at the time, both in terms of playability and sound.

Having played several other Mexican Strats over the years I do always feel mine is "better", but I wonder if that's purely because I know this instrument so well...

The 21 medium frets are well finished and easy to play, but a few are now fairly worn from a time when I was applying way too much pressure to the strings when I was learning. That said it still plays very nicely all the way down, without any nasty resonances anywhere, and I've successfully intonated the instrument a number of times for different string gauges over the years without issue.

The pickups, while now quite tarnished looking, still put out the classic glassy Strat tone. The full bodied neck pickup is by far my favourite position, and is where I tend to end up when playing on my own. Cranked into a half decent tube amp with a tube screamer in front of it this can sound glorious. It also has the clarity for delivering higher gain distortion and fuzz tones.

I've modified my bridge position pickup to a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail. This sounds as you'd expect and add the extra output and humbucking tonal variation I like for playing heavier styles like early Iron Maiden and Metallica. This happily plays up to extremely high gain tones too making this Strat great for a very wide range of play styles.

Quintessential Guitar for EVERY Guitarist

This guitar is THE guitar. When you think of the greats, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Eric Johnson, Dave Murray, Jimi Hendrix, even Yngwie Malmsteen--they all play Strats. The Made in Mexico Strat has been discontinued a while now, but you can still snag it used. If you can, you should. I myself am partial to the Midnight Wine colour, but that's just me.

The maple fretboard is silky smooth, like butter on a bald monkey.

The tone you can get from this axe is everything from soft clear just this side of acoustic all the way to hard hitting thrash.

The hardware is top-notch, feels good, looks good. The vibrato tailpiece is solid, easy to use, and don't feel like it's going to break--even when you're a little harder on it than you'd maybe think you should be (I've played on Strat Knockoffs, the tailpiece usually feels like it's going to break). The tuning stability is just amazing--I've been wailing on the whammy (as it were) all day, and not really had to tune up.

My advice? Pair this with a good tube amp, either a Vox AC15/30, or something with 6L6s in it. You won't regret it.

Great sound, comfortable

I've had this guitar for a few years and it plays really well. I love the tone of the pickups.

I think I got lucky and got a damn good one!

I've never been a fan of strats really, other than one that I built as a project when I was 14 I've never picked one off the shelf that felt comfortable or had a good action. However this Mexican Standard felt great right away! I did a little fine tuning to the action and set the intonation a little better but from the first chord it felt really quite nice.

People always hate on Mexican Stratocasters, but I think if you find the right one then you can walk away with a damn good guitar for the money! This was certainly the case with mine. The sound quality is great but I'll probably upgrade the pickups anyway, and the neck feels brilliant.

Overall this guitar plays really easily and sounds much better than you'd expect of a "cheaper equivalent" to the favoured American Standard.

Beautiful, a nearly perfect mid-range guitar.

I have had nothing but joy come from this guitar. Pros: -Lush, creamy tone from single-coils. -Stays in tune even when performing hard divebombs with the trem. -Beautiful color and finish. -Excellent action. Cons: -The 2 and 4 positions don't cancel out as much hum as I would like, but they work fairly well. -No locking tuners.

My Baby

i can drive this beauty like a standard car. In my opinion it's better than any USA strat at half the cost. swap out the humbucker for a nice Seymour and you're rolling. Also sanded down my neck a lot! changed the tuning pegs to 1970's kluson diagonals, repainted and sealed my pickguard, also swapped out the pots for new 500Ks. Naturally, roadworn of course!

affordable workhorse

if you're interested in investing in a affordable stratocaster that won't hurt your pocket you really can't go wrong with one of these mexican standard stratocasters. the neck has a nice smooth gloss finish with feels very nice on the hand. when i received mine i did a little fine tuning myself such as adjusting the tremolo, truss rod, and action which is very simple on stratocaster guitars. i was surprised to notice that when i went to adjust the intonation i plugged the guitar into the tuner and to my surprise i didn't have to do a single thing, the guitar out of the box had perfect intonation. The pickups are just fenders stock single coil pickups, they're exactly what i wanted so i don't think ill be swapping them out anytime soon.

Fantastic guitar

Been my main instrument for over 10 years. The three single coil pickups offer a wide variety of tones to explore, incredibly versatile instrument. 10/10

Good guitar for the price.

Wanted something to record with occasionally, more of a bass player myself.

Sounds pretty good, does the job! Kinda wished I'd bought a tele or jazz master, as those probably reflect the sound I'm trying to achieve better, but none the less it's guitar to play once you're past the beginner phase I'd say.

It's never let me down!

Years ago, my parents were hugely against me getting this. I got it anyway, wanting to actually BUY my first guitar. Since then, it's been the best investment i've ever made. I've actually owned guitars at nearly double the MIM's price-point and it still stands strong. It hasn't let me down for 4-5 years, I couldn't recommend this guitar enough!